(Dr Pentapati Pullarao)
On 15 January, President Ram Nath Kovind signed the law giving 10% reservations for poor upper castes. Though I will not be a beneficiary, I welcome this step as it . This 10% quota is equally available for all religions too. Upper castes who have been agitating for quotas will get something to satisfy themselves. The 10% will not fulfill their demands. But it gives them hope and respect for the Constitution.
Who Qualifies for the Quota
The beneficiaries of the 10 percent reservation must come under the categories below :
- Family income should be less than 8 lakh per annum.
- Farm land should be less than that of 5 acres.
- Residential house should be less than 1000 sq ft.
- Residential plot should be below 100 yards in a notified municipality.
- In case of a non-notified municipality area, the residential plot should be below 200 yards.
Modi’s government approved the proposed law on January 7th, 2019 and it cleared Parliament and became a law on January 15, 2019. No other Constitutional amendment passed so fast. No political party dared opposed it as they sensed that the crores of upper caste poor would be furious with them.
For the first time since Independence, after numerous agitations, parliament has passed a Reservation law favoring a section of the upper castes. Since 1952, Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes have been enjoying 22% reservation in government jobs, seats in parliament and assemblies and other facilities. In 1990, Backward classes got 27% reservation for Jobs and educational seats. Backward classes did not get reservations in parliament or assemblies. But they got great help in all central government and state government educational institutions and assured jobs of great prestige.
If you look through the lists of IAS, IPS and IFS officers, you will find that 49% of all the jobs are now held by those whose castes are eligible for constitutional reservations. Over 70 years, these reservations have also led to big inequalities within the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and now in the backward Classes.
There are complaints that some sections of Scheduled castes and Scheduled castes from advanced states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra get most of the jobs, seats and facilities and scheduled castes from backward states like Bihar, and Odisha get nothing. Similarly, in Scheduled tribe quota ,the aboriginal tribes get nothing. Did you ever hear of an Andhra Koya tribe get a big job ? In the backward class reservations, advanced backward castes corner all Reservation benefits.
There is a demand that even the reserved seats and jobs and Assembly and parliament seats must be split up into different categories. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana , we have seen a long sustained agitation by Madigas to divide up the Sch. caste quotas.
Upper castes demands for quotas :
With the growing rural population, small farmers had their small holdings divided into uneconomic land holdings in rural areas. Their children cannot make farming a profession. They see youth of other castes get seats in colleges, scholarships and jobs and it upsets them that the Constitution has nothing for them. The upper caste children are either unemployed or go to cities to get lost in small jobs .
Why everyone wants a government job ?
Every year, 15 lakh youth sit for All India Service examinations for which there are only about 10000 are selected. In every state , lakhs of highly educated youth apply for constables jobs or peons jobs. The reason that people want government jobs is that they pay well . There is job security and immense power and prestige . There is immense potential for corruption too. Recently, we saw how Ant-Corruption raids have caught minor officers with hundreds of crores of property. Barely 1% of corrupt officers are caught. Most of the corrupt get away and lead rich lives with arrogance and greed.
The power that a government officer enjoys at any level has made it much sought after employment. Whether you are a Collector or a peon , everyone wants a government job. Though this new Reservation law is only for 10% of jobs, seats and other facilities and scholarships in Government of India institutions, this is a major step. All across the country ,there have been continuous agitations by castes like the Jats, Rajputs, Brahmins, Vaishyas, Maharathas, Patels and theKapus for some reservations for them.
Gains from the Upper caste 10% reservations ;
- Already many states like Gujarat have started implementing the law. Telangana has announced that it will implement the law . This means that the State Governments have realized that this reservation law will give some hope for upper caste youth and reduce tensions.
- The 10% reservation applies to Christians, Muslims and all poor people not covered in the present reservation laws. This means that a poor and deserving Muslim or a Kerala Syrian Christian ( Kerala Syrian Christians were Brahmins earlier ) can also compete in the 10% category. Definitely, this will have an impact on many upper caste youth to avoid agitations .
- Dr. Ambedkar had said that reservations will be in force only for 10 years from 1952. Every 10 years, parliament has been extending the law for another 10 years. The upper castes had been agitating that the law was unfair. Now this 10% reservations takes away some bitterness of their youth.
- Mayavathi and all other Dalit leaders have supported this 10% reservation for upper caste poor. These leaders are fully aware that there is great anger that the upper caste poor are not getting any opportunities. They know that people should accept the constitution is a fair document. That is why all Dalit leaders happily supported upper caste reservations.
- Some Backward class leaders gave statement s against this reservation. But in Parliament, all Backward class MPs voted for this law. They are also fully aware that there is justified anger amongst the upper caste poor that they have been left out of all constitutional protections.
The Malaysian example : Malaysia is the only country in the world which has reservations for the majority group in a country. In Malaysia , there are the Malays ( Muslims), Chinese and Indians . For centuries, Chinese have dominated the economy .Indians dominated government and private sector . The majority Malays ( 60%) resented this situation and after Malaysia got Independence from Britain introduced a new policy called the “ Bhumiputra” policy. This means that Malays must get a share in every business ,most jobs, etc.
Now there are ideas that this policy must be changed as the Malaysian economy is not growing as fast as it should. Chinese capital is going abroad and the best Indians are going to Europe and America.
All reservations policies must be done carefully. The Upper caste poor needed some relief as they have been left out of every job, seat in top colleges and scholarships. Hope is necessary and this new 10% reservation law does that .
Time will tell how such laws eventually would impact India.
(*Dr Pullarao is a New Delhi based economist and political commentator)