Opinion Why it is necessary to extend the quota

In your prefatory observations in the article ‘The quicksand of caste’ (IE,August 28),you have alluded to the horrendous indignities and violence associated with caste and its indelible imprint on our social fabric. In this context,breaking free of compulsory caste categorisation and identity is nigh impossible.

In your reckoning,“the attempt to transcend caste lines breaks down even before it begins”. Yet,you seek an alternative paradigm that essentially invokes a cessation of affirmative action in favour of historically dispossessed sections. You have appealed for a cap on further concessions on the grounds that reservation has exacerbated social conflicts even in secular institutions like universities; that it has become diffused by indiscriminate inclusion of new categories as a means of “accessing power”; that it deals only with the symptoms and not the disease. You go to the extent of stating that directing benefits to particular groups has diminished intellectual life by pigeon-holing everybody into preordained categories of prejudice.

It is unfortunate that even intellectuals aware of our tortured history have espoused the fallacious argument that constitutional safeguards such as reservations for backward groups have strengthened caste identity and so stymied the national goal of a “casteless society”. But caste in this country has never needed props. So ingrained is caste in our collective consciousness that even a Dalit who converts to Christianity or Islam or Sikhism to escape the tyranny of caste continues to be hobbled by his social origins.

For those like you who believe that we need to move beyond caste,the details of atrocities committed against SC/STs given in Parliament by then Home Minister P. Chidambaram in August 2010,should be an eye opener. According to home ministry estimates,the year-wise number of atrocities (murder,rape,kidnapping and arson) was: 26,665 in 2006; 29,825 in 2007; and 33,365 in 2008. During the debate,the home minister narrated the deeply disturbing incident of Dalits of an entire village being driven out by the other villagers. It required the Centre’s intervention to persuade (force) the village elders to allow the victims to return to their homes. He added that other cases may not have had such a happy ending. In 21st century India,it is not only untouchability and violence that afflicts the Dalit,but also inequality in schooling,employment and income. When there is such inhuman treatment of Dalits,it is outrageous that sections of society subscribe to the view that even the woefully inadequate avenues of opportunity provided for Dalits through reservation in government jobs are divisive and affect nation-building. Let me remind you that where there is no equality and justice,there can never be common citizenship.

How can helping disadvantaged students gain access to higher education not be a good thing? If,as you say,such affirmative action has led to increased conflicts and ghettoisation in universities,the only conclusion that can be drawn is that our institutions of higher learning have failed in their duty of refining sensibilities and fighting prejudice. After all,the ultimate test of an educated man is whether he has overcome prejudice and hatred. It is ridiculous to think that by dumping reservation,a higher form of justice and citizenship will emerge.

The current debate on reservation in promotions in government has glossed over the fact that for several decades now,there has been earmarked reservation in promotion to various grades in the Group C and Group D jobs in government. It is essentially at the Group A level that there is no reservation in promotion. But now that Parliament is planning a constitutional amendment to provide reservation for Dalits across the board,the governing elite is up in arms. In the bureaucracy,decision-making is concentrated at the higher echelons,where there is hardly any Dalit representation. This is in keeping with the centuries-old practice of the privileged classes ensuring that the dispossessed remain unfit for anything but the lowest jobs.

You have suggested that access to primary education and the churning and mobility generated by economic growth will create conditions for real equality of opportunity. Do you seriously believe that with robust economic upsurge,the bastions of privilege will open their doors to Dalits? That has not happened in the last two decades of rapid economic advancement. In a nation where the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer,the state has the duty to evolve policies that promote inclusion and rectify the inequities in the system. Reservation in promotions is a critical plank in the search for justice and equality.

Abdul Khaliq

The writer,a former civil servant,is secretary-general of Lok Janshakti Party