DIVERSITY

IN INDIA: CLEAVAGES
AND BONDS
Session 9
Business, Government and Society
What is Equality?

Video
 Inequality increasing for all religions

0.48

0.46

0.44

0.42
Gini Coefficient

0.40

0.38

0.36

0.34

0.32

0.30
1983-84 2009-10
Hindu Islam Christian
Hindu Muslim conflict

Growing intolerance or is
it something else?
1950-1995: 1200 riots
• Gujarat(175) and Maharashtra(97)
with major outbreaks
• Punjab(1), Haryana(2), Orissa(6)
minor outbreaks
 Is it always conflict? Maybe not
Calicut
• The well-established peace
committees, politicians, and the
press worked to deflect
inflammatory, false rumors and
maintain order.
• Interethnic peace committees
became forum for information
sharing and voicing concerns
from both sides.
Aligarh
• Weak, intrareligious peace
committees that served primarily to
protect homogenous community
interests.
• Local media perpetuated
inflammatory, false rumors; Hindu
and Muslim papers did not report on
violence from both sides.
• Rumors were believed and resulted in
violent backlash from both sides; 70
deaths and many more injuries.
• Criminals were not brought to justice
(protected by politicians).
Political Motives: Varshney- Wilkinson Argument

• Most nationalist parties in India represent the upper-

castes.
• So, they cannot pursue the lower-caste vote as:
– Lower caste voters would be distrustful of the parties.
– The parties may lose our on the upper caste votes.
• Hence, they incite Hindu-Muslim riots which ensure
they get undivided Hindu votes (majority votes).
 Hindu-Muslim : The Economic Motive

• Mitra and Ray (2014): Intergroup conflict driven by

economic challenges within the group
– If group incomes are low, increasing group income raises
violence against that group and lowers violence generated
by it.
– 1 percent increase in Hindu per capita expenditure is
predicted to decrease casualties by 3-7 percent, while the
same increase for Muslim counterparts, increases casualties
by 3- 5 percent.
– Conclude: An increase in Hindu prosperity is negatively
associated with greater religious fatalities in the near future,
while the opposite is true of Muslim prosperity.
ANOTHER FAULT LINE
 Inequality increasing for all caste groups
0.45

0.43

0.41

0.39

0.37
Gini Coefficient

0.35

0.33

0.31

0.29

0.27

0.25
1983-84 2009-10
ST SC OBC General
Does caste not exist as a marker in society?
Does caste not exist as a marker in society?

Notice the
categories
 Some numbers

• According to 2011 census, of the total Dalit population:

– 74% of them live in rural areas owning less than 0.3 HA or
being landless.
– Only 22% live in large homes
– Only 34% have clean sanitation arrangements

• Many Dalits do not know their rights and do not have the time
or money to fight if their rights are violated.

• Crimes against Dalits rose 19% in 2014 and murders rose to

744
 13975

12576

11342
11143

10513

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

• The SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 has a

comprehensive list of criminally chargeable atrocities despite there
being provisions for the same under Articles 15(2), 17, 23 and such.
• The rising number of cases shows the Preventions of Atrocities has
not been effective.
 Political Voice

• Out of 543 constituencies in the

Lok Sabha, 84 (15.47%) are
reserved for SC/Dalits and 47
(8.66%) for ST/Adivasis.
• Mayawati becomes the Chief
Minister of UP
 Reservation in Education: Do We Need That?

• In 2011, the Dalit literacy rates rose above 66%, but it still is
8% points below the general literacy rate.
• What happens when they go for interviews?
• There are two kinds of interviews:
– One that lays emphasis on technical skills.
– Another that is conducted by the HR to assess personality, career
aspirations, soft skills, etc.
• This tends to exclude the groups from less privileged
backgrounds..
• The industry may not practice the caste system, but such
worker profiles makes it difficult for people from non-urban,
lower caste/class backgrounds to enter it.
Affirmative Action?
 The Mandal Commission: Recommendations

• The reservation of 27 per cent jobs for those who do not

qualify on the basis of merit.

• The reservation of 27 per cent for promotions at all levels.

• The principle of reservation should be made applicable to all

the public sector undertakings, banks, and private undertakings
receiving grants from the central and state governments,
universities and colleges.
 Why Were There Protests?
• People felt the recommendations were socially divisive.
• It re-introduced caste as a concept and identity even in those
sectors of society from where it had virtually disappeared.
• People hoped for a serious debate on reservation before
making amendments as it was 40 years since reservation had
been introduced, but there was no debate on the matter.
 Some Numbers

A sample of 173 students studying in 4 colleges under

Delhi Universities pursuing PG degrees in the Delhi area
was taken of which 28% were from the reserved quota:
• 45% of the Dalit students stated administrative services.
• 28% as teachers, academics or researchers.
• Among the non-reservation students the ideal job was that of a
business analyst, corporate planner, and jobs in the social or
development sector.
• 2% of them thought of clerical type office jobs as ideal, whereas
none among the non-Dalit did.
• Confirming the lower expectations of the Dalit students.
 How Some of it Started at the Other End of the
Spectrum

• There was proportional reservation, quotas roughly in

conformity with their proportion in the total population, which
was 15% for scheduled castes and 7.5% for scheduled tribes.
• Such reservations were extended to OBCs in 1991 for
employment in the government sector, and in 2006 for places
in higher education.
• The proportion in both was specified as another 27.5% of the
total, which was the estimated share of OBCs in the total
population.
According to a Caste Development Index in 1998-1999
The OBC is the second most developed section of the population, the first
being the “general quota” or “others”

Source: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6/deshpandereservations.pdf
 So, Of Course There is Another Side to the Coin!

• In many of the states, the OBCs are dominant in political

power and privileged economic status.
• It is this “elite” that that Supreme Court described as the
‘creamy layer’.
• They “capture” a large portion of scarce educational and
employment opportunities.
• According to a study conducted on the percentage of
population of the various social groups represented at different
levels of education; only 5% or less of the TOTAL OBC
population is under-represented.
Backward? Oppressed? Really?!
 Quota for Economically Weaker Section?

• Landmark shift in reservation policy- from caste-

based reservation policy to that of quotas on
economic basis
• Any household which has an income less than or
equal to Rs 8 lakhs per annum are classified as
economically weaker sections.
• India Human Development Survey (IHDS)
Dataset
– Panel data set i.e. it contains longitudinal data for the
same set of households over seven years
 2005 2012
Poor Poor
Brahmins Poor Ucs Poor SCs All SCs Brahmins Poor Ucs Poor SCs All SCs
Income and Wealth
Avg annual household
Income 36,372.94 49,496.05 27,870.67 36,505.19 88,069.54 89,011.75 64,652.74 96,567.90
Own or cultivate land(%) 59 39 35 37 91 75 48 56
Total household assets (0-
33) 9.31 9.57 7.18 9.27 11.94 11.44 9.68 12.98
Education

Avg yrs of educated adult 3.46 3.22 2.36 3.15 5.55 4.21 3.61 4.78
Edu years of highest
educated adult 8.38 6.05 5.16 5.92 9.72 6.66 5.61 6.99
HHs with at least one
adult with at least 12
years of schooling (%) 22.81 0 0 14.04 39.73 16.48 11.71 20.58
Can read para/story (%) 35 43 33 42 70 47 34 45
Can divide/subtract (%) 44 37 26 36 51 75 48 38
Employment
Casual labourer (%) 85 96 97 92 71 89 92 83
Government job (%) 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 3
Observations 743 5,495 9,388 31,462 674 3,955 7,785 31,655
 Who is backward?
• Convergence between incomes of poor SCs and poor
Brahmins, in that while incomes of both groups have
increased
– However, consumption expenditure of poor SCs remains
the lowest.
• Convergence in terms of average years of education as well
as total asset ownership
– In both cases poor SCs have the lowest levels
• In terms of access to government jobs there has been no
change in the relative position of poor SCs versus poor
Brahmins.
– Poor SCs are the highest in numbers as casual labourers

Which is a true and relevant mark of deprivation today-Caste or

Economic backwardness?
 Who are the Economically Weaker Sections?

• Households whose income is lesser than Rs

8lakhs per annum-eight times higher than the
EWS Category for RTE.
• 98.26% of Brahmin, 97.93% of UC and
99.75% of SC Families report income less than
the EWS limit-Is this effective or redundant?
• Reservation as panacea?