Political Science: If I were the Prime Minister of India
While writing an essay on 'If I were the Prime Minister of India' in my high school days, I had always written of ending the reservation system. But now that I have sensed and studied Political Science and research topics in India, I came to the conclusion that this is something next to the impossible. Or can this be done by a single person?
Reservation has a long 110 years of history in India, officially starting from the Government of India Act of 1909. But in 1932, Prime Minister of Britain, Ramsay MacDonald, proposed The Communal Award, in which separate representation was to be provided for Muslims and other minorities. This led to dissent among many leaders. Mahatma Gandhi fasted in protest against it but many depressed class leaders supported it including the Architect of Indian Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar. This dispute ended with Poona Pact in 1932 which provided a pathway for the reservation of electoral seats for the depressed classes in the legislature of British India government.
In December 2019, Indian Parliament passed the Constitutional Amendment Bill (126th) to extend reservation quota to SCs and STs by another ten years. Government even claimed that they will never stop the reservation system. It is important to note that not even a single Lawmaker voted against it in both houses of parliament. It is very rare to witness such unity in Indian Parliament.
Recently, the Supreme Court delivered an order while hearing the pleas regarding the Uttarakhand government's 2012 decision to not promote reservations in the promotions for filling up the vacant seats in public services. The order states that the reservation is not a fundamental right and this is upto the conscience of the State Government to either implement it or not. Though all political parties requested the supreme court to review it.
When India got independence, there was a section of society, mainly SCs and STs, who were deprived of their rights and there was a need to uplift such sections of society. So, the drafting committee of the constitution included the reservation system. It further included Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in 1991 on the basis of recommendations of the Mandal Commission.
Indian Constitution allowed reservation to backward classes but over the years it has grown from class-based system to caste-based system. Reservation was certainly a affirmative action in dealing the discrimination of weaker sections. But why citizens of general class would face discrimination because of what their ancestors has done in pre-independence era? Is this the equality our constitution gives? Certainly not. Many sections of the society have gained from the reservation and they are now able to live life with dignity. Demand for reservation has been increasing even after 70 years since independence. Maratha community was given reservation after so much agitation.
Where are we heading? Does someone need less qualifying criteria to get a job? If yes, then he is not even qualified for it. In 1992, the supreme court of India has stated that combined beneficiaries for all depressed classes should not exceed fifty percent of population in the historic Indira Sawhney & others Vs Union of India case. The Narendra Modi Government in 2019, provided an extra ten percent reservation to the Economic Weaker Sections totalling the reservation in India to 60 percent. There is always a debate on whether reservation should be abolished or not? But what matters is that the Constitution has given equal rights to every citizen of this country and one can't be deprived of equal opportunities in jobs because of reservation. All sections of society should get equal opportunities irrespective of their birth. Yes, it is true that oppression against weaker classes took place in the past. But also, discrimination against the general class is being done today.
What next? Most governments of India have been vote-driven but someone has to examine whether the backward and oppressed classes need reservation or this is the time to call it a day. Instead of reservation, current depressed and backward classes should be given educational enumeration, scholarships, funds or other welfare schemes. Somewhere there should be an end to it. But the problem lies in the intentions of doing it. But one must acknowledge the repercussions of reservation. One must think of the rights of the general class of India. United States also had the reservation system in the past but now they are done. They have now their welfare schemes for such oppressed classes. We can only hope that when our democracy matures, then only reservation could have an alternative.
