Arguments for and against caste-based reservation

Today India is considered to be one of the fastest developing countries in the world in terms of the rate of growth of its Gross National Product (GNP). The transition from an underdeveloped to a developing country has its own problems and limitations. One of the serious problems that the country has been faced with is in the area of social inequality. This inhibits the allocation of development fruits to all sections of society. It is alleged that the benefits of development are limited to the (dvija) castes and the weaker sections are provided only crumbs in the name of so-called welfare measures. This has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots, and has also led to inter group conflicts. These conflicts are manifested in claims for more space for each caste in the name of caste-based reservations.

No democratic society can survive keeping a vast majority of its population away from participating in socio-economic processes. Allowing individuals to vote irrespective of their caste is not the be-all and end-all of democracy. The democratic principle of ‘one man one vote and one vote one value’ needs to be translated into in all spheres of public life. Therefore the founding fathers of the Constitution had incorporated caste-based reservations as one of the methods of achieving it. However, no attempt seems to have been made to assess the impact of this strategy in achieving the expected goals. It is ironic that whenever an effort is made to review it, people are divided into groups as antagonists and protagonists. Except a few opinionated journalists, intellectuals of the country have hardly participated in the debate. Thus a dispassionate judgement on this important issue has remained an apparition.

Here are some arguments put forward for and against caste-based reservation :-

Arguments against reservations

• Allocating quotas on the basis of caste is a form of racial discrimination, and contrary to the right to equality. Although the exact relation between caste and race is far from well established
• As a consequence of legislating to provide reservations for Christians and Muslim, religious minorities in all government education institutions will be introduced which is contrary to the ideas of secularism, and is a form of anti-discrimination on the basis of religion.
• Most often, only economically sound people (and rather rich) from the so-called lower castes will make use of most of the reserved seats, thus counteracting the spirit of reservations. Political parties know reservations are no way to improve the lot of the poor and the backward. They support them because of self-interest of the “creamy layer”, who use the reservations to further their own family interests, and as a political flag of ‘achievement’ during election campaigns. In fact, several studies show that the OBC class is quite comparable with the general caste in terms of annual per capita consumption expenditure, and the top strata of OBC is ahead in a host of consumption areas.
• The quality of these elite institutes may go down, because merit is severely being compromised by reserving seats for certain caste-based communities.
• There are no efforts made to give proper primary education to truly deprived classes, so there is no need to reserve seats for higher studies. The government schools in India have absolutely no comparison to the public schools in the developed countries, and only about 65% of the Indian population is literate. The critics argue that "reservation" only in higher institutions and jobs, without improving primary and secondary education, cannot solve this problem.
• The government is dividing people on the basis of castes for political advantages.
• The caste system is kept alive through these measures. Instead of coming up with alternative innovative ideas which make sure equal representation at the same time making the caste system irrelevant, the decision is only fortifying the caste system.
• The autonomy of the educational institutes is lost.
• Not everyone from the so-called upper classes is rich, and not all from so called lower classes are poor.
• The reservation policy of the Indian Congress will create a huge unrest in the Indian society. Providing quotas on the basis of caste and not on the basis of merit will deter the determination of many educated and deserving students of India.
• Multi-national companies will be deterred by this action of the government, and foreign investment in India may dry down, hurting the growth of the Indian economy. Doubtless, urgent actions to improve the lot of the majority, which has not benefited from development—not achieved after 55 years of reservations for scheduled castes—are essential. But this must not hazard improving the economy’s competitiveness in a very competitive world.
• There are already talks of reservations in the private sector. If even after providing so many facilities to reserved categories during education, if there is no adequate representation of those people in the work force, there must be some problems with the education system.

Critics of the Mandal Commission argue that it is unfair to accord people special privileges on the basis of caste, even in order to redress traditional caste discrimination. They argue that those that deserve the seat through merit will be at a disadvantage. They reflect on the repercussions of unqualified candidates assuming critical positions in society (doctors, engineers, etc.). As the debate on OBC reservations spreads, a few interesting facts which raise pertinent question are already apparent. To begin with, do we have a clear idea what proportion of our population is OBC? According to the Mandal Commission (1980) it is 52 percent. According to 2001 Indian Census, out of India's population of 1,028,737,436 the Scheduled Castes comprise 166,635,700 and Scheduled Tribes 84,326,240, that is 16.2% and 8.2% respectively. There is no data on OBCs in the census. However, according to National Sample Survey's 1999-2000 round around 36 per cent of the country's population is defined as belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The proportion falls to 32 per cent on excluding Muslim OBCs. A survey conducted in 1998 by National Family Health Statistics (NFHS) puts the proportion of non-Muslim OBCs as 29.8 per cent. The NSSO data also shows that already 23.5 per cent of college seats are occupied by OBCs. That's just 8.6 per cent short of their share of population according to the same survey. Other arguments include that entrenching the separate legal status of OBCs and SC/STs will perpetuate caste differentiation and encourage competition among communities at the expense of national unity. They believe that only small new elite of educated Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs benefit from reservations, and that such measures don't do enough to lift the mass of people out of backwardness and poverty.

Arguments offered in support of reservations

• People who support reservations keenly invite all the anti-reservationists to lead the life of a backward class citizen and live within the means that they have for themselves. It is their contention that in an experimental set-up like this the differences in achievement/performance would disappear or reduce down to experimental errors/random error. Underlying idea being that everyone is born equal but into an unequal circumstances. And when the circumstances have been a result of a social system then the system either needs to be abandoned or reformed.
• Reservations are a political necessity in India because vast influential sections of voting population see reservations as beneficial to themselves. All governments have supported maintaining and/or increasing reservations. Reservations are legal and binding.
• Although Reservation schemes do undermine the quality of education but still affirmative Action schemes are in place in many countries including USA, South Africa, Malaysia, Brazil etc. It was researched in Harvard University that Affirmative Action programmes are beneficial to the under-privileged. The studies said that Blacks who enter elite institutions with lower test scores and grades than those of whites achieve notable success after graduation. They earn advanced degrees at rates identical to those of their white classmates. They are even slightly more likely than whites from the same institutions to obtain professional degrees in law, business and medicine. They become more active than their white classmates in civic and community activities.
• Affirmative Action has helped many - if not everyone from under-privileged and/or under-represented communities to grow and occupy top positions in the world's leading industries. Reservation in education is not the final solution; it is just one of the many solutions. Reservations are a means to increase representation of hitherto under-represented caste groups and thereby improve diversity on campus.
• Although Reservation schemes might affect, to some degree, the quality of education but they are needed to provide social justice to the most marginalized and underprivileged are our duty and their human right. Reservation will really help these marginalized people to lead successful lives, thus eliminating caste-based discrimination which is still widely prevalent in India especially in the rural areas. (Over 70% of Indian population stays in Villages).
• Meritocracy is meaningless without equality. First all people must be brought to the same level, whether it elevates a section or delevels another, regardless of merit. Only after that merit becomes meaningful. Privileged people have never known to go backward due to reservations or lack of "meritocracy". Reservations have only slowed down the process of the 'forward' becoming richer and backward becoming poorer.
• The government of India is bound and empowered by the constitution of the country to secure for all citizens equality in social, economic and political sphere.
• Reservations will go a long way in capacity building with regard to the human resource of the country. In the long run, it has tremendous economic benefits as it will raise the productivity of the majority of the potential workforce of the country
• In a perfectly functioning society the institutions and various walks of life must represent the many sections roughly in proportion to their share in population. In India it is clearly not the case and hence the need for reservations.
• India does not have the economic or institutional capacity for undertaking a grassroots based solution to the problem, so reservations remain the only practical solution for social anti-discrimination
• Also, with poor rates of growth,rising unemployment and growing competition for limited opportunities in a market economy, those with combined and cumulative disadvantages of inferior social status, little access to educational institutions, bureaucracy and political power, are the worst sufferers in the system. Reservations can provide the much needed band-aid though not a cure.