A TIME TO RETHINK ABOUT QUOTAS

Caste based quotas are an obstructionist element in the way of nation building. It is an idea that has outlived its usefulness. The latest NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) figures indicate that in the private sector, the share in employment of SCs/STs and OBCs is almost exactly proportionate to their share of the population.

The problem is deeper; it is one of job creation for our ever swelling ranks of youth. Job creation is a social responsibilty, yes, but businesses are in the task of creating wealth and it is against the course of natural law to force them to take decisions that might hamper their and by consequence the nation's competitiveness.

Any harmful policy decisions that enjoin the private sector to reserve jobs based on caste or to force them to establish units in areas which are dominated by people from the SC/ST/OBCs irrespective of the geo-infrastructural suitability of the area or the investing mood of the company will result in chaos. Job creation will give way to job destruction and there will be flight of capital and jobs away from India.

In reality there is only one section of the society that is disadvantaged and that is the economically backward. Equip this section in a manner that they are capable of standing up to competition and not through the abhorrent crutches of reservation.


RESERVATIONS – A TRADITION FROM THE COLONIAL TIMES
‘Reservations’ as a policy was seen first in the late 19th century in the princely states of Mysore in South India and Baroda and Kolhapur in western India. Reservations in government jobs were introduced in 1918 in Mysore in favour of a number of castes and communities that had little share in the administration. The British used reservation as a tool for dividing the country. Upon petition from the Muslim community, the British government at the time made provisions in the Government of India acts of 1909 and 1919 granting Muslims share in the administration and other facilities. In the communal award of 1935, legislative seats were reserved for members of the Muslim, Sikh, Maratha, Parsi, Christian, European, and Anglo-Indian communities. In addition seats were reserved for depressed classes within the Hindu community. The scheduled castes were given 8.5% reservation in central services and other facilities in 1942.

QUOTAS REINFORCED
In Independent India, provision for reservation in legislature was made in the constitution until 1960, recently extended until 2010. In 1990, the implementation of the Mandal commissions' recommendations resulted in reservation for the backward classes to the extent of 27 per cent (this was in addition to the 22.5% already reserved for scheduled castes and tribes, bringing the total of 'open' seats to only 50%).

Currently, the salient features of the quota system are as follows:-
• The quota system sets aside a fraction of all possible positions for members of a specific social group. Those not belonging to the designated communites can compete only for the remaining positions, while members of the designated communities can compete for all positions (reserved and open). Even if no qualified SC/ST applicants are available, the reserved positions may not be released for general population but have to be kept vacant or carried over to the future.
• Members of National Parliament: 22% of the seats are reserved for SC/ST.
• Central government-funded higher education institutions: 22.5% for scheduled caste (dalit) and scheduled tribe (adivasi) students. HRD Minister Arjun Singh has proposed raising this to 49.5%, by including reservation for OBCs also.
• IITs: SC/ST students with scores down to two third of the last admitted general category candidate are admitted. Some more candidates not meeting this cutoff are offered admission to a one year preparatory course; upon successful completion of the preparatory course, they are admitted into the regular degree program. No tuition or room rent is charged.
• Andhra educational institutes and government jobs: 25% for BCs, 15% for SCs, 6% for STs and 5% to Muslims, total: 51% (proposed)
• Medical schools: - AIIMS- 14% reserved for SC, 8% for ST. In adition, SC/ST students with only 50% scores are eligible.
• Public Sector Corporations: Recruitment and promotion requirements are relaxed and residences are reserved.

RESERVATIONS IN PERPETUITY? When Ambedkar introduced the idea of reservations it was meant to be a time bound exercise which was to be terminated after a suitable period of time. But the nefarious political potential of the idea was well appreciated by the followers of vote-bank politics and reservations have been extended and the perversion seems set to stay forever. The Government keeps on increasing quotas, diminishing or rather denying the space for open competition and thus merit! It is not just the self-satisfied Human Resources and Development Minister Mr. Arjun Singh’s emphatic stand that has the Indian Society at large in dissension; but also the Honourable Prime Minister’s thoughts on the issue as well as the Commerce Minister Mr. Kamal Nath’s bellicose stand on reservations in the private sector. Mr. Nath said to a Private TV channel that “We will first see what is their (private sector’s) voluntary action. But if it fails, the government will have to look at other options including making it legally”. Mr. Nath further added “it was important to develop areas which were not a part of this growth story. There are about 104 districts in the country, where SCs, STs and OBCs comprised more than 50 per cent of the population, he said, adding these were the areas where the government wanted the industry to set up operations.” Similar sentiments have also been echoed by the honourable Prime Minister. There is a logical flaw in these intentions – industries go to places where it is geo-infrastructurally advantageous; the caste and creed of the population staying in the area of their operations is only a matter of incidence. Increasingly, one gets the feeling that in the arbitrariness and ad-hoc manner of their intent our honourable ministers have been possessed by the Ghost of Tughlaq!

Government owned NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) figures - the latest of which came out in 1999 - show that the in the private sector, the share in employment of SCs/STs and OBCs is almost exactly proportionate to their share of the population. Also, Surjit Bhalla, a well-known economist writing in Business Standard on the 15th of April, expanding and developing upon the same NSSO figure, showed that even in case of individual jobs, the share of OBCs in those jobs, whether managerial, clerical and agricultural, is again proportionate to the share of the population. Much the same was true of SCs and STs, except at the very top managerial and sales levels. In fact, Companies like Ashok Leyland, Hindustan Lever and Bajaj claim that already 55 per cent of their workforce is OBC, SC and ST.
Even in the face of such data the Government is raising the bogey of reservations!
A DOWNWARD SLIDE
In the context of India’s emergence as a potential economic front-runner and a knowledge power, time has come to rethink the whole gamut of reservations. If we want to maintain and enhance our capabilities in crucial sectors of human endeavour, we must ensure that only meritocracy prevails. In an increasingly globalized economy, we cannot afford to dilute our talent pool, reservation in the private sector is practically not feasible; it is very much unlike the Public sector where your seniority gets you promotion and not performance. Enforcing and enhancing reservation in India’s private sector at any cost will result in job creation and thus wealth creation moving away from India, derailing and ruining her prospects of economic growth for a long, long time to come.

There are people in the backward castes who have opposed this move by the Government as has been observed from reports in the various newspapers and tabloids. To cite an instance, an OBC student Amit Kumar in an interview to a tabloid, Sunday Mid-day, 14th June, 2006 stated that he believed in merit and went on to say “My caste (OBC-notified Jat) was included in the backward category list by the BJP only because we enjoyed a majority in our native town at Agra”. In Gujarat, OBC medical students too joined the anti-reservation stir. In many cases, students from the reserved category suffer from a perception that their success was unearned, can anyone imagine the professional dangers arising from harbouring such a feeling? Reservation as seen from the experience of its implementation in the Government sector is an idea that has outlived its usefulness. Whether it was useful to the Dalit society at large is a matter of debate. Even its usefulness as a great tool of vote bank politics is diminishing. Stretching an obsolete idea too far will cost the country dearly. The politics of divisiveness inherent in reservations has never paid rich dividends to its perpetrators. Mandal unmade VP Singh, When will the present company of politicians learn?

Reservations in the Public sector have resulted in the formation of a creamy layer that appropriates through mechanisms of influence the benefits of the exercise to the detriment of their other lesser caste brothers and sisters. Has reservation improved caste representation in the Public sector? Not a whit, otherwise the nomenclature of ‘creamy layer’ would not have arisen. Has it made the Public sector more efficient? No! Then why do you expect reservations to work in a performance-oriented private sector? Taken aback by the severity of the backlash of public opinion, certain ministers have even proposed reservations for economically backward upper castes! The whole episode portends disaster for the Indian people; do our politicians want all castes to clamour for inclusion in the backwards or scheduled list?

If the Government is serious about enabling disadvantaged people to gain their rightful place in society it should look at economics as the sole criterion and ensure quality primary and secondary education for them. It should have programs subsidized or free at the tax-payer’s expense (education cess?) that help such sections of the population get adequate training so that they can get into institutions/ companies/vocations of their choice through merit and not through the abhorrent crutches of reservation.

INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING OR HOLLOW EDIFICES?
Down the years reservation has polarized the Indian society; it has reinforced negative stereotypes and widened the chasm between ‘us and them’. To offset the disadvantage to the open category the Government has decided to increase the number of seats for all categories in all the concerned centres of leaning. What about the student-teacher ratio? What about infrastructural facilities which go along with all higher educational programs like medical superspecialities and engineering? The horrible experiences suffered by students who have undergone medical and engineering courses at newly established government recognized professionally higher education institutes in Navi Mumbai and elsewhere offers a brilliant case in point!

As a diverse democracy we cannot afford a sustained negative influence of reservations, for whether one likes it or not, caste based quotas are an obstructionist element in the way of nation building, whatever those politicians would like us to believe! Perhaps we can learn from the American experience of Affirmative action. Affirmative action decisions are generally not supposed to be based on quotas, nor are they supposed to give any preference to unqualified candidates. And they are not supposed to harm anyone through "reverse discrimination." Considering the enduring perversity of the reservation approach, this could be the way to adopt.

Finally, I would like to quote Professor Dipankar Gupta from the Centre for the Study of Social System, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This is what he has to say in connection with the plan for reservations in the private sector: - “Instead of asking for reservations in the private sector, Dalits would do better to call the bluff of reservationists. They should make clear that they refuse to be fobbed off with the standard reservation format but would want better training and education standards for that would be their most trusted guarantor for success. This would not only help to fill the reserved posts that are lying vacant for want of qualified Dalit candidates, but would also open up more avenues for members of these communities in their drive to live better and more fulfilling lives.”
–Dr. V. R. Shenoy