Why reservation is needed

You cannot even claim caste-based discrimination does not exist. While it exists very obviously in villages, in the cities, it is subtle. Caste-based discrimination exists today as well. That premise itself is wrong, therefore providing no basis for saying that reservation as a policy is wrong. They have not even been allowed to eat the food that comes out of the cow dung of the upper castes, how can we expect them to compete on the same level as us with all our privileges?

We cannot, and therefore, reservation should be prolonged as long as caste-based discrimination does not end. Maybe the educated elite of the cities misuse it, but what about the downtrodden people in the villages who do not even know of the existence of such laws? Nice article. Continuing on your argument. It is downtrodden and poor SC and ST who still needs reservation to come to mainstream.

Bcz the caste based discrimination never died. More so, the discrimination still exists by the virue of having advantage if money and more opportunities.

Tina Dabri. Both sides are right. And solution lies in the middle. Removal of creamy layer of SC and ST will go a long way. Also, extreme punishment for those who make fake certificates to get reserved seats. We should engage in such discussion rather than usual if we need caste based reservation or not. Enough time wasted on this argument. He never considered the case of how economically backward upper caste families are suffering to get developed.

And to remove caste based discrimination he stills argues that caste-based reservations is right. But he forgot the point that these caste based reservation are in fact developing hate towards the country among who are tallented. The corporate sector, however, has by and large opposed affirmative action of any sort on grounds that it does not discriminate in hiring practices. It has further argued that a reservation policy of the type used in the public sector in India will reduce competitiveness and efficiency.

It is clear from the earlier discussion that this argument is neither based on economic theory nor on empirical evidence about the working of labour and other markets. While the corporate sector advances the agenda of liberalisation based on support from mainstream economic theories, it refuses to accept lessons from the economic theory of discrimination.

In particular it refuses to recognize the need for market intervention in the form of affirmative action to overcome market imperfections caused by caste based discrimination and to induce market competitiveness.

Empirical studies on the working of labour and other markets, and social needs like education, housing and health services, provide evidence of the persistence of market discrimination, particularly of former untouchables, and its end result in the form of lack of access to fixed capital assets, employment, human development and culmination in high poverty and deprivation among them.

The studies also bring out the exclusionary and discriminatory working of private industrial labour markets Papola So the claim of the corporate sector that it follows fair and competitive hiring practices is not borne out by facts. Affirmative action is thus necessary for promoting competitiveness and economic growth, if not for the goal of equal opportunity. An efficiency conscious corporate sector cannot avoid the lessons from the theories which they use as justification for pushing the liberalisation agenda.

How and in what forms we need to extend the existing public sector reservation policy for discriminated groups in the private sector is, however, as crucial. There is the huge experience of our own public sector reservation policy. The Indian state could also learn from the measures used against discrimination in private sector of other countries in the world.

Drawing on both Indian and international experience, I wish to spell out the possible elements of reservation or affirmative action policy for the private sector in India. In designing remedies against discrimination we need to clearly distinguish between legal, equal access and other positive measures.

These aspects relate to a the type of economic sector or market for which the legal and affirmative action measures are developed and b the type of method or procedures used in their application for the private and public sector. First, with respect to the economic spheres or markets, countries such as USA, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Malaysia have mainly developed policies for religious, racial and ethnic minority groups.

Broadly speaking, in these countries multiple economic and social spheres are covered under the orbit of legal and affirmative action measures which include labour, agricultural land, capital, product and consumer goods markets and also the transactions in supply of social goods, such as education, housing and the transactions undertaken by the government with private minority businesses. The specific economic spheres covered vary from country to country.

In some countries like USA, besides the labour market, legal and affirmative action measures also cover education, housing, and government contracts for construction and purchase of goods from minority businesses. In developing countries like Malaysia and South Africa where a substantial portion of population is engaged in the agriculture sector, and minority groups suffer from poor access to land and capital in addition to the labour market, the affirmative action measures are also extended to agriculture land and capital market in addition to affirmative action policies for basic social needs like education and housing.

A second aspect relates to methods and procedures used to operationalise the safeguards against discrimination. Countries have used at least three kinds of procedures or methods. These laws prohibit any private or public employers from discriminating against workers or persons based on group identities like religion, gender, colour, ethnicity, national and social origin and provide legal safeguards to discriminated groups in the event of discrimination in employment and other spheres of economic activities.

A second strategy relates to affirmative and positive actions of various type. In principle, affirmative action can be distinguished from other anti-discrimination measures requiring proactive steps to ensure fair participation of discriminated groups in employment and other spheres like education, housing, government contracts etc , in contrast to laws that only prevent employers from taking steps that disadvantage minorities in the labour market and other spheres.

Given the limitations of EEOL in ensuring fair participation of discriminated groups, they are supplemented by affirmation action and positive measures, which attempt to ensure a fair share to discriminated groups. The principles and methods applied to judge 'fair or just participation' in employment, educational admission, political participation or government contract and other spheres vary among the countries.

Generally speaking, the population share of minority groups constitutes the basis to judge fair participation or access. Further, these fixed goals or targets are made legally mandatory or compulsory in some cases while in others they are pursued with an element of voluntary action on the part of firms. In both cases, however, some sort of enforcement machinery is designated to monitor goals and targets. A third strategy is 'reparation or compensation'. Reparations and compensation are defined as payment for an acknowledged grievous social injustice to a group Darity It is necessary to recognize that different affirmative action policies are generally deployed as a measure and safeguard against 'present discrimination'.

This has its limitations in overcoming the effects of discrimination and exclusion suffered by a community in the past for long periods of time. The Equal Opportunity Act and affirmative action programmes of various kinds which intend to provide legal protection and ensure just participation in the present are inadequate to compensate for wrongs done in the past, resulting in complicit resourcelessness.

Therefore, some countries have used selective compensation as a method to pay and empower excluded and discriminated groups as a one time settlement.

Adoption of some or all of these remedies against discrimination inflicted on low caste untouchables and other groups in the private sector in India will be conditioned by the nature of economic and social discrimination. It should be applicable to multiple spheres, fixed quotas with some kind of monitoring mechanism and, depending on the nature of discrimination, using all three instruments — legal, fair access and compensation — in combination. It is necessary that the government enact an equal opportunity law to provide legal safeguards against discrimination for various markets, namely capital, agriculture land, employment, product and consumer goods, education, housing, health and others.

This can be addressed within the framework of reparation or compensation measures. The former untouchables are a potential case for reparation or compensation due to denial of property rights and other rights and injustice for long periods in history, which is reflected in their overwhelming presence as wage labour, insignificant share in business and low literacy and educational levels.

Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol. Biswjit Banerjee and J. I, Clarendon Press, Oxford. James G. Besides the economic criterion, the members of the constituent assembly also discarded the proposals to permit reservation in a time-bound frame and envisaged its continuity until factors causing social backwardness e. The constituent assembly, in one of its meetings.

This opinion needs to undergo a reality check. Are the SCs and STs adequately represented in the higher echelons of the civil services , academia , judiciary — both the Supreme Court and the high courts — police, policy-making, and other public services?

Does employment in lower cadres indicate economic affluence and the end of social backwardness? Has caste-based discrimination been completely wiped out from the Indian society? Has upper-caste monopoly in public institutions vanished in its entirety? In fact, the appointment of a Dalit judge in the Supreme Court after almost a decade and his critical absence in the five-judge bench deciding on reservation is telling of the misery of affluence and representative character of the public institutions.

It is during crucial moments like this, that we feel compelled to recall the rich traditions of the constituent assembly where the depressed classes were not just represented by their delegates, but they even permitted extra time to voice their concerns. During the deliberation on the drat article relating to reservation, Khandekar rose before the assembly and urged that:. I would therefore request you the Chair to increase the time limit so that they can explain and support this article very well.

About Us. Support Us Login. Become A Supporter. Hindi Marathi Urdu. Terms Privacy About Us. Reservation Is About Adequate Representation, Not Poverty Eradication The idea behind reservation was always to disavow caste-monopoly in the public sector. Supreme Court of India.