Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The categorisation of scheduled castes SC into four groups has become an explosive issue in Andhra Pradesh, dividing the Dalits into two warring camps. The Madigas are backing the categorisation and the Malas are opposing it.
Though the N. Chandrababu Naidu Government8217;s decision to divide the SCs for reservations in public employment and educational institutions based on their socio-economic levels is a year old, the demand has a long history.The 95 lakh SC population in the State is divided into as many as 59 castes, with the Madigas forming around 47 per cent and the Malas 36 per cent. However, the benefits of reservation in the past five decades have gone largely in favour of the Malas.
Historical factors are responsible for it. The Malas, who are largely concentrated in the erstwhile British-ruled coastal districts, benefited from the Christian missionaries who reached the area about 250 years ago and raised their educational standards.
This led to their development in the fields of education andemployment. They competed with the upper castes in all spheres, be it employment or politics and it was but natural that they could edge out other weaker SC castes in job quotas.
On the other hand, the Madigas are largely confined to drought-prone Telangana and Rayalaseema. In literacy level or political participation, they were no match for the Malas. So in the race for the benefits of reservation too, they were left behind.
The Madigas continue to suffer. As a sociologist put it, while the Malas were trying to compete with the developed Kammas and Reddys, the Madigas were not even in a position to compete with the Malas.
The Madigas8217; demand for categorisation of SCs into four groups for the purpose of quota dates back to 1974 when Jalagam Vengal Rao was the State8217;s chief minister. Though the then Congress regime knew that the Madigas had a point, it dragged its feet, unwilling to antagonise the Malas.
The Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti MRPS, formed with a sizable section of former Naxalites in1995, decided to mount pressure on the Government till its demands were met. Taking the concept of social justice to its logical end is the philosophy behind the MRPS8217;s struggle.
A marathon 500-km long padayatra undertaken by MRPS leader and former Naxalite Manda Krishna Madiga in 1996 prompted Naidu to set up a judicial commission to look into the issue.
After eight months of inquiry, the Justice Ramachandra Raju commission found that the Madigas and the Rellis were not adequately represented either in public employment or in educational institutions compared to the population. While the Malas garnered 60 per cent of the opportunities, the Madigas were left with around 30 per cent.
The commission favoured the division of SCs into A, B, C and D categories for conferring 15 per cent reservations. The commission categorised Rellis as A, with one per cent reservation, Madigas as B with seven per cent, Malas as C with six per cent and Adi-Andhras as D with one per cent reservation. As the division did notalter the overall quota of SCs, it was thought no Central permission was required. The Malas challenged the order and the GO was annulled by the High Court in September 1997. Not taking the concurrence of the National Commission for SC/STs was one of the objections raised by the court.
Suddenly, the subject turned into a tussle between the State and Centre. The National Commission was not satisfied with the information furnished by the State and called for more data.
Meanwhile, responding to a petition filed by the Andhra Pradesh Government, the High Court asked the national SC/ST commission to give its opinion on the issue by June 23. But, the commission is unlikely to express its final view before the date, in view of the complex nature of the issue.
After Punjab, Andhra Pradesh is the only State in the country to go in for classification of SCs. The Government claims that the move was neither unconstitutional nor abnormal as the same criteria had been followed for dividing the OBCs.
Manda KrishnaMadiga8217;s hunger strike 8212; which ended on June 17 when he was arrested 8212; not only brought the issue to the fore again but sparked off violence as well see box. Naidu denied the charges that the Government was taking a lenient view of the vandalism and violence. He, however, admitted that the police could not arrest Krishna Madiga as his supporters, who held kerosene bottles, threatened to immolate themselves if their leader was touched.
While Krishna was insisting on the implementation of the categorisation from the current academic year, the Government expressed its inability to do so as the matter was pending with the National SC/ST Commission. The MRPS has now given a call for state-wide bandh on June 24.
Though Naidu could hammer out a consensus among all political parties in the state on the issue the Assembly passed a unanimous resolution in favour of categorisation on April 22, his resolve to implement categorisation is fraught with legal and political impediments.
Naidu cannot afford toignore the threat of the Mala Mahanadu to begin an agitation. More so as the Assembly election is a year away and the Congress is waiting to get political mileage out of the issue.
