Why Reservation is a good thing
Q: Were Reservations incorporated by the founding fathers of the constitution only for first 10 years?
Yes, upper castes dominate by a large margin in representation in the commanding heights of the Government, Economy, Judiciary and Media.
Goverment
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| Upper Castes disproportionately dominate the top positions in the government bureaucracy |
https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sc/sts-fail-to-break-caste-ceiling-no-sc-in-149-top-government-officers-40-pc-do-menial-jobs/articleshow/16278743.cms - Caste in the government hierarchy
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-percentage-of-Dalit-or-SC-ST-present-in-Indian-Government-Jobs - In 2010 a RTI filed by Mr Sharad Yadav revealed that 71% of top quality jobs in bureaucracy are held by upper castes which constitute only 12–14% of total population.
Coming to the judiciary, several reports including former CJI Justice Karia Munda Report cite that 90% of the judges in higher judiciary are upper caste Hindus leading to negligible representation of the SCs and STs comparing to their population.
Private Sector
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23251799?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
https://theprint.in/opinion/annihilate-of-caste-in-indian-corporate-possible-but-firms-must-say-dalit-lives-matter/444244/ - According to a 2012 study, about 93 per cent (of which 45 per cent are Brahmins and 46 per cent are Vaishyas) of the Indian corporate board members are from the forward castes. In another study, it was found that most mergers and acquisitions occur between directors of the same castes. Wherever there is a way, there is caste stopping your way – this proverb cannot be truer than in the Indian corporate world.
Coming to the judiciary, several reports including former CJI Justice Karia Munda Report cite that 90% of the judges in higher judiciary are upper caste Hindus leading to negligible representation of the SCs and STs comparing to their population.
Private Sector
 |
| Upper castes disproportionately dominate ruling positions in the private sector |
https://theprint.in/opinion/annihilate-of-caste-in-indian-corporate-possible-but-firms-must-say-dalit-lives-matter/444244/ - According to a 2012 study, about 93 per cent (of which 45 per cent are Brahmins and 46 per cent are Vaishyas) of the Indian corporate board members are from the forward castes. In another study, it was found that most mergers and acquisitions occur between directors of the same castes. Wherever there is a way, there is caste stopping your way – this proverb cannot be truer than in the Indian corporate world.
Media:
 |
| Media is dominated entirely by upper castes |
https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/08/02/caste-representation-indian-newsrooms-report-media-rumble-oxfam-india - Indian media is an upper-caste fortress, suggests report on caste representation
Out of 121 leadership positions surveyed in newsrooms, none are held by those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Judiciary:
 |
| Higher levels of the Judiciary are dominated by the Brahmin minority https://velivada.com/2019/07/18/caste-in-indian-judiciary/ - Caste in Indian Judiciary |
https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/india-news-70-years-of-indian-judiciary-opinion-composition-terribly-skewed-higher-levels-bastion-of-upper-caste-males/302658 - 70 Years Of Indian Judiciary | Opinion: Composition Terribly Skewed, Higher Levels Bastion Of Upper Caste Males
IAS:
 |
| IAS is dominated by Brahmins https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-percentage-of-Brahmins-in-IAS |
Yes.
https://scroll.in/topic/32016/caste-violence - Contains uptodate list of all the new cases coming up every week.
https://thewire.in/caste/ugly-reality-caste-violence-discrimination-urban-india - The Ugly Reality of Caste Violence and Discrimination in Urban India
Data on caste-based violence in metropolitan cities confirms the grim reality that sits at odds with the narrative of an aspiring global superpower.
FAQ
Reservation is a constitutional program to ensure that historically marginalized groups in India can have their fare share of representation in each and every sector and thereby ensure their contribution towards nation building.
The word reservation is a misnomer. The appropriate word for it used in the Indian constitution is Representation. It is not given to anyone in his individual capacity. It is given to individual as a representative of the underprivileged community.
Q: Why reservation?
The policy of reservations is being used as a strategy to overcome discrimination and act as a compensatory exercise. A large section of the society was historically denied right to property, education, business and civil rights because of the practice of untouchability. In order to compensate for the historical denial and have safeguards against discrimination, we have the reservation policy.
Q: Were Reservations incorporated by the founding fathers of the constitution only for first 10 years?
Only the political reservations (seats reserved in Loksabha, Vidhansabha, etc) were to be reserved for 10 years and the policy review was to be made after that. That is why after every 10 years the parliament extends political reservations. The 10 year limit for reservations is not true for the reservations in education and employment. The reservations in educational institutions and in employment are never given extension as it is given for the political reservations.
Q: Why give reservations on basis of caste?
To answer this question we must first understand why the need for the reservations has arisen. The cause for the various types of disabilities that the underprivileged castes in India face / have faced, is the systemic historical subjugation of a massive magnitude based on caste system having a religious sanction. Therefore if the caste system was the prime cause of all the disabilities, injustice and inequalities that the Dalit-Bahujans suffered, then to overcome these disabilities the solution has to be designed on basis of caste only.
Q: Why not on basis of economic criterion?
Reservations should never be based on economic status for various reasons as follows:
1. Reservation is not a poverty elevation program. For poverty elevation, already programs like MNREGA, Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana, etc.. exist. A poor person from forward caste doesn't need reservation because although he is poor, he already has representation in every sector, while a rich guy from marginalized caste doesn't have representation.
Q: Should there be a creamy layer criterion or not?
The demand from anti-reservationists for introduction of creamy layer is ploy to scuttle the whole effectiveness of reservations. Even now out of all seats meant for SC/STs in IITs , 25-40 % seats remain vacant because it seems IITs do not find suitable candidates. Just imagine what would happen if by applying creamy layer criterion the SC/ST middle class, lower middle class people who are in position to take decent education are excluded from reservations benefit ! Will the poor among SC/STs be able to compete with these ‘privileged ‘students’ trained under Ramaiah and at various IIT-JEE training centers at Kota ? Of course Not. This will lead to 100 % seats in IITs for SC/STs going vacant.
Q: How long should the reservations continue?
The answer to this question lies with the anti-reservationists. It depends on how sincerely and effectively the policy makers which constitute “privileged castes” people in executive, judiciary and legislature, implement the reservations policy. Is it just on part of “privileged castes” people who have enjoyed undeclared exclusive reservations for past 3000 years and continue to enjoy the same even in 21st century in all religious institutions and places of worship, to ask for the timelines for reservations policy? Why do not they ask, how long the exclusive reservations for particular community in the religious institutions and places of worship are going to continue? The people who have acquired disabilities due to inhuman subjugation for 3000 years will need substantial time to come over those disabilities. 50 years of affirmative action is nothing as compared to 3000 years of subjugation.
https://theprint.in/opinion/supreme-court-just-destroyed-the-merit-argument-upper-castes-use-to-oppose-reservations/236142/ - Supreme Court just destroyed the ‘merit’ argument upper castes use to oppose reservations
Q: Why reservation?
The policy of reservations is being used as a strategy to overcome discrimination and act as a compensatory exercise. A large section of the society was historically denied right to property, education, business and civil rights because of the practice of untouchability. In order to compensate for the historical denial and have safeguards against discrimination, we have the reservation policy.
Q: Were Reservations incorporated by the founding fathers of the constitution only for first 10 years?
Only the political reservations (seats reserved in Loksabha, Vidhansabha, etc) were to be reserved for 10 years and the policy review was to be made after that. That is why after every 10 years the parliament extends political reservations. The 10 year limit for reservations is not true for the reservations in education and employment. The reservations in educational institutions and in employment are never given extension as it is given for the political reservations.
Q: Why give reservations on basis of caste?
To answer this question we must first understand why the need for the reservations has arisen. The cause for the various types of disabilities that the underprivileged castes in India face / have faced, is the systemic historical subjugation of a massive magnitude based on caste system having a religious sanction. Therefore if the caste system was the prime cause of all the disabilities, injustice and inequalities that the Dalit-Bahujans suffered, then to overcome these disabilities the solution has to be designed on basis of caste only.
Q: Why not on basis of economic criterion?
Reservations should never be based on economic status for various reasons as follows:
1. Reservation is not a poverty elevation program. For poverty elevation, already programs like MNREGA, Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana, etc.. exist. A poor person from forward caste doesn't need reservation because although he is poor, he already has representation in every sector, while a rich guy from marginalized caste doesn't have representation.
2. The poverty prevailing among the Dalit-Bahujans has its genesis in the social-religious deprivations based on caste system. Therefore poverty is an effect and caste system a cause. The solution should strike at the cause and not the effect
3. An individual's Economic status can change. Low income may be taken to mean poverty. But the purchasing value of money, in India, depends upon caste. For example a Dalit can not buy a cup of tea even in some places.
4. Practical difficulties in proving economic status of individual to the state machinery are many. The weak may suffer.
5. In caste ridden India infested with rampant corruption, even for an unchangeable status like caste, the false "Caste Certificate" can be purchased. How much easier will it be to purchase a false "Income Certificate"? So income based reservation is impractical. It is no use arguing when both certificates can be bought, why caste only should form basis of reservation. It is certainly more difficult to buy a false caste certificate than a false income certificate.
3. An individual's Economic status can change. Low income may be taken to mean poverty. But the purchasing value of money, in India, depends upon caste. For example a Dalit can not buy a cup of tea even in some places.
4. Practical difficulties in proving economic status of individual to the state machinery are many. The weak may suffer.
5. In caste ridden India infested with rampant corruption, even for an unchangeable status like caste, the false "Caste Certificate" can be purchased. How much easier will it be to purchase a false "Income Certificate"? So income based reservation is impractical. It is no use arguing when both certificates can be bought, why caste only should form basis of reservation. It is certainly more difficult to buy a false caste certificate than a false income certificate.
6. Reservation is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. The main aim is to achieve the active participation and sharing by the "socially excluded" humanity in all the fields of the affairs of the society. It is not panacea for all ills, neither it is permanent. It would be a temporary measure till such time the matrimonial advertisements in newspaper columns continue to contain the mention of caste.
https://epw.in/journal/2020/2/special-articles/continuing-practice-untouchability-india.html - Source of the map on Untouchability
https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/10/waste-management-cyclical-nature-of-caste-and-gender-based-poverty/ - Manual Scavenging, gender and caste inequality, why people are trapped in the cycle of caste :
""Wilson was offered only scavenging and cleaning jobs based on his caste and his address when he went to the employment exchange with a higher secondary school certificate. The children of sanitation workers are unofficially classified as sanitation workers. These water-tight compartments allow for very little mobility between vocations, as history continues to repeat itself.""
""Reports estimate that even though 90-95% of manual scavenging is done by women, they face stark ‘invisibilisation’ and discrimination.""
""Wilson was offered only scavenging and cleaning jobs based on his caste and his address when he went to the employment exchange with a higher secondary school certificate. The children of sanitation workers are unofficially classified as sanitation workers. These water-tight compartments allow for very little mobility between vocations, as history continues to repeat itself.""
""Reports estimate that even though 90-95% of manual scavenging is done by women, they face stark ‘invisibilisation’ and discrimination.""
https://www.epw.in/engage/article/caste-discrimination-and-explicit-prejudice-indians-speak-about-their-attitudes - The number of non-Dalit Hindus who say they practise untouchability is high, according to a survey.
Q: Should there be a creamy layer criterion or not?
The demand from anti-reservationists for introduction of creamy layer is ploy to scuttle the whole effectiveness of reservations. Even now out of all seats meant for SC/STs in IITs , 25-40 % seats remain vacant because it seems IITs do not find suitable candidates. Just imagine what would happen if by applying creamy layer criterion the SC/ST middle class, lower middle class people who are in position to take decent education are excluded from reservations benefit ! Will the poor among SC/STs be able to compete with these ‘privileged ‘students’ trained under Ramaiah and at various IIT-JEE training centers at Kota ? Of course Not. This will lead to 100 % seats in IITs for SC/STs going vacant.
Q: How long should the reservations continue?
The answer to this question lies with the anti-reservationists. It depends on how sincerely and effectively the policy makers which constitute “privileged castes” people in executive, judiciary and legislature, implement the reservations policy. Is it just on part of “privileged castes” people who have enjoyed undeclared exclusive reservations for past 3000 years and continue to enjoy the same even in 21st century in all religious institutions and places of worship, to ask for the timelines for reservations policy? Why do not they ask, how long the exclusive reservations for particular community in the religious institutions and places of worship are going to continue? The people who have acquired disabilities due to inhuman subjugation for 3000 years will need substantial time to come over those disabilities. 50 years of affirmative action is nothing as compared to 3000 years of subjugation.
https://m.hindustantimes.com/interactives/dalit-farmers-landless-agricultural-labourers-minimum-support-price/ - Seven decades after independence, most Dalit farmers still landless
https://www.epw.in/engage/article/indian-democracy-has-failed-advance-redistributive-reforms-marginalised-groups - Indian Democracy Has Failed to Advance Redistributive Reforms for Marginalised Groups
First of all, landownership is profoundly unequal. As few as 7% of India’s rural households control 47% of the country’s land area, while the remaining 93% households do not have land at all, or are relegated to small and marginal holdings (Nilsen 2018b). Approximately 40% of the agricultural workforce is entirely dependent on wage labour for their livelihoods, while the majority of cultivators have such small holdings that they are compelled to supplement cultivation with wage labour.
First of all, landownership is profoundly unequal. As few as 7% of India’s rural households control 47% of the country’s land area, while the remaining 93% households do not have land at all, or are relegated to small and marginal holdings (Nilsen 2018b). Approximately 40% of the agricultural workforce is entirely dependent on wage labour for their livelihoods, while the majority of cultivators have such small holdings that they are compelled to supplement cultivation with wage labour.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/income-inequality-in-india-top-10-upper-caste-households-own-60-wealth-119011400105_1.html - Income inequality in India: Top 10% upper caste households own 60% wealth
Q: Will not the reservations based on castes lead to divisions in the society?
There are apprehensions that reservations will lead to the divisions in the society. These apprehensions are totally irrational. The society is already divided into different castes. On the contrary reservations will help in annihilating the caste system. There are around 5000 castes among the SC/ST and OBCs. By grouping these various castes under 3 broad categories of SC, ST and OBC, the differences among 5000 separate castes can be abridged. This is a best way of annihilation of castes. Therefore rather than making rhetoric about reservations leading to divisions in the society the anti-reservationists should make honest and sincere efforts to annihilate castes. Have these people made any efforts towards this direction? In most of the cases the answer is NO. The people making these anti-reservations rhetoric, all this time have been enjoying all the privileges that the Indian caste system offers to the “Privileged Castes”. As long as they enjoy the privileges of the caste system they do not have any qualms regarding it. But when it comes to making castes as basis for achieving social equality by providing representations these same people make noises. These are the double standards of highest order practiced by the ‘privileged’ people.
Q: Will not reservations affect the Merit?
Q: Will not the reservations based on castes lead to divisions in the society?
There are apprehensions that reservations will lead to the divisions in the society. These apprehensions are totally irrational. The society is already divided into different castes. On the contrary reservations will help in annihilating the caste system. There are around 5000 castes among the SC/ST and OBCs. By grouping these various castes under 3 broad categories of SC, ST and OBC, the differences among 5000 separate castes can be abridged. This is a best way of annihilation of castes. Therefore rather than making rhetoric about reservations leading to divisions in the society the anti-reservationists should make honest and sincere efforts to annihilate castes. Have these people made any efforts towards this direction? In most of the cases the answer is NO. The people making these anti-reservations rhetoric, all this time have been enjoying all the privileges that the Indian caste system offers to the “Privileged Castes”. As long as they enjoy the privileges of the caste system they do not have any qualms regarding it. But when it comes to making castes as basis for achieving social equality by providing representations these same people make noises. These are the double standards of highest order practiced by the ‘privileged’ people.
Q: Will not reservations affect the Merit?
Empirical Observation:
Reservations of more than 60 % have existed in the 4 states of southern India and around 40 % in Maharashtra since last 50 years. On other hand in the north Indian states the 15 % ‘privileged castes’ have been enjoying 77 % of the seats in educational institutions and in employment (assuming that 23 % reservations for SC/STs are totally filled, which is not the case). The World Bank study has found that all the 4 south Indian states are much ahead of north Indian states in terms of their human development index. It is a common knowledge that all the southern states and Maharashtra are much ahead in fields of education, health, industrial development, in implementing poverty alleviation schemes, etc. than the north Indian states. This shows that reservations have indeed helped the southern Indian states in making progress on various fronts. Whereas lack of adequate reservations is responsible for the lack of development in most of the north Indian states.
Concept of Merit:
The idea of merit is pseudo-scientific, as of now. Most people attribute it to passing a competitive exam. Numerous studies have shown that these competitive tests are infact dependent on your social, cultural and economic background rather than "being smart". If a community which make up 16% of the population(Dalits) don't even have 15% representation in the outcome of these exams, it clearly supports this argument, unless you are a racist who believes in the inherent superiority of Brahmins.
The classrooms and exams are built along a certain culture which excludes Dalit communities, as proved by studies.
"The idea to shift technical education from the shop floors to the classrooms came from British planners and their intention was to meet the need for technical expertise without rocking the boat socially. In other words, caste was on their minds.
This argument forms the basis of Ajantha Subramanian’s The Caste of Merit. She begins by proving this contention using British-era letters and records which confess to the planned exclusion of the lower castes whose “social standing made them ill-suited for classrooms”.
The most hard-hitting proof of this social exclusion comes to the fore when students were selected for state technical education scholarships around 1901. Subramanian has mined information from the scholarship applications which shows that people from artisanal trading castes who have a long association with the industry were ignored while upper caste students were selected because “...he is a Nayar by caste. He comes from a well-to-do family of good social position”. The book is filled with such examples.
‘The Caste of Merit’ review: A disconnect between engineering studies and the profession - https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/the-caste-of-merit-review-a-disconnect-between-engineering-studies-and-the-profession/article31867391.ece
It takes time for students from marginalized communities to adapt to the "culture" of the system. This is proven by studies.
ST, SC Engineering students learn at a faster rate than those from the general category, according to a study carried out by Stanford University, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the World Bank.
Moreover, it is also the case that even after passing college, the students aren't actually skilled to do the job. They are trained afterward by the organizations, to do the job. They are chosen because they fit the "culture of the organization". Here again, the idea of merit breaks down.
In India, habituses and the symbolic violence of the classroom express themselves in perverse ways. Rahul Varman writes (2006):"...in my first engineering class I was told that a good engineer is the one who can produce the best out of the least resources and similarly, management is supposed to find one’s way in an uncertain situation – or allocate scarce resources in the most optimal way possible. If that is so, whatever I have seen of our deprived masses (of which overwhelming majority belongs to the backward, dalit castes or adivasis), they have the astonishing capacity to make something productive from almost next to nothing! For the last few years I have been studying small industry clusters, like Moradabad brass, Varanasi silk and Kanpur leather. Put together (all the clusters in the country), they are exporting more than the IT sector and their cumulative employment will be several times of the whole of IT industry. In all these clusters they operate with minuscule resources – small investment, no electricity, forget about air conditioning, non-existent roads, lack of water, and little formal education. These clusters are primarily constituted of these so-called backward/dalit castes and are truly a tribute to the genius that our society is. But in spite of centuries of excellence these communities have hardly produced any formal “engineers”, “doctors” and “managers”, and conversely these elite institutions have not developed any linkages with such industries and their people."The content of knowledge on the basis of which examinations were devised often have only an oblique relation to the higher level for which filtering is being done. It is commonplace for human resource (HR) managers to remark at the time of recruitment of engineers that even an ordinary class XII pass could do those jobs with six months of training. What they sought was an attitude – an attitude that showed that this person would fit in well with the existing culture of the organisation.http://home.iitk.ac.in/~amman/articles/amman_sociologizing_merit.pdf - IIT Kanpur paper, Sociologizing Merit - it investigates deeply into the idea of Merit
The reservation policy in the public sector has benefited a lot of people. The Central government alone has 14 lakh employees. The proportion of Scheduled castes in class III and IV is well above the quota of 16 per cent and in class I and II, the proportion is around 8–12 per cent. So, the middle and the lower middle class that we see today from the Dalit community is because of reservation. With no reservation, the entry of these people in government services would have been doubtful. The situation is similar in education. An article in the EPW (Economic and Political Weekly) estimates that there are seven lakh SC /ST students in higher education and about half of them are there because of reservation. Reservation has certainly helped but there are limitations in any policy with the way it is implemented.
https://www.forwardpress.in/2019/08/why-caste-based-reservation-is-a-logical-social-justice-measure/ - Why caste-based reservation is a logical social-justice measure | Best FAQ on Reservation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZb4lGYkjrg - India Untouched | Must Watch | About the Untouchability all over India in the 21st century
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpUzSRswyY4 - Jai Bhim Comrade | Documentary on Dalit Resistance
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Is2bg6rh9lI - Indias untouchables trudge through sewers | Clip
https://m.hindustantimes.com/interactives/dalit-farmers-landless-agricultural-labourers-minimum-support-price/ - Seven decades after independence, most Dalit farmers still landless
https://www.epw.in/engage/article/indian-democracy-has-failed-advance-redistributive-reforms-marginalised-groups - Indian Democracy Has Failed to Advance Redistributive Reforms for Marginalised Groups
First of all, landownership is profoundly unequal. As few as 7% of India’s rural households control 47% of the country’s land area, while the remaining 93% households do not have land at all, or are relegated to small and marginal holdings (Nilsen 2018b). Approximately 40% of the agricultural workforce is entirely dependent on wage labour for their livelihoods, while the majority of cultivators have such small holdings that they are compelled to supplement cultivation with wage labour.
First of all, landownership is profoundly unequal. As few as 7% of India’s rural households control 47% of the country’s land area, while the remaining 93% households do not have land at all, or are relegated to small and marginal holdings (Nilsen 2018b). Approximately 40% of the agricultural workforce is entirely dependent on wage labour for their livelihoods, while the majority of cultivators have such small holdings that they are compelled to supplement cultivation with wage labour.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/income-inequality-in-india-top-10-upper-caste-households-own-60-wealth-119011400105_1.html - Income inequality in India: Top 10% upper caste households own 60% wealth
*this is a collection which contains many stuff copied as it is, from many parts of the internet; these are not mine. If you authored any material given here, please inform me to get your attribution.
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