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Reservations: Social (In)Justice
Sandeep
A kind gent (lady?) left this comment on my Dalit post, which is the basis of this post. This entry partly tries to address some issues he (she?) has raised, and is partly a record of my stray thoughts on the subject.
But let me ask you a question, do you or don't you agree that there are indeed grave problems in the realm of social justice in India? I think before blaming other groups for political conversion or trying to find conspiracy angle to these things we should think about the caste problems carefully.
The right question we need to ask is this: what is the precise definition of social justice? I'm rather loath to accept the definition in currency for most of the 59 years since Independence. This definition has its roots in the Marxist scheme of a classless society, which is a little more than an absurd fantasy. According to this scheme, one would expect a scientist to earn the same as a railway porter and still feel happy about it because he's living in an equal, just society.
We have seen it happen in the erstwhile USSR where the gap between a chosen few and almost the whole country was enormous. They used fancy balderdash to trumpet it: egalitarian society. The current regime is using its full might to ensure that we get there. Only, we call it social justice. Our means too, to getting there are different.
Fifty nine years may not be long, but it is significant to show the success or failure of our understanding and implementation of social justice. We have not implemented social justice. We've legitimized freeloading. Nothing else explains the uniformly abject inefficiency of every institution in this country. A superior cannot chide his junior for inefficiency/dereliction of duty for the fear of inviting a caste-discrimination lawsuit.
In the name of social justice, we've encouraged absenteeism, petty politicking, groupism, laziness, and even violence. If the morons who took over the country--mostly after 1965--were serious about real social justice, they would've introduced measures to empower those they wanted to uplift themselves. Empowerment by putting into place systems that enabled the selfsame Dalits etc, to rise through dignity. But that'd be the end of their vote banks. So they perverted the whole process to ensure that the downtrodden were always dependent on this political class.
They corrupted what India was always known for: its system of values.
Look around everywhere today. The most vociferous claimants of reservations never talk about dignity or hard work: they vehemently oppose it but sugarcoat this opposition in clever language. They simply say, "merit is not important," "how backward you are takes precedence over merit." Merit is earned while backwardness needs just a certificate. They faithfully follow the precedent that was set earlier. For example, Karnataka's Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities were the earliest birds who feasted on the Reservation benefits. But the distribution of said benefits however, is grossly disproportionate to their population.
Now for the premise on which Reservations are built. It is easy to blame the caste system but is it the whole truth? The caste system is perhaps largely irrelevant today where occupation-based division of society is more or less obsolete. As a method of organizing society, there are few systems that are superior to the caste system. This is for another day. It is actually incorrect to blame the caste system as evil--the culprit is really the perversion of the caste system . In his latest book, Falling over Backwards, Arun Shourie raises some interesting questions:
How is it that what was explicitly forbidden by the Constitution--classification based on caste--has become the rule? How is it that what were enabling provisions have become mandatory minima?... How is it that what were begun as reservations at entry became reservations in promotion also? How did this become a right to accelerated promotions? How did that become a right "accelerated promotions with consequential seniority? How did that become a right to have the prescribed standards diluted--to the point of being waived altogether? Even in educational institutions. Is this any way to become a "knowledge super-power?" [.] The race then was to get one's group recognized as a higher caste. How has it become a race to get it anointed as "backward?" Are the "backward castes", the weak ones who need protection and privileges? ... Who is most responsible for atrocities on harijans ?
And more such uncomfortable questions throughout this compelling book. Interestingly, the ones who make the loudest pro-Reservation noise are not the actual folks from downtrodden/backward castes but the liberals who do one, some or all of the following:
- Lend legitimacy to braindead schemes by the likes of Arjun Singh.
- Consciously advocate the merit-as-bullshit (see above) argument while arguably, lots of these folks have gotten where they are by hard work, and merit.
- Visit/meet villagers and/or "low caste" people in rural India and build a case for Reservations based on what they see there.
- Build their case based purely on specious premises.
The last point is noteworthy: it is easy to find a premise, any premise. From there, it is just a step away: data is readily available aplenty. However, it requires a special genuis to twist it to prove their premise. The Left-liberal clique possesses this in copious amounts. Their argument is mostly based on appealing to emotion. They see the appalling poverty in the Indian rural side and attribute that solely to the caste system: therefore, Reservations are a must. This clique is out to inflict the maximum damage to the cause of the Dalits, downtrodden, etc. By constantly harping on their backwardness, they perpetuate it: you're backward, only Reservations can help you. We, the do-gooders, the Reformers of Society will ensure that you get them.
We again return to the same question: what makes us so sure that Reservations are the only way forward despite the miserable record of its failure over 59 years? The truth is India now has more castes than at any other time in her long history. A political class whose avowed aim is to abolish caste has embarked on a massive caste-data search today. The few remaining sane voices are out-shouted, or go unheeded.
If we were really convinced that the caste system is evil, why do we still perpetuate it in the name of eradicating it? Why weren't we serious about Ambedkar's rider of 10 years?
Now I ask my gentle commenter, what "caste problems" do we examine? More importantly, where do we start?
Reservations: Social (In)Justice
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Jaffna
URL
November 15, 2006
04:11 AM
Dear Sandeep
A thought provoking piece. Let me respond. As a practicing Hindu from Sri Lanka, I think it necessary that issues of social justice be addressed. I agree with you that the current system of reservations in India has more to do with electoral politics than with the genuine desire to uplift the poor and dispossessed. But something needs to be done nonetheless given the alarming rates of illiteracy, poverty and rural backwardness in India (its neighbors are no exception).
There is a rich tradition of dissent in Hindu civilization. The Upanishads question ritual and ceremony. These texts emphasize reason as against priest craft.
Concepts of caste were likewise challenged in our tradition. I refer here to Ramanuja, Ramanand, Raidas, Tukaram, Namdev, Kabir, Narasimha Mehta, the Siddhas, Vemana (?) Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mohandas K. Gandhi and many, many others. This social activism needs to be revived in keeping with our traditions.
In terms of today's sociology something needs to be done to make the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes more competitive in the market place. There has to be investment in schools that target the scheduled castes, in teachers and in technical education to ensure that this takes place. The Government of India has failed in this regard and instead used the easy way out i.e. reservations. The latter was a gimmick to cover up the utter failure of Nehruvian Indian educational policy.
There needs to be rural land reform to empower the scheduled castes. The tillers of the soil need to own the land that they work on. Indian policy failed in marked contrast to post-war Japan, South Korea and Taiwan that introduced far reaching land reform. The scheduled castes are often agricultural laborers working on the land of others with minimim pay.
The law has to take its course when the rights of the scheduled castes are violated in rural India. Unfortunately, the police are often mere bystanders doing nothing to bring to book those who have violated the law of the land.
The judiciary is overwhelmed with the sheer caseload of cases that nothing happens on that front either.
The panel of eminent jurists that drafted India's constitution in 1950 outlawed untouchability. The Indian legislature passed the Civil Rights Act in 1955. It introduced the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act in 1976. Parliament enacted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 1989. I am not sure whether any of these laws have had their intended effect.
There were 147,000 cases under the Prevention of Atrocities Act pending in the Indian courts in 1998. Only 31,011 cases were brought to trial. And only 5.4% or 1,677 cases ended in a conviction. All others charged were acquitted. Conversely the conviction rates in cases tried under the Indian penal code was 39.4% in 1999 and 41.8% in 2000. This discrepancy is a travesty of justice.
So while, I agree with you that the current policy of reservations is an electoral gimmick designed to create constitutencies of support in the absence of real solid solutions, social justice remains relevant.
One has to re-assert this radical trend in Hinduism and re-emphasize the oneness of humanity. One can then recover an inheritance centered on loka samgraha, the purposive action towards the social good, and Kshemakrit, the welfare obligation to the poor. The highest worship is that of Daridra Narayana, that divinity who assumes the form of the downtrodden. Social justice remains key to India's advancement!
Best regards
Jaffna
URL
November 15, 2006
04:14 AM
Sandeep
Let me add a postscript.
You describe the Lingayats and Vokkaligas as the biggest beneficiaries of the Government's reservation policy in Karnataka. This surprised me and represents the basic dishonest of post-Nehruvian policy today. Both castes are hardly oppressed. They in fact are the agrarian elite - the landed castes - the high castes. How they managed to secure the benefits of reservations beats me.
sandeep
URL
November 15, 2006
04:38 AM
Jaffna,
>>Social justice remains key to India's advancement!
Which is pretty much what I said in my post. My only lament was its definition in Marxist tones.
>>How they managed to secure the benefits of reservations beats me.
Remember, in the early days of 1947 and a few years down the road, these castes came under the "Shudra" umbrella. That's how they began to slowly corner the Reservation benefits. Actually, in that period, there was didn't exist the humungous number of castes and sub castes like today. In Karnataka at least, we had just 2 classifications: B (Brahmin) and Non-B. Lingayats and Vokkaligas fell under the latter category.
Jaffna
URL
November 15, 2006
04:45 AM
Sandeep
But the Vokkaligas and Lingayats are hardly 'Shudra' (I hate the term btw) - they built temples, donated land to religious centers of learning and underpinned successive dynasties in what is today Karnataka. They were the yeoman aristocrats - the landed elite. The dominant Marxist sociology taught in Indian universities is premised on a very ideological reading of history. The Lingayats and Vokkaligas were never exploited - I happen to be one (i.e. the Sri Lankan equivalent)!
Best regards
sandeep
URL
November 15, 2006
05:07 AM
>>...they built temples, donated land to religious centers of learning and underpinned successive dynasties in what is today Karnataka.
Ditto for Andhra Pradesh, too. They have done more to serve, protect and uphold Sanatana Dharma than any other caste, especially during and after the Islamic period.
But they were clubbed as "backward" because of...well, you know how the political parlance was perverted after Independence.
>>Shudra' (I hate the term btw)
Why? It has a rather noble meaning. Shudra is derived from Shucaat dravayati iti Shudrah meaning "one who bestows cleanliness." A very lofty concept, don't you agree? I hope you'll look at it with a new respect from now on (wink!).
The biggest disservice that Nehru & co have done is drive Sanskrit to obscurity. If that one language is restored to all its glory, most of the crap that passes as scholarship in Hinduism/Indology will simply die its deserved death. For e.g. in the above, "Shudra" would ONLY mean a caste that was oppressed for centuries, but that is simply a second hand interpretation. If you look at the primary sources (why! what better primary source than word meaning itself?), e.g. in the Rg Veda, you have a very clear picture of what the caste system signifies. More in a separate post.
>>The Lingayats and Vokkaligas were never exploited...
Try and tell that aloud in Karnataka today.
Cheers!
Jaffna
URL
November 15, 2006
05:27 AM
Sandeep,
I am slightly uncomfortable with the translation. If Shudra means one who bestows cleaniness - it highlights the root of the problem - i.e. one who cleans. I am uneasy with ideas of ritual cleanliness. This said, you can correct me :-)
I would prefer to accentuate a different side of the Hindu tradition i.e. its inclusivism. Persons of all castes contributed to a Hindu intellectual understanding of the world. The author of the Aitereya Brahmana was half Dasyu. Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, belonged to a robber tribe. Epic legend has it that the great rishi, Parasara, was the son of an outcaste girl. Vyasa, his son by a fisherwoman, edited the Mahabharata and Brahma Sutras.
In fact, the Lingayats represented democratic stirrings in early medieval Karnataka. This movement drew persons of all castes in committed devotion to Siva and organized the Siva anubhava mantapa in the 12 century, wherein all discussed, debated and defined the principles of Saivite Hinduism, regardless of caste. This movement, which included some 60 eminent women saints in positions of leadership, emphasized inter-caste marriage, the abandonment of untouchabity and the dignity of labor.
To think that they now corner reservation benefits that should correctly speaking only go to the marginalized beats me.
Best regards
sandeep
URL
November 15, 2006
05:54 AM
Jaffna,
>>I am slightly uncomfortable with the translation. If Shudra means one who bestows cleaniness - it highlights the root of the problem - i.e. one who cleans. I am uneasy with ideas of ritual cleanliness. This said, you can correct me :-)
Well, it is tough to give an exact translation from Sanskrit to English. My bad :( Well, "one who bestows cleanliness" isn't synonmyous with "one who cleans." Shuchaat dravayati, doesn't translate to that. But as I said, a detailed treatment in a separate post.
Colombo dude
URL
November 15, 2006
07:32 AM
Sandeep, Jaffna
Interesting discussion here. Things got worse with the current UPA administration. Britain tried hard to keep India divided on caste and religion lines (which makes that Andrew Morris chap all the more dubious) but failed. There repeated attempts to have separate caste based electorates did not succeed.
Sonia Gandhi (real name - Edvige Antonia Albina Maino) is merely following in the footsteps of the colonial masters. An Italian by birth, the daughter of a fascist brick maker (this is no term of abuse - it is a reality - her dad supported Mussolini) and an au pair girl changing diapers in Cambridge, she now rules at the helm albeit using the cover of Manmohan Singh.
The policy of extending caste based reservations to include religious minorities (unheard of anywhere in the world), of extending caste based resevations to include more and more so-called backward castes (in addition to the dalits and adivasis), of extending caste to private educational facilities (except Christian schools that is) and of trying to extend it to the army is only intended to keep India divided. Forget real investment in education on the ground. Think of these sops to accentuate caste and win the next election.
Sonia Maino is the worst thing to happen to India - she is a colonial left over - India is weak all along now - be it foreign policy, be it defence or be it social cohesion. Pathetic bunch these UPA folks.
And before I end, Jaffna - you are too lefty - neither here nor there!!!
dr. r
November 15, 2006
06:46 PM
Good debate here. I think Sonia's role in the reservation fiasco needs to be explored further. Colombo dude has a point. Sandeep - I loved your earlier post on Islam. Encore, si vous plait.
- dr. r
Sujay Rao Mandavilli
URL
November 16, 2006
02:44 AM
No reservations can be allowed in the private sector: no country in the world has this.
(a) It is the goverment's job to provide educational facilities in backward areas. So why
transfer the burden to the private sector ?
(b) This proposal violates the law of contract. The employer
decides whom to hire and the prospective employee decides which comany to join.
(c) It could drive away investors and lead to
MILLIONS OF JOB LOSSES.
THIS COULD SPELL DOOM FOR THE INDIA GROWTH STORY.....
AND BECOME THE BIGGEST RETROGADE STEP IN INDIAN HISTORY
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