When Discrimination Is Social, Why Should Reservation Be Economic?

The country has been witnessing another major debate ever since a seven-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the states have the right to sub-classify the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) for reservation on the basis of the creamy layer principle. Justice Pankaj Mithal’s judgement stated that reservation should be limited to “the first generation or one generation and if any generation in the family has taken advantage of the reservation and have [sic] achieved higher status, the benefit of reservation would not be logically available to the second generation”. According to senior journalist Prabhu Chawla, caste-based reservation has been misused by caste leaders, and politics, bureaucracy and business have become hereditary institutions in the last three decades. Similarly, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, a prominent industrialist, opposed the Karnataka government’s proposal to give reservation to the locals in the private sector, saying that “highly skilled” recruitment should be kept out of the purview of the reservation policy. Is this not to be considered as an organised attack by the upper castes on reservation? 

Why do members of the upper castes fly off the handle whenever they hear the word “reservation”? Why are they unable to see the competence that is evident in the tribals, Dalits and Other Backward Castes (OBCs)? Why do those who see the need for a creamy layer provision in reservation for the tribals and the Dalits, not see the upper-caste monopoly, dynasty and nepotism that have been rampant in the higher judiciary for the last seven decades? To ensure that the higher judiciary remains under their control, the upper caste judges declared the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act passed by Parliament unconstitutional. They also ignored President Droupadi Murmu’s suggestion to replace the collegium system of appointing judges with a national-level competitive examination on the lines of those conducted by the UPSC. Is it difficult to see the bias inherent in the collegium system, which facilitates the appointment of mostly upper caste candidates as judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court of the country, without holding any examination? I call upon the meritorious upper caste individuals, who are so consumed by concern for the weak tribals and Dalits, to lead by example: they should vacate their posts for the poor among them, who need reservation under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. 

The upper castes are fond of saying that the poor do not have caste, and therefore, reservation should be economic and not caste-based. But when tribals and Dalits acquire position, wealth and property, are they protected from caste discrimination, untouchability and atrocities? When the basis of discrimination is social, why should the basis of reservation be economic? The fundamental basis of reservation is the caste-based discrimination, untouchability and atrocities prevalent in our society. Therefore, reservation is not a poverty alleviation scheme. Despite this, the upper castes have cleverly made it so. Has there been a case so far of any tribal or Dalit family taking advantage of reservation and achieving a high social status akin to that of upper caste families? The experience of the last seven decades shows that tribals and Dalits who were enabled by reservation to get bungalows, cars and money were never considered equal by the upper castes. Rather, because they rose up with the help of reservation, they were humiliated and discriminated against again on the basis of caste and race. Almost any tribal or Dalit officer in the country will testify to facing such discrimination. 

It is abundantly clear that unless the savarnas (upper castes) want it, equality can never be achieved in the country through reservation or any other system because the root cause of caste and racial discrimination is the caste system that governs the upper caste society of the country. The belief under the caste system is that the Brahmins are superior in intellect, the Kshatriyas in physical strength and the Vaishyas in business acumen, while the rest―the Shudras or the OBCs, the Ati-shudras or the Dalits and the Avarnas or the tribals―have no qualities at all. This is the root cause of inequality. Therefore, as long as the varna system exists, the savarnas will never treat the OBCs, Dalits and tribals equally. Upper caste intellectuals appear on television to talk about the abolition of the caste system and they write extensively on casteism, but when it comes to the abolition of the varna system, they fall silent. Why? 

A lot has changed in the last 75 years of the history of Indian democracy, but the upper caste mentality remains the same. The upper castes, who have been enjoying the cream of resources and opportunities for centuries, cannot tolerate a handful of tribals and Dalits doing the same. Will such people ever allow equality to take root? The Constituent Assembly, which was formed to create the Constitution of India, had a 72 per cent representation of upper caste leaders, and even today the savarnas have overwhelming control over the four fundamental pillars of democracy―the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the media. The varna system governs the country, though this fact is not openly admitted. This is also evident in the thinking, speech and behaviour of the upper castes regarding the majority of the OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis. The minority upper castes have captured the crucial and decisive centres of power in the system. The academia and the wider intellectual world are captured by the Brahmins, the army is in the hands of the Kshatriyas and the country’s trade is controlled by the Vaishyas. 

The clever upper castes, though a minority, are able to rule over the majority of the OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis by feeding them “the opium of religion” and enslaving them mentally. It is amazing to see how during the Lok Sabha or assembly elections, they ride into power on the votes of the OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis by tagging them as “Sanatana Hindus” and by polarising them along communal lines using slogans such as “Say with pride, we are Hindus”, and yet when it comes to giving these same people rights and privileges under reservation, they declare them casteist, incompetent and meritless. 

The provision of reservation made in the Constitution is not a scheme for poverty alleviation or economic empowerment. Rather, its main purpose is to ensure representation of the people of the weaker sections. It is important that the debate on reservation be conducted with the same understanding and not from the point of view of poverty alleviation and economic empowerment. 

The issue of reservation will come to rest ultimately only when the Union Government legislates and implements a reservation policy that is pegged to the population share of all the castes and racial communities, and applies them to all posts, from the peon to the director, across the board, from Union and state, government jobs, legislature, executive, judiciary, army, private companies, media, and to all kinds of government and non-government undertakings, so that equal representation of all can be ensured. Apart from this, the varna system should be completely eradicated. In the absence of these measures, the goal of equality enshrined in the Indian Constitution will never be achieved.

(Translated by Kaushika Draavid) 

(Views expressed are personal) 

Gladson Dungdung is a Ranchi-based adivasi activist, researcher and author of two dozen books

(This appeared in the print as 'Caste Aside')