If you had been watching the news lately you would definitely be aware of the issue that is gaining national attention - the issue of EWS reservation of 10% mandated by the central government and upheld by the Supreme Court recently. Why is this such a big issue that is harbouring extreme reactions from politicians, media, activists alike? Who is being affected by this amendment to the reservation scheme?
Contents:
What is Reservation?
Mandal Commission
Central vs State reservation stats
Real Economically Weaker Sections
Unconstitutional EWS
References
Naturally the answer must start with an obvious question.
What is Reservation?
Most of us would have come across the term reservation and also its effects to some extent during our college admissions, and even during job placements, if it was a public sector company like the ICF, TNEB or NLC. The history of reservation is the history of socially reformed India in the 20th Century. It all started with a British survey in 1911. Page 430 of the Census of India, 1911[1] states:
“Some interesting statistics have been collected in several provinces regarding the castes of Government officers of gazetted rank. In Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Assam taken together, of 2,305 gazetted appointments held by natives of the country, four-fifths are held by Hindus … Of the 1,823 appointments held by Hindus, about eight-ninths are held by members of the Brahman, Baidya and Kayastha castes, although these castes contribute less than one-twelfth of the total Hindu population. The remaining eleven-twelfths hold between them only 217 appointments. In the Provincial Services of the United Provinces (Judicial and Executive), of 420 appointments, the Muhammadans hold 150, the Jains 1, and the Christians 23. Of the remaining 248 appointments 91 are held by Brahmans, 81 by Kayasthas, 36 by Baniyas and 15 by Rajputs, leaving only 23 for all the other castes taken together. In Punjab, of the 443 gazetted officers (excluding Christians), 113 are Muhammadans, 93 Khatris, 44 Brahmans, 42 Aroras, 25 Baniyas, 22 Rajputs, 20 Kayasthas and 2 Parsis. The other castes, which constitute 93 percent of the Hindu population, enjoy only 82 appointments between them. In the Central Province and Berar, of the 471 gazetted appointments held by Indians, 78 are held by Muhammadans, 22 by Parsis and other minor religions and 271 by Hindus. Of the latter again, more than half are held by Brahmans who form only 3 percent of the Hindu population”.
The problem was clear. In the eastern states, 88% of the government appointments were held by the higher castes, even though they made up only 8% of the Hindu population. In the central states, more than half of the posts were held by Brahmins, who made just 3% of the population. Why is there such a domination by the so-called ‘upper castes’ who make up very little of the population?
This was a very clear case of discrimination and oppression based on caste. There cannot be any more obvious evidence that the so called upper-castes are straight up denying the educational and employment opportunities for the others. In the name of caste, in the name of varna, in the name of the very ‘Hindu Dharma’ and ‘Manu’, the majority people of India, the ancestors of everyone who belongs to BC/MBC/SC/ST were denied the basic rights of Education and employment opportunities by the so called upper-castes (Aviyal will continue to address them as ‘so-called’ because scientifically there is nothing ‘upper’ or ‘higher’ about these oppressors).
To battle this millennia of discrimination and oppression, various methods was employed right from the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1902, almost 10 years before the British survey, Sahu Maharaja of the central province announced that 50% of his staff had to be non-brahmins[2], and after the census of 1911 he changed it to 90%. Since non-brahmins contributed to more than 95% of the population, he calculated this to be a fair distribution of employment opportunities. This was one of the earliest forms of reservation and the stepping stone to social justice reformations in India.
It must be clear from the above statistics itself that reservation is necessary, and that it is not a privilege, but rather an attempt to give back what was hereditarily denied. It is not a way to tip the scales, but on the contrary, an attempt to make the scales finally balanced.
But this survey was done more than a hundred years ago. Many readers would be wondering if these measures are still necessary, because the situation would have surely changed. Right?
Not really.
There are two things to consider. One, the recent statistics, say one from the 90s and one from this very year, prove caste based inequality and denial of opportunities is very much still existent, which we will address shortly.
Two, the concept of social capital. A concept that is widely enjoyed, seldom understood and aggressively denied by those enjoying it. If we have to put the concept of social capital into one word, it is contacts.
Let us take an example of two students finishing college, with equal scores and skill, one from a so-called upper caste and another from an oppressed caste. Chances are extremely likely that the so-called upper caste student comes from a family of educated professionals and the other does not. In the vast majority of the government and private jobs occupied by the so-called upper caste people, there will surely be professionals, relatives and family who can guide, or even actively help the first student land a job. Say they have both studied law. The judiciary system is entirely hijacked by the so-called upper caste. The first student is bound to have a distant family member in the judicial system who will help him find a place as a junior lawyer, or even recruit him as his own junior. The oppressed student does not get this privilege. The most important point to note is that, though the two students have equal scores and skill, one student is more likely to enter a job easily because of his social capital because the so-called upper caste lawyers would prefer to take one of their own. You don't have to be a genius to understand that even if the oppressed student is slightly more skilled, he would be denied the opportunity.
Exhaustive, but let us see another example. We have two groups of students, 50 each, and we give them a topic to write an essay on. One group has access to a library and internet, and the other group does not. If both groups are measured with the same yardstick, it is obvious that the second group is going to fail due to no fault of their own. So what we do is instead of taking the top ten essays out of the 100, we take the top 5 from the internet and non-internet groups each, because that is the closest form of fair assessment we can achieve. This is Reservation.
This social capital is one of the ultimate goals of caste-based reservations. All communities should have equal representations in any field so that opportunities are not unfairly denied. Reservation is not biased, it is the end to a millennia of bias.
Mandal Commission
Mandal commission was a commission set up in ‘79 to observe and advance the lives of the oppressed classes. It dealt heavily with the concept of reservation. The observations and findings of the Commission[3], as described by Wikipedia, clearly show that not much has improved since the 1911 Census:
Taking a child from an advanced caste and one from an oppressed caste of equal intelligence, the former is very likely to beat the latter in any competitive field.
Even if the latter is more intelligent, the former will still be more successful because of social biases.
What is referred to as ‘merit’ is elitist privilege and not true merit at all.
It would be entirely unfair to measure the two children with the same yardstick and is unacceptable in an ethical society.
The word ‘Merit’ that is used so generously and readily by all the so-called UCs, is dismissed as nothing more than ‘elitist privilege and social bias’ by a Central Government body. If nothing had changed in those 70 years, it would not be wise to claim everything has been solved in the next 40. Nothing more to be said on this account.
Central and State Reservation Statistics
Tamil Nadu has been one of the front-runners in implementing reservation schemes, right from the 1920s, under the revolutionary Justice Party. Currently TN holds the highest percentage of reservation in India, for OBC reservations.
The total reservation in TN is 69%, as follows[4]:
On the other hand, the Centre has a reservation of 27% for OBC, which is BC and MBC combined, and a ceiling of 50% reservation in total[5].
Real Economic Weaker Sections
According to the 2011 census, more than 80% of the Indian population live under the income of 2 Lakhs per annum (6.8 Dollars a day) and more than 60% live under 1 Lakh per annum (~3 Dollars per day). If a poverty line is drawn among the population of the country, it should surely be drawn at the lower ranges of 1 to 2 Lakhs per annum[6]. Let us keep this thought in mind.
The paper and study, ‘Poverty, wealth inequality and financial inclusion among castes in Hindu and Muslim communities in Uttar Pradesh, India’ - Chhavi Tiwar et al, Journal of International Development[7], was a comprehensive study made among the populations of Uttar Pradesh, which is one of the most and densely populated states in the country, and incidentally governed by a certain right wing central government party. The study shows poverty, wealth and expenditure by each caste in the state, and it is plainly obvious that the so-called UCs are in much better financial shape than the oppressed classes. Table 3 of the study shows that in rural areas, Brahmins have a Mean Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE - The amount of money they are able to spend on average) of about 1600, while Hindu Dalits have just half of that, just 800. In Urban areas, Brahmins have an MPCE of 2300, while Dalits have, again, just half, 1200. It is unambiguously clear who is the real Economically Weaker Section.
Again, In rural areas, 15% of the so-called UCs fall under poverty, while the number is upwards of 50% for Dalits. The pattern is the same for Urban areas as well, with only 4.9% of Urban Brahmins in poverty, and around 50% of Dalits suffering under the poverty line. Again, it is clear who is the real economically weaker section.
Unconstitutional EWS
Taking the population data as well from the same table of the same study, there are only half as many brahmins as Dalits, so it means for every brahmin under the poverty line in an urban area, there are 20 Dalits suffering from poverty. Any scheme that would tend to the benefit of the majority of people should first target at solving the poverty of the 20, instead of the one first.
Reservation should not be based on economic status. Because remember at the beginning of this article, we discussed opportunities denied. Those opportunities were not denied on the basis of economic status, but on caste. So the remedy for that, i.e. Reservation, should also be given based on caste so that it benefits those who were affected the most. Giving it on the basis of financial status does not make any sense, because they were not oppressed on the basis of the economy in the first place.
But say that reservation is given on the basis of financial status. From the above data it is very clear that if anyone needs support because of their financial state, it is the oppressed classes and not the so-called UCs. The so-called UCs already enjoy a decent financial state well above the national average, and the majority of them are safely out of the clutches of poverty.
But the EWS reservation scheme states that 10% of reservation should be given to these so-called UCs on the basis of financial status, to those who are ‘economically weaker’. And how does EWS define ‘economically weaker’?[8]
Less than 8 Lakhs income
A house with less than 1000 Sq Ft area
Less than 5 acres of agricultural land
Those who satisfy the above criteria and not fall under OBC/SC/ST reservation can avail EWS
Do you see the problem here? While 80% of India is suffering from abject poverty with less than 2 Lakhs a year, most of them from oppressed classes, EWS defines ‘economically weaker’ as someone with 8 Lakhs per annum salary. This is a shameful mockery of the harsh poverty suffered by most of India.
When a vast majority of the oppressed classes live in slums and do not have any land to their name, EWS defines ‘economically weaker’ as someone with a 900 Sq Ft flat and 4.5 acres of land. This is nothing more than wilful ignorance of the real status of poverty among the people, and purely casteist bias in favour of the so-called UCs.
It is as if the government believes that the so-called UCs do not deserve to be poor and when one of them is in the lower middle class range they should get reservation and immediately be promoted to rich. There can be no better evidence to support the government’s own casteism than the implementation of the EWS scheme, also upheld by the supreme court which consists of upwards of 50% UCs.
And make no mistake, these are the real oppressors who, through a thousand years of casteism, made sure that most of India lived in slums, made sure that half of Dalits suffer well below the poverty line. And now, those of them who are in decent financial status, get a reservation that should actually go to the benefit of the real poor, in the name of poverty, while enjoying income, land and a home.
This is nothing more than disgusting.
References
Aviyal highly recommends readers to take a look at the source materials from the reference section. Not all the important and break-through data could be reported in this article because of space and time constraints. To get a better picture, to understand the depth of this matter, to realise the true state of abject poverty and ruthless oppression, kindly go through these sources. Readers are welcome for discussion and opinions, since we fully understand this is a sensitive and delicate topic.
For a more detailed sheet with figures, refer to the tables section of the census report here, page 358
Wikipedia page on Sahu Maharaj - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahu_of_Kolhapur, under the sub-title ‘Social Reforms’
Wikipedia page on Mandal Commission - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandal_Commission
Wikipedia page on TN reservation schemes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_policy_in_Tamil_Nadu
Wikipedia page on Central reservation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India
Poverty, wealth inequality and financial inclusion among castes in Hindu and Muslim communities in Uttar Pradesh, India - Chhavi Tiwar et al, Journal of International Development - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jid.3626
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