Events & Issues
New
Delhi, 6 September 2018
Pre-Election Mood
FAST TRACK CASTE POLITICS
By Dr.S.Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
In recent days, one cannot help noticing that
some of the long pending demands of caste groups are moving on fast track.
Those who make the demands are getting more and more vociferous and concerned
respondents are equally more and more inclined to lend their ears. Elections
are approaching. It is the best time to raise demands for the clients; and also
to concede or promise them for the power holders and power seekers.
And so recognised caste groups in our society,
though never dormant for any reason, have become extra active to utilise the
opportunity to gain support for concessions and privileges as political parties
are in election mood. It is Parliament elections. More than individual castes/communities
which are seen active during State elections, groups such as OBC, SC and ST appear
on the scene.
Jats, Lingayats, Patidars, Marathas, Vanniars,
Kapus, etc., may go in the background for a while. The stage is taken by SC and ST, OBC, and MBC
collectivities. Bigger “vote banks”—partly notional and partly real - try to
appropriate the field. Three major developments can be seen in this politics of
caste-group appeasement vigorously pursued by all parties.
Parliament, with unanimous support of all
parties passed a Bill on 6th August to restore all provisions of the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act including
restoration of the provision for automatic arrest for offences under the law
which was diluted by the Supreme Court insisting on a preliminary enquiry
before arrest.
Law has overturned the Supreme Court’s ruling
banning anticipatory bail in such cases and introducing preliminary enquiry of
the complaint before arrest. Noteworthy is the fact that all political parties are
against dilution of the Act in any manner. Some even went to the extent of
blaming the government for Supreme Court’s ruling to gain advantage through
incorrect political propaganda.
Doubtless, it was an opportunity for all
parties to profess and exhibit their unflinching support to the cause of SC and
ST. That caste discriminations still go on without hindrance is an altogether
different matter. That even temple entry is denied to these castes in many
places despite being in the forefront in constructing these temples seems to be
a non-political issue to these parties.
Close on the heels of this dramatic gesture,
the government has given a big push to the question of reservation in
promotions termed as “accelerated promotion with consequential seniority” for
members of SC/ST in public employment. The reason for this sudden urgency is
cited as “1000 years of deprivation”!
The government has suddenly realised that its hands are tied
due to the judgement of a 5-judge Constitution Bench in 2006 that barred the
government from introducing quota in promotion unless it is proved that the
particular Dalit community is backward and inadequately represented, and such a
reservation in promotion would not affect the over-all efficiency of public
administration. The Court had also ruled that the stand of the government
should be supported by adequate statistics.
There are several court decisions in the
matter that are not consistent with one another. Separate verdicts have been
passed by Delhi, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana courts. In view of this, the apex
court had ordered “status quo’ in the matter in 2015.
Now, the government wants the verdict to be
re-examined by a larger Bench. A host of petitions pending in the Supreme Court
on reservation in promotions for SC/ST communities has been taken up and
arguments on either side have been heard by a 7-judge Bench of the Supreme
Court. The court has reserved judgement on these petitions for re-examining the
earlier court decision.
Textbooks on public administration teach that
promotion means elevation from a given position to a higher one with enhanced pay carrying more
difficult type of work and involving responsibility. Designation gets changed
and with it internal staff positions. The normal
administrative practice is to take into account length of service, efficiency,
professional requirement of the concerned posts, etc., in granting promotions.
Primarily, promotion
is nobody’s birth right. It is a reward and acknowledgement for good work. It is given in recognition of a person’s
ability to take up higher responsibilities in an organisation. Opportunities
for promotion act as incentives and transform even the dull office atmosphere
to a happy set up conducive to efficiency and interest in work.
Today, in the
context of applying the Reservation Policy to promote caste equality and remove
stagnation and deprivation, it is felt that initial recruitment by preferential
treatment is not enough. Further elevation is considered necessary. In this
thinking, promotion is delinked from its real administrative content and is
understood and projected as higher emoluments and greater authority, more
privileges, and superior social status. Promotion becomes a tool for social
elevation and not efficient administration.
Quota-based promotions will upset the
hierarchical relations and will worsen the office atmosphere unless accompanied
with suitable administrative changes. The beneficiaries and the hopefuls
assured of promotions should not lose inclination to learn, work, and earn
their fitness to the promotions. While boosting the morale of the benefited
employees, quota-based promotion should avoid creating a sense of alienation
among the members superseded in the process.
Towards this, it is necessary to link
promotion by reservation with transfers to other departments/ offices. Further,
elementary sense of justice demands that no person should be favoured with
multiple benefits meaning that those who enter under reservation quota should
be barred from quota-based promotion; and no person should be given this
benefit more than once. In any case, promotion should not be automatic, but
should be earned under any system. Such rules are necessary to prevent cornering
of preferential treatment by the “creamy layer” which will widen inequality
among the SC and ST.
It is believed that expanding the benefits of
Reservation Policy should not be done without reliable data on the existence of
castes and their actual social and economic conditions. Here comes the third
significant step proposed to be launched by the government.
As a preliminary, the National Commission for
Backward Classes set up in 1993 as a statutory body was made a Constitutional
body by 123rd amendment of the Constitution. In 2011 census, the
previous UPA II government undertook a caste census breaking the census policy
made in 1951 to stop caste census done by the British Government from 1871 to 1931.
It was called Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC).
Huge data were collected in 2011 and an
expert group was appointed in Niti Aayog to decide on sub-classification and
categorization of the SECC data. The task was stupendous and unmanageable as
the data threw up 46 lakh castes, sub-castes, and clans with no clue for their
classification. In 2021, a list of pre-decided castes will be provided to the
enumerators and every person will be counted under one caste.
Inter-caste marriages are becoming common and
the number claiming to belong to more than one caste is increasing. Caste
census is going to expose the confusion in the caste system and may produce
data far removed from reality.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
|