The toxic baggage. Not Reservations, But Poverty-Alleviation The Solution: Harpreet Singh

January 27, 2009

In the initial years of his dispensation, I recall reading a newspaper report that had mentioned Dr Manmohan Singh’s favourite quote: ¶Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come”. The Prime Minister was trying to buttress the proposal for job reservations in the private sector. It was indeed worrying to read such a comment from a scholar of distinction, one who is expected to be a pillar of progress and sanity in a House with few or no role models though the group collectively represents the entire nation.

It is interesting to see how a House divided on such critical issues as economic policy, anti-terror laws and frequently the scene of extreme indiscipline and disruption, is in perfect accord while supporting caste-based reservation. If someone were to say that this is a positive sign and indicates the legislators’ understanding of the people’s mind, then one can remind them that the same set of lawmakers also speaks in one voice to ensure undeserving increases in their perks.

Caste system

It is worth considering if reservations have achieved or will ever achieve their objective. The rationale for quotas was that the resultant strengthening of the target castes and classes would end the influence of a person’s caste on his economic status. Second, they were expected to gradually weaken the overall social hold of the caste system itself. The fact of the matter is that reservations have achieved precious little in either direction. If this policy were to be effective, then all those who belong to the SC/ST and OBC categories would by now have been out of the economic quagmire. This certainly has not happened. Similarly, the social menace of untouchability has not been wiped out by reservations.
 
Quotas have ensured that individuals belonging to the target classes and castes have made it to premier educational institutions and coveted jobs. They have even made it to Parliament on the basis of reserved seats. For all that, the scourge of casteism persists. Even in the 21st century, Dalit women are paraded naked or killed for entering a temple.

The cruel irony is that reservations, to an extent, have contributed to the survival of the caste system. A section of society is given preferential treatment to the extent that merit becomes a major casualty. Following the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations, candidates in the reserved category have made it to medical and/or engineering colleges despite indifferent performance in the entrance examinations. The trend has been deeply resented by the general category of candidates. The net result is that cracks have widened within society.

This is not to suggest that the government should ignore the inhuman treatment that is often meted out to certain castes in parts of the country that are far removed from the world of silicon chips and Page 3 parties. It devolves on the government to crack the whip to counter man’s inhumanity to man. However, reservations are an ineffective, even damaging, antidote. If a person loses strength in his legs and we help him by ensuring that there is an elevator in every building he visits, then we are not providing him with a cure. We are only making him dependent on the elevator. What he needs is medicine to cure the ailment and restore the strength of his legs to enable him to stand on his own feet and walk again.

The biggest social disadvantage and something akin to such a disease is poverty. Whether the sufferer is a member of a so- called lower/backward caste or a Brahmin, he needs a cure, not an elevator. The solution lies in a series of steps ~ provide the person with protection from discrimination such as denial of entry to a temple or denial of water from the community well in the village, free or highly subsidised vocational training or school and college education (depending on the age) and perhaps some monetary help like a low interest loan to help him earn his livelihood. This must be ensured for anyone who is economically backward, irrespective of his caste or religion.

Third front

More than anyone else in Parliament, worthies such as Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr P Chidambaram should realise that providing help in the form of reservations creates incompetent individuals just as protection gives rise to weak companies and economies. Also, those who portray themselves as the messiahs of the Dalits and dream of providing us a political alternative as the third front, are perfectly suited for destroying us socially and economically. For, this the prospective third front includes on the one hand Communists, whose system has proved to be a disaster the world over. On the other hand, it includes the BSP, which now claims to represent all castes and creeds but which is unable to hide its true colours. It may have changed its slogan from Tilak taraazu aur talwar, inko maaro jutey chaar to Brahmin shankh bajaayega, haathi badhtaa jaayega. With the help of the CPI-M and the BJP, Mayawati had tried to topple the UPA government a few months ago. When the attempt came a cropper, her reaction was: ¶They cannot bear to see the daughter of a Dalit become the Prime Minister.¶

That remark exposed the reality: She and her supporters reckon that being a Dalit is the singular qualification necessary to be India’s Prime Minister. And if anyone does not support a Dalit in a race for the post, then he ought to be branded as an enemy of the Dalits irrespective of how unsuitable that Dalit candidate may have been for the office. The caste system is a piece of toxic baggage that we need to dump and not keep carrying on our backs. The imperative is not reservations, but effective steps against poverty alleviation.

The writer is a freelance contributor
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