"Of course, forward castes aren't happy with the situation, in spite of having a larger representation than their proportion in the population. The problem is that the total number of seats available is so low that most people are left out. But this is true of every single category, and not just FCs. Many of us, belonging to the forward castes, have a lot of friends who are "left out", and feel outraged that its due to reservations ( though many FC candidates score lower than even the reserved-category cut-off marks, and still blame reservations!). But the question to ask is: What about the lakhs of people from the MBCs and BCs who get left out ? There are thousands of farmers' daughters and weavers' sons who either are unable to get to high school, or even if they do, do not get adequate support from home and are unable to afford coaching classes. We seldom know them and do not encounter them in our day-to-day lives. Yet they are real students, who are not only unable to get into these seats, but do not even get the opportunity to compete on an even footing. Are we pre-supposing that these students are all devoid of merit? According to the math above, for every Forward Class friend of ours, there are atleast 5 Backward Class/Most Backward Class students who were denied the opportunity to get a seat. Who speaks for them ?.."
Imagine that the government came up with a proposal to build a new world-class technology institution to provide quality education to all students. Imagine, too, that a debate rages on the viability of building such an institution – in terms of the costs involved, student quality, desired outcomes etc. Now, imagine that such a debate takes place with little reference to IITs or the role they have played in technical education. Outrageous, you would think ? Yet, something similar is happening in the reservation debate, both within and outside AID (Association for India's Development). The record of states which have implemented Other Backward Classes reservations already is seldom brought up.
The case of Tamilnadu
States like Tamilndu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have already implemented reservation for OBCs in educational institutions. I will restrict my references to Tamilnadu alone, since I do not know about the situation in other states. In Tamilnadu, the total reservation is 69%, the split up for which is given below (ref www.tn.gov.in/policynotes/bc_mbc_welfare.htm ) for convenience
Tamil Nadu Population (Projected)
Category | Population (2001) | % of Total Population | % of Reservation |
Backward Classes | 2,87,93,980 | 46.14% | 30% |
Most Backward Classes | 1,08,77,310 | 17.43% |
20%
|
Denotified Communities | 21,46,755 | 3.44% |
Scheduled Classes | 1,18,57,504 | 19.00% | 18% |
Scheduled Tribes | 6,51,321 | 1.04% | 1% |
Others | 80,78,809 | 12.95% | - |
Total | 6,24,05,679 | 100% | 69% |
Backward Clasess (BCs) and Most Backward Classes (MBCs) of Tamilnadu are together equivalent to the "Other Backward Castes", as they are referred to in the rest of the country. The most obvious observation from the table above is that the percentage of reservations is only equal to or lower than the percentage of the group in the overall population. So the reservation system is only trying to bring about proportional representation in educational institutions. It does not result in a reverse-discrimination (which would mean BCs get more than their proportional share in order to right historical wrongs), as many people claim. FCs, who form the "others", still get the bulk of the 31% open-quota seats even though their population percentage is only 13%.
Overall, the experience with reservation has been very positive, and that is why there is wide-spread support for it in the state. The government health-care system in Tamilnadu is better than most other states, and one reason has been the quality doctors that the system produces, a factor attributed to reservations. Many of them also opt to serve in rural areas. Not surprisingly, the Tamil Nadu chapter of the Indian Medical Association supports quotas for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Now it is not difficult to see why the anti-reservation polemic does not refer to states like Tamilnadu with an OBC reservation record. It is because there are no instances of bridges cracking due to faulty design and patients dying due to incompetent doctors. These are often cited as the potential dangers due to reservations, either directly or more subtly as "quality will deteriorate". I am not saying that there are no problems with govt doctors or hospitals in TN, but these problems are present in other states too, and the overall quality is still better in Tamilnadu.
Who gets in and who does'nt ?
Of course, forward castes aren't happy with the situation, in spite of having a larger representation than their proportion in the population. The problem is that the total number of seats available is so low that most people are left out. But this is true of every single category, and not just FCs. Many of us, belonging to the forward castes, have a lot of friends who are "left out", and feel outraged that its due to reservations ( though many FC candidates score lower than even the reserved-category cut-off marks, and still blame reservations!).
But the question to ask is: What about the lakhs of people from the MBCs and BCs who get left out ? There are thousands of farmers' daughters and weavers' sons who either are unable to get to high school, or even if they do, do not get adequate support from home and are unable to afford coaching classes. We seldom know them and do not encounter them in our day-to-day lives. Yet they are real students, who are not only unable to get into these seats, but do not even get the opportunity to compete on an even footing. Are we pre-supposing that these students are all devoid of merit? According to the math above, for every FC friend of ours, there are atleast 5 BC/MBC students who were denied the opportunity to get a seat. Who speaks for them ?
Economic criterion
Such examples immediately bring up the point that reservations have'nt resulted in what they intended to do. Again, experience in Tamilnadu points otherwise. There are any number of good students from backward castes who get into Anna university every year due to reservations, and excel in their careers.
In addition, there is already a provision for excluding the creamy layer of each caste from reservation (the list of conditions that exclude a person from enjoying OBC reservation benefits, is at ) so that only the needy get the benefits.
What about purely economic criteria, leaving out caste ? While that might work in an ideal caste-less society, we have to acknowledge that caste is still a huge factor governing societal relationships today. Those who think that "caste is not a factor in urban India anymore", need only look at the matrimonial columns of any popular newspaper.
The supreme court has also ruled that reservations based on purely economic conditions is unconstitutional. Besides, economic conditions can easily change over time, whereas caste does not offer any mobility. That is why, inspite of reservations, it takes a lot of time for real empowerment of the lower castes. And just because a caste is "considered" low, it wont become an OBC. It has to satisfy several conditions to be included as socio-economically" backward , for example that the proportion of graduates is 20% lower than the state or local average (complete list of guidelines at http://ncbcnic.in/html/guideline.html). The outrageous fact is that there still are clearly identifiable castes and sub-castes which fall in such categories, exposing the deep-rooted nature of our caste system.
Conclusion
As AIDers, we have a conscious responsibility to not only appreciate the problems of those from our castes and backgrounds, but also the millons of Indians who are generally unable to take part at all levels in the government education/adiminstration system. Let us go beyond our individual class/caste biases and take a position on the issue.
