Reservations within Reservations: A Solution

Author(s): ANAND TELTUMBDE

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , OCTOBER 10-23, 2009, Vol. 44, No. 41/42
(OCTOBER 10-23, 2009), pp. 16-18
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25663671

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Reservations within
Reservations: A Solution
ANAND TELTUMBDE_
What is the solution to the
problem of reservations for the
scheduled castes where these are
disproportionately cornered by a
single sub-caste in every state?
Anand Teltumbde (tanandraj@gmail.com)
is a civil rights activist and writer based in
Mumbai.
52.172.201.146 on Fri, 13 Nov 2020 10:14:54 UTC
On 1 August 2009 the vidvat sabha
(council of intellectuals), an initi
ative led by Prakash Ambedkar,
organised a seminar in Mumbai on an un
likely subject of reservations within reser
vations. It suggested that the reservations
for the scheduled castes (scs), which have
been disproportionately gained by a single
sub-caste in every state, should be subdi
vided among all sub-castes in the sc cate
gory to ensure that equitable benefit ac
crues to all of them. It had a ring of the
categorisation debate that had cropped up
in Andhra Pradesh from mid-1990s to ear
ly 2000. It appeared strange that echoes
of this argument resonated in Maharash
tra after nine years, particularly when its
prospects were blocked by the courts of
law. Moreover, there was no conceivable
happening in the recent past to prompt
such a seminar. But it still attracted more
than a thousand people, which showed
that the issue was salient enough for peo
ple, no matter what the law said.
Limitations of Reservations
Reservation was proposed to ensure that
the scs are not deprived of their right to
get their just share in educational institu
tions run with public funds as well as in
employment in the government and public
sector, given the social prejudice against
them. The way it was instituted, it could
have been expected to bring about an
overall representation of the scs equiva
lent to their share of the population. It
could never lead to equality. First, reser
vations did not have any wherewithal to
do away with the existing social inequality.
At the most, reservation would have been
expected to counter the aggravation of
social inequality in these domains. Second,
reservations did not extend to promoting
sc representation across the board in
the educational or employment spheres.
Reservation policy did not extend to the
large number of privately-funded educa
tional institutes; and for employment
*6 October 10, 2009 vol xliv no 41 JBSEk Economic & Political weekly
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purposes, the private sector (far bigger in
size than the public sector), as well as
some parts of the public sector, did not
come within its purview. This structural
limitation of reservations glaringly shows
up today in the poor representation of dal
its in higher education and in the higher
echelons of employment, where reser
vations were meant to help.
Another feature of reservations was that
it considered the entire mass of scs as
cohesive. It was imagined, as may be sur
mised, that the scs would be gradually
absorbed into the mainstream, thereby
eliminating the very need for reservations.
Considering castes are easier to divide than
unite, this was too ambitious a goal to ma
terialise. Since caste was used as the basis
for reservation, individual caste conscious
ness survived; the new administrative iden
tity of scs could not obliterate it. To achieve
functional unity of these castes into a quasi
class of sc, dampening individual caste
consciousness was not entirely impossible
but had to be worked for. Such a unity has
materialised among the dwija castes during
the post-independence decades. The devel
opment process has further extended this
unity to absorb the upper layers of the
shudra castes. The lead, in this regard, was
taken each time by the castes which are
relatively advanced. In traditional parlance,
it would have been the castes of a ritually
higher status. Among the scs, the castes
which were in the forefront in the Ambed
karite dalit movement were expected to
perform this task. To name, in Maharashtra
it would have been the Mahars as it would
be the Malas in Andhra Pradesh, the Jatavs
in Uttar Pradesh, the Palars in Tamil Nadu,
the Holeyas in Karnataka, and so on. But
they proved themselves utterly incapable of
fulfilling this historical task.
On the contrary, they imbibed the caste
consciousness of superiority over the other
castes as is reflected in the argument of the
Malas in countering the Madiga Reservation
Porata Samiti's (mrps) demand for their
share of reservations in Andhra Pradesh.
The Malas argued that the Madigas should
not grudge their progress because they
had worked hard for it while the Madigas
just ate, drank and loafed. The same could
be said of any of the above castes. It is essen
tially the prowess of the caste system that
even its victim easily forgets his/her own
victimhood and assumes the high-caste based on the same assumption underlying and those that have not benefited from it so
oppressor's posture vis-a-vis others when the formulation of reservations, namely, far. It then proposes that reservation should
the opportunity arises. It is even forgotten that castes can be conceived as a cohesive be prioritised to the families that have not
that it is basically the anti-reservationist mass. One can say with reasonable confi availed of it so far. The category that has
argument that they are repeating. The dence, based on the record of any such lop already had access to reservations will now
upper castes have always justified their sided developmental process, that reserva get it only after those who have not availed
privileges on the basis of their "merit", tions have created more inequality within of it are given access to it, and obviously,
earned in the previous birth until yester every so-called beneficiary caste than it only if some of it remains. All other things
day, as a result of hard work, efficiency, did between the latter and the other castes. remain the same. An amazingly simple so
potential, and so on. It is never realised The classification formula that the mrps lution to such a vexatious problem!
that in India it is the accident of birth in proposed is thus no solution. Notwith The greatest merit of this solution, be
the social structure of differential privi standing its constitutional invalidity, it sides its simplicity, is that it discards caste
leges that is more important than individ could be grossly misleading. It does not after the various sub-castes are identified
ual "merit". And this view is not confined solve the problem it pretends to solve; on as scs. It provides a solution to the iniqui
to only the upper castes; it very well ap the contrary, it creates further divisions in tous distribution of benefits of reserva
plies to even the scs. The son of a Mahar the form of internecine competition among tions not only to various castes within the
Indian Administrative Service officer in the sub-castes of dalits, which could be scs, but also within the same caste. This
Mumbai is certainly privileged, while the son easily manipulated by the ruling classes to proposition would not have much difficul
of a Mahar landless labourer in a remote the collective detriment of dalits. ty in securing approval of all the castes
village of Gadchiroli district is equally There cannot be any caste-based solu since it transcends the caste idiom and
handicapped, in both cases, because of the tion to the problem of inequality. If one proposes a just distribution of benefits to
accidents of their births. wishes to find a practicable solution, it will all. Moreover, it may not conflict with the
have to be a non-caste solution. The vidvat Constitution as did with the categorisation
Towards a Solution sabha has arrived at one such solution problem, for it does not tinker with the
Having seen that reservations can create based on the nuclear family as a basic unit. constitutional provision of reservation to
endemic inequality within even a single It proposes to dynamically divide the entire the scs but only brings in a modality to en
caste, the argument of the mrps for equality dalit population into two categories of fam sure that its benefits reach all the potential
among castes must fall flat. It is erroneously ilies: those that have availed of reservation beneficiaries. Most importantly, it would

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Economic & Political wki kly _3_ October 10, 2009 vol xi.iv no 41 17

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pave way for consolidation of all the sub the last decade there has been an absolute Reservation-by-design could only benefit
castes of dalits into a class. decline in public sector employment. The a minuscule minority of them. This minor
actual pressure or just a notion of global ity, however, has been extremely influen
But Where Are Reservations? competition has impelled business to tial. Obsessed with their distinctive class
It is a sad paradox that when the base of minimise average variable cost through interests, they have dominated the entire
reservations has been contracting during business process outsourcing, subcon dalit agenda with their reservation-centric
the neoliberal reforms, the din over it is tracting, etc, and downsize directly discourse. In the process, the issues of the
becoming louder and louder. Reservations employed manpower. The privatisation of vast majority of dalits - landless and mar
have been a potent weapon in the hands of the public sector undertakings will accel ginal farmers in the villages and workers
the ruling classes to divide people and erate this process. The scope for reserva in the informal and unorganised sector in
they have been using it most unscrupu tion in employment is thus fast diminish the urban areas - have been completely
lously. As the crisis engendered by the ing. In the sphere of education also, with marginalised. Dalit politics, sans the real
neoliberal policies aggravates, the powers increasing privatisation and commerciali issues, has been floating rudderless behind
that-be deflect public attention by engi sation, the scope for reservation has been the ruling class parties.
neering new demands for reservation. nearly obliterated. While proactively proposing the above
Today every conceivable social group, It is not worth running after something mentioned solution for the reservation im
including the traditional upper castes, has which is vanishing fast. Even yesterday, broglio to the government, educated dalits
a standing demand for reservation. No one reservations were just one of the measures must rethink their politics and provide
cares to look at the magnitude of benefit in the scheme of emancipation of dalits leadership to their less fortunate brethren
that can accrue from it. Empirically, over and not a panacea for their problems. as exhorted by Ambedkar.

Can Poor States Afford the this had on the expenditure on important
social services?

Fiscal Responsibility Legislation? 1 Introduction
TANYA SETHI
An analysis of revenue and
expenditure trends in the six least
developed states for the period
2003-04 to 2007-08 reveals how
these states have met the Twelfth
Finance Commission revenue
deficit targets ahead of the
2008-09 deadline. In their rush to (gdp) in 2009-10. However, it is self
meet these targets, the states
may have cut down expenditure
in the very sectors where
progress is most crucial to lift
them out of their present least
developed status.
Email: tanya@epw.in
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Man
agement Act (frbma) at the centre was
notified in 2004. At the state level, the
tfc, whose recommendations covered the
Aconcern with the fiscal and reve period 2005-10, recommended that each
nue deficits has always dominated state enact the fiscal responsibility legisla
discussions on government financestion (frl). States' eligibility for a debt
in the mainstream media. For instance, waiver was contingent on enactment of
after the presentation of the union budget the frl. They were expected to eliminate
for 2009-10, there was much speculation their revenue deficits by 2008-09, and
and criticism that the combined fiscal bring down the fiscal deficit to 3% of the
deficit at the centre and the states would gross state domestic product (gsdp) in a
touch 12% of the gross domestic product phased manner by 2009-10.
The timeline of enactment of the legisla
evident but not always acknowledged tion has not been uniform across the states,
that the case for fiscal sustainability with five states doing so in 2003-04 and
should not rest purely on numbers, but some others later, in 2006-07. The deficit
indicators reveal that while the centre has
rather on the composition of expenditure
by the government. not been able to meet these targets, the
This article examines the trends in the states, at the consolidated level, achieved a
revenue and expenditure of the poorest of revenue surplus of 0.6% of gdp and a gross
the states in recent years. This examina fiscal deficit (gfd) of 1.9% of gdp as early as
tion is done in the context of state govern 2006-07 (rbi 2008). In fact, these indicators
ments meeting fiscal and revenue deficit further improved to 0.9% and 1.5%, respec
targets as recommended by the Twelfth tively for the year 2007-08 (rbi 2009). Dur
Finance Commission (tfc). ing 2008-09, 25 states budgeted a revenue
Two questions dominate the analysis: surplus and 17 states budgeted a gfd at less
(1) How have these states met the targets than 3% of gsdp1 (rbi 2008). This has been
- through revenue expansion or expendi attributed to the incentive scheme as per the
ture compression? (2) What impact has tfc's recommendation, revenue buoyancy

l8 October 10, 2009 vol xliv no 41 Q3S3 Economic & Political weekly

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