Affirmative Discrimination

Affirmative discrimination…or called so

Under the 1950 Constitution of India, 15% of educational and civil service seats were reserved for “scheduled castes” and 7.5% for “scheduled tribes.” The first backward classes commission, headed by Kaka Kalelkar, submitted its report in 1955.

In 1963, the Supreme Court of India ruled that total reservations could not exceed 50%.

The commission estimated that 52% of the total population (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities was ‘backward’.

Arguments in favor

Supporters of the Mandal Commission argue that national unity should be on the basis of justice for all castes, and that both traditional varnashram and post-independence Congress Raj had worked only to the benefit of brahmins and other privileged minorities. They also argue that reservations are essential to the uplift and empowerment of people from less privileged castes.

Here it must be kept in mind that, Reservation as we see it today, was not what the dalits of India wanted. The Simon Commission had agreed to the “Separate Electorate” demand of Dr. Ambedkar. Mahatma Gandhi in protest decided to fast unto death because he was of the view, that this will create further divisions between the untouchables and upper cast Hindus.

Reservation was agreed upon by Dr. Ambedkar in the Poona Pact. Critics of the Mandal Commission argue that it is unfair to accord people special privileges on the basis of caste, even in order to redress traditional caste discrimination. They argue that those that deserve the seat through merit will be at a disadvantage. They reflect on the repercussions of unqualified candidates assuming critical positions in society such as that of Doctors, engineers etc.

Opposition

Other arguments include that entrenching the separate legal status of OBCs and SC/STs will perpetuate caste differentiation and encourage competition among communities at the expense of national unity. They believe that only a small new élite of educated Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs benefit from reservations, and that such measures do nothing to lift the mass of people out of backwardness and poverty.

In India

Reservation, in India, is a type of affirmative action that tries to allocate fixed number seats in educational and social institutions, for various under-represented communities. It is stated as a response to the thousands of years of discrimination done by upper caste persons in India. Thus, when India attained independence, the constitution gave special provision for certain communities to have a minimum representation in various fields. The initial provision was to have ended in a few years, but the practice continues till now, and the government of India kept on increasing the quotas that, many Institutions have more than 80% of the seats reserved for people of various communities and other criteria, leaving very little for open competition.

The issue is currently active, as the government of India, proposes to increase the reservation in elitist institutions like IIT, IIM and AIIMS. These institutions have been the backbone of Indian education system and thus, the opponents of the present move feel that this would dilute India’s edge in high-end technology and management, besides doing injustice to thousands of deserving meritorious students. Meanwhile, the proponents argue that so many backward sections need representation for their development and cite various socialist-era works.

During 1990-91, when India increased the reservation limits from 22% to over 50% and including a lot of not so backward communities on the recommendations of the notorious Mandal Commission there were widespread riots resulting in the immolations and suicides of dozens of people. This time, more opponents work on innovative modern age tools, like blogging, online petitioning and orkuting.

Many people now argue that due to the urbanisation in India the caste system has lost its importance and that reservation based on castes today is not necessary. Some also point out the reservation was only intended by the framers of the Indian constitution to last for about two decades, with in which they had predicted that caste systems would perish. Other oppose this view sayin that it is still practised in the rural parts of the country. However there have been suggestions to the government to allocate reservation for the minority communities if they are from the lower socio economic part of the society.

Current Quotas, Relaxations and Preferences

The quota system sets aside a fraction of all possible positions for members of a specific social group. Those not belonging to the designated communites can compete only for the remaining positions, while members of the designated communities can compete for all positions (reserved and open). Even if no qualified SC/ST applicants are available, the reserved positions may not be released for general population but have to be kept vacant or carried over to the future.

• Members of National Parliament: 22% of the seats are reserved for SC/ST.

• Central government-funded higher education institutions: 22.5% for scheduled caste (dalit) and scheduled tribe (adivasi) students. HRD Minister Arjun Singh has proposed raising this to 49.5%, by including reservation for OBCs also.

·

• IITs: SC/ST students with scores down to two third of the last admitted general cateogry candidate are admitted. Some more candidates not meeting this cutoff are offered admission to a one year preparatory course; upon successful completion of the preparatory coruse, they are admitted into the regular degree program. No tution or room rent is charged.

• Andhra educational institutes and government jobs: 25% for BCs, 15% for SCs, 6% for STs and 5% to Muslims, total: 51% (proposed)

• Medical schools:

• AIIMS: 14% reserved for SC, 8% for ST. In adition, SC/ST students with only 50% scores are eligible.

• Members of State assemblies:

• Government jobs: In general; in the states the reservations are approximately proportional to percentage population of SC/ST groups.

·

• Kerala: Kerala Public Service Commission Muslim quota: 12%

• Public Sector Corporations: Recruitment and promotion requirements are relaxed and residances are reserved.

This if brought into effect will be the 94th constitutional amendment.

Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy said here Friday that more reservation in higher educational institutions was not a solution to set right social injustice.

“No doubt there has been social injustice for a majority of the people in our country. It has to be set right. We already have reservation for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST). Expanding it is not the right solution,” Murthy told reporters after the company’s financial results for fiscal 2006 were announced.

Referring to the 94th constitutional amendment to increase the reservation quota for other backward classes (OBCs), he said such an attempt would raise many questions and may be even demands for reservation in the armed forces.

“The basic problem is we have not been able to enrol as many children in the primary and secondary education school as we should have.

“The long-term solution is to spend more money to make them (the deprived children) more competitive and market worthy. Reservation is not the solution,” he said.

In the industrial world

For the knowledge industry, which believes in the mantra of merit to hire the best of the breed to be globally competitive, reservation is a dirty word.

While most industry leaders use politically correct language and nuances in their opposition to the proposal to reserve jobs in the private sector for backward classes, many of them are caustic in their comments, off the record. “It simply won’t work in an industry where merit alone matters,” they say.

For IT captains like NR Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji, dealing with this issue is a no-brainer. If in the past they had to take a position when some in the Karnataka government were insisting on jobs for backwards, they now have the centre itself floating the idea.

“There is no place for reservation in Wipro”, Mr Premji said and pointed out that for a company whose global IT services business accounted for 80% of its revenue, merit was the only thing mattered. The best talent had to be hired everywhere, he said. Mr Premji, however, refused to be drawn into the larger issue of reservation per se.

Mr Murthy has also gone on record in the recent past opposing reservations in the private sector as well as in institutes of higher education. “No doubt there is social injustice for a majority of the people in India.

But expansion of reservation is not the right solution. It also raises many questions like whether it can be applied for armed forces. Efforts should be made to improve the education system so that we get market worthy and a globally competitive workforce,” he had said last week.

TCS head S Ramadorai strongly feels that a quota system would hurt the industry and it should not, therefore, be forced to implement it. Biotech queen Kiran Mazumdar Shaw agrees.

There is some logic in reservation in educational institutions but not beyond, she says. “In the education sector, it gives equal opportunities to all by giving access.

Good quality education provides a level playing field later in the selection process. But reservation will have an impact on knowledge based companies, especially since India currently has the advantage of high value and low cost. This should not be compromised”, she said.

That is a view echoed by Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCIC) president Anant Koppar, who says that Indian IT industry is driven by meritocracy and not by caste and creed.

“As we are more and more cost intensive, quality is very important. Reservations will affect quality. When the whole world is going towards meritocracy, it is unfortunate that India is looking the other way,” he said.

Jagadish Ramamurthy, CEO and co-founder of Chennai-based Allsec Technologies opines that reservation will create more issues rather than solve any. “If quality is not met with, then there is a chance of work being shifted to other destinations,’’ he said.

Visit some of the following links….

http://barbarindians.blogspot.com/

http://www.nriweb.com/polls.php