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Mired in politics, reservation pointless sans jobs

The politics behind the Modi government’s recent decision to provide for a 10 per cent quota for the upper-caste poor, over and above the 50 per cent limit mandated by the Supreme Court in 1992, merits a serious examination.

Mired in politics, reservation pointless sans jobs

Fissures: The reservation unrest has disturbed social harmony in Haryana.



Ranbir Singh
Senior Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi

The politics behind the Modi government’s recent decision to provide for a 10 per cent quota for the upper-caste poor, over and above the 50 per cent limit mandated by the Supreme Court in 1992, merits a serious examination. Its roots have to be traced to the power struggle between then Prime Minister Morarji Desai and Chaudhary Charan Singh. The Kisan Sammelan that farmer leaders successfully organised in New Delhi on December 26, 1978, had created a fear psychosis among Chaudhary’s opponents in the Janata Party. This had made them persuade the Prime Minister to appoint the Backward Class Commission to counter Chaudhary’s influence over the farmers belonging to the backward castes of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. A notification was issued for this purpose on January 1, 1979, and the Commission was appointed under the chairmanship of a Janata Party leader from Bihar, BP Mandal. This panel, known as the Mandal Commission, submitted its report to the government on December 31, 1980. But then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided to push it to the backburner. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, who had succeeded as Prime Minister in 1984 after her assassination, also deemed it prudent to ignore the same.

But the VP Singh-led National Front government felt compelled to accept the recommendations of the Mandal Commission to counter the threat from former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, whom he (VP) had dismissed on account of differences with him.  VP Singh had to play the OBC (Other Backward Classes) card to checkmate him. He issued a notification on August 13, 1990, granting 27 per cent reservation to the OBCs.

This was followed by a violent anti-Mandal agitation in North India in general and Haryana in particular. Subsequently, the Devi Lal-backed government in Haryana appointed the Gurnam Singh Commission on August 31, 1990. The Commission declared Jats, Rajputs, Ahirs, Gujjars, Rors and Bishnois as OBCs in February 1991. But its operation was stopped due to the imposition of President’s Rule in the state after the dismissal of the government headed by Om Prakash Chautala.  

When the Congress led by Bhajan Lal came to power in Haryana after the 1991 Assembly elections, it appointed a Backward Castes Commission headed by Ramji Lal in 1993. When he became a member of the Rajya Sabha, former minister Des Raj Kamboj succeeded him. The Commission declared Ahirs, Gujjars, Sainis, Lodhs and Meos as Backward Castes (A), who had already been included in OBCs by the Mandal Commission on the ground that they were economically weaker than other peasant castes like the Jats, and gave them 18 per cent reservation out of the 27 per cent quota for the OBCs. The existing Backward Castes — the artisan and service castes — were categorised as ‘BC-B’ in Haryana. This had been done to weaken the support base of the Devi Lal-led INLD.

But this gave rise to the Jats’ demand for reservation on the plea that their social and economic status was not better than that of the castes declared as Backward Castes (A).  However, neither Bansi Lal (Haryana Vikas Party), who served as Chief Minister from 1996 to 1999, nor OP Chautala (INLD), who remained in power from 1999 to 2005, encouraged this demand. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister of the Congress government, too, did not do so during the first tenure (2005 to 2009). But a Jat intellectual, Dr Ram Kanwar, claims that Hooda accepted it during his second tenure. He had to do it because of the alienation of a section of the Jats from the Congress and the consequent reduction of seats of the party in the Assembly from 67 to 40 and increase in the number of the INLD’s seats from 9 to 31 in the 2009 elections. The pressure exerted on him by the Hari Singh Sangwan-led Jat Aarakshan Samiti agitation also compelled him to accept the Jats’demand for reservation.

This was followed by the appointment of the KC Gupta Commission by Hooda. It recommended 10 per cent reservation for Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnois and Tyagis by categorising them as the Special Backward Castes. These recommendations were accepted. Subsequently, Brahmins and other high castes were given reservation under the category of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). In the meantime, the UPA government at the Centre also gave OBC status to the Jats. But all this reservation was set aside by the Supreme Court.

The Jat agitation for reservation under the leadership of UP-based Jat leader Yashpal Malik turned violent in 2016 after the BJP government in Haryana failed to accept this demand due to judicial hurdles and political considerations. Be that as it may, the demand of Jats for reservation has polarised Haryanvi society. Various political parties have gone all out to sharpen the divide. Jat academics such as Prof DR Chaudhary had opposed it from Day One because they had rightly feared that it would culminate in the isolation of the community and disturb social harmony in the state.

Reservation is meaningless in this era of jobless growth. The need of the hour is generation of jobs, promoting self-employment and making agriculture profitable. School education, too, requires improvement. Otherwise, the really needy section of the upper castes would not be able to get the benefit of this reservation. The income ceiling must also be lowered. The size of landholdings needs to be reduced to three hectares so that only the genuinely poor are able to benefit from the proposed reservation for the poor from the upper castes.

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