Cast it aside

A depressing calm is discernible in government circles on enlarging the scope of reservation in educational institutions. Having won the consensus on quotas for OBCs, there appears to be a sense of fait accompli in government policy. As an Indian Express-CNN-IBN opinion poll showed this weekend, the public mood is overwhelmingly in favour of finetuning the reservation policy beyond the automatic installation of quotas along familiar axes. To recap the findings of the survey published in The Sunday Express, a strong majority of respondents in a representative sample expressed support for reservation in higher education. However, an even larger majority8212;67 per cent8212;recommended that economic criteria, irrespective of caste, must be included in identifying beneficiaries.

It would amount to rebuffing a historic opportunity if the government hastened its current programme to install quotas in higher education purely on the recommendations of the Mandal commission report. Affirmative action is key to making India a more inclusive society. It is also crucial in realizing its knowledge potential. Contrary to the false choice often offered between excellence and equity, affirmative action in fact enlarges the pool of excellence by enabling people to overcome social prejudice and economic deprivation. The question is this: is automatic identification of caste groupings alone adequate? Deprivation in India8212;as in every society8212; operates along various axes. Caste is one. But to believe that it alone should be a marker in programmes of affirmative action may be a poor reading of India8217;s complex socio-economic realities.

It bears repetition that the sample for the opinion poll included the urban educated in greater proportion to their percentage of the total population. It is from this elite that opposition to quotas has come. Even so, the survey is a plea for affirmative action, but in the programme with more optimal targeting of beneficiaries. It would a pity if the government ignored this sentiment and stayed with the easy course8212;that is, simple adherence to the Mandal report.