No, he is not my friend
By Belu Maheshwari

SOON Parliament will be faced with the question whether reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes should be allowed to continue beyond January 26, 2000, or not. The founding fathers had opted for reservation as a special case to offset the wrongs perpetuated on the last varna for more than two millenniums — to allow them to obliterate the lingering effects of oppression, and also to allow them to catch up with the rest of the people for the true unification of the country.

After 50 years of Independence the time has come to introspect and question. Have the Dalits been uplifted economically? Have they been assimilated in society on an equal footing? Have the advantages of reservation percolated downwards? Or have only a few financially affluent Dalit families cornered the benefits? Has a creamy layer of SC/ST emerged, which is following a stricter code of hierarchy among their own caste?

The issue of reservation and assimilation of Dalits is highly sensitive and emotive. Caste is still a major factor in Indian life. Both sides have their views, their grievances but there is also a section which puts things in perspective.

Dr Harbaksh Singh, a serving IAS officer who cleared the MBBS and Civil Services in the general category, says: "The impact of thousands of years of deprivation can perhaps never be grasped by those who have not suffered it. The cry of the creamy layer is based on flawed logic and not on facts. Has anyone done a detailed survey to come to the conclusion that reservation has benefited only a few among the lower castes? In Haryana among Dalit IAS officers, numbering about 30-odd, not even four or five are second generation reservationists. This idea of further dividing the Dalits for the purpose of reservation is another way of keeping them down".

His wife Reshma, a Brahmin by birth (they had an arranged marriage), an M.A. (history) from Delhi University, is more vocal: "When I got married I had my biases but my husband, a highly qualified and learned man, made me see life more objectively. Can anyone with any grain of honesty deny that society has not assimilated Dalits, however high their position? In the offices their position might get respect or subordination, but outside the tag of Dalit goes with him to keep him apart. If he does good work it is, ‘inspite of being so and so, he has done it’, and if something goes wrong, it is ‘what can you expect from him anyway".

"Imagine, now they are saying people of the lowest varna have inferior genes. I do not know what the game is. No one has specified what samples they have taken to come to this conclusion. I fear for my children. In services, Dalits are never given their due. From the time Haryana was created, not a single Dalit officer has been posted in the CM’s secretariat. All sorts of allegations are hurled at them from being incompetent to being corrupt. The country has been ruled by the "high castes" for decades. How efficient, or honest is our body politic and administrative system? If the upper castes stick together, no eyebrows are raised. If Dalit officers meet, we are supposed to have a ghetto mentality. I feel Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s demand for separate electorates for SC/ST MLAs and MPs should be enforced. The SC representatives will then work for their ilk without the fear of loosing upper caste votes. Dr Ambedkar twice lost his deposit because the upper caste did not vote for him".

Shyam Chand has impeccable academic credentials. He was selected for the British Civil Service but quit to be a politician, he was an important minister in Haryana in the 70s. He opines: "Caste system works on two theories — Sanskritisation and co-option. For centuries it has worked without being dismantled because whenever there was a threat to the established order from an individual or a community, they were co-opted, made part of the system. Antonio Gramsci had said when ruling class assimilates the dominating elements of the dominated, it is more dangerous, though the rule is stable. Co-option has helped the upper class to keep the reins of governance in its hands but it has not helped the Dalits. Their economic condition is still poor. After Independence, if the government had implemented the land reforms, the lot of Dalits would have improved substantially. We were given this carrot called reservation in jobs, but where are the jobs?

"Today the LPG factor is totally detrimental to us. It stands for liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. This has pushed the advance of Dalits back. This factor leads to the demand for public school, high caste, high class people in jobs. We are asked why we do not succeed in self-employment areas or in professional jobs outside the government. How many people will go to a private Dalit doctor, even if he is good? Who will let him survive? Caste system is the most vicious institution in the world. It dehumanises people".

S.C. Doswal, a retired bureaucrat, says: "Even among Dalits there is hierarchy. They follow the sub-caste system rigidly. We have to first get rid of the hierarchy within us to move ahead. I have seen in some Dalit houses the persecution complex has been internalised. It is a negative way of thinking.

"I further feel if a person has taken the benefit of reservation, his next generation should be kept out of the purview of reservation and definitely there should be no reservation in promotion. This way you negate the very principle of seniority. But the upper caste also will have to show more sagacity and generosity. There have been so many times when I have heard unparliamentary words being used for Dalits even by educated people when they did not know who I was. Frankly, I feel casteism cannot be eradicated. It is getting worse. Air tight compartments are developing".

Mohanjit Singh, a student of M.A., Political Science department, P.U., says: "Economically developed Dalits should be kept out of the purview of reservation. Though reservation helps only economically and not socially, I have heard an SDO in the Telephone Department referred to as Dalit by his colleagues openly. Even in the university, the caste factor is there. The reserved category students are kept apart. We also stick together, fearing non-acceptance by others. Girls also do not interact with Dalit boys".

"The worst is in villages. You still have chota beda and bada beda, separate areas of living. There upper castes do not hide behind hypocrisy. They show their feelings openly".

K. Vaidyanathan, a business man, and freelance writer, feels. "If you go back in history, you realise that the Dalits were wronged. The wrongs have to be set right, but is reservation the best way of helping them? It is a fact that by reservation you are compromising on quality. You are stamping people further. It is a head count. Instead of bridging the cleavages, it is leading to further division in society. There is a growing feeling that the word Dalit gives you an exclusive membership card which opens many doors. Families which have taken advantage of reservation for generations have forged ahead

economically and politically. So they cannot talk of prosecution complex. What needs to be done is to provide all a level playing field, ensure free and good education, but let everyone compete on merit".

"Hindusim cannot be defined except by caste and caste by birth. Unless you forget about karma, transmigration of soul, you cannot forget caste. And if a Dalit talks of Dalit welfare, it is nothing great. Let others talk. That will make sense", said a retired DGP.

Dr Harjinder Singh ‘Laltoo’, a professor in PU and a social worker, says: "I have been out of the country. So the implication of caste did not touch me personally. But coming back to India it has hit me that society even in this age is totally divided. The upper caste follow a mixture of patronising and disgust towards the Dalits. They should realise that giving anything to the Dalits was not an act of charity on their part. It was because of the fear of their retaliation that a part of the bread was given to them.

"Reservation may not be a foolproof solution to the problem, but at least it tries to help in the uplift of the Dalits. It has served its purpose. People who have come up are more articulate and better organised. The capability of a Dalit SP or DC is not the point. For his people, he is a role model. Someone who can be emulated. To assimilate the Dalits, one way can be that upper castes must learn to do all types of work. Dignity of labour is necessary. Caste is being perpetuated because of the occupational division is still being followed".

Clearly angry with the reservation policy is Nakul Soui, an engineering student. "How is our generation guilty for what happened to the Dalits centuries ago? How can you hold us responsible? By providing a separate quota you are further dividing society. In our college the benefit of reservation has gone to IAS/ IPS officers’ children who have had better schooling then most of us and live more affluently. They are the neo-Rajas. They take all advantages provided to their caste but then hate been called reservationists. You can become a doctor with not even passing marks in the entrance exam. At least there should be some pass percentage for even quota people. They have a rule in Panjab University whereby an SC/ST student short of attendance can appear privately while others cannot. Is this a fair rule? How can you discriminate about attendance. To right some wrong, which happened in the past, can we now wrong others? When I go for an interview and find the post goes to a reservationist who is nowhere near my merit, it will only make me more bitter".

Dr Pramod Kumar sums up the debate. The moot point in this context arises from the relativity attached to the justification of quotas. The relativity is symptomatic of the transitional nature of Indian society. In the environment of shrinking opportunities, the caste assertion has emerged as a crucial factor, promising solace and security to the majority of the people. Survival of the caste can be explained both in terms of its own strength, its internal dynamism and accommodating capacity as well as the weak challenge posed by medernisation.

The socio-economic developments have not been powerful enough either to subsume caste structure or replace it altogether. In this, justice is imparted with reference to collectivities having their basis in kinship, caste, religion, ethnicity and not to individuals as it is done in the modern framework of political discourse.

Equality, justice and dignity form the bedrock on which the Indian Constitution rests and from which the concept of democracy flows. No country can progress till all segments of its population prosper and lead a life of dignity. We are on the threshold of a new century and a new millennium. To realise the full potential of the country, we need a mindset which accepts the inevitability of change and welcomes it.