Conversation with Merlin · Sun Dec 17 2023

Reservation policies are creating more harm in Indian societies rather than solving caste discrimination.

Reservation policies in India have been a subject of considerable debate and. While these policies were initially intended to address historical injustices and promote social equality by providing opportunities to historically disadvantagedes and communities, there are varying perspectives on their effectiveness and potential drawbacks.

Many argue that reservation policies have led to societal divisions and conflicts, as as the perpetuation of caste-based identity and conflicts. There are concerns that these policies have not achieved their intended goals of uplifting marginalized communities and have instead created a system of preferential treatment that perpetuates caste identities and potentially hinders merit-based opportunities.

On the other hand, proponents of reservation policies argue that they are essential addressing historical injustice and providing opportunities to marginalized communities that have historically faced discrimination and limited access to education and.

It is important to note that there are complexities and nuances surrounding this issue, and it is crucial to consider the diverse perspectives and experiences within Indian society. Moving forward, there is a need for a comprehensive and inclusive dialogue that takes into account the societal impact and effectiveness of reservation policies, with a focus on finding solutions that promote equal opportunities while addressing the potential harms with these policies.

'The upper caste elite's belief that they are casteless is a belief that is available only to the upper castes. Because all the lower castes are reminded by society every day what their caste is.' IMAGE: An all party Kunbi and OBC Agitation Committee rally to protest against the Maratha community's demand to include them as Kunbis for reservation in Nagpur, September 18, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo On Gandhi Jayanti, October 2, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did the unthinkable -- he published the caste survey, or Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana. With this move, the caste factor, which was put on the backburner in Indian politics post Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's entry into national politics riding the Hindutva wave, has started gaining traction among Opposition parties. They believe this is the only way to bring down Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and that the Bihar caste survey is like letting the caste genie out of the bottle. The last national caste census in India was conducted in 1931 by the British after which the practice was discontinued in Independent India. The Bihar caste survey is startling, for it shows that the Other Backward Castes account for 63 percent of the state's 130 million population whereas the upper castes are a mere 15.52 percent. The Scheduled Castes accounted for over 19 percent and Scheduled Tribes made up 1.68 percent. By releasing the data, Nitish Kumar clearly wants to create a rift in the BJP's Hindu vote bank. He is trying to show the OBCs that though numerically they are much larger, power sharing is not done according to their population as the upper castes dominate India's politics and bureaucracy. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Professor Satish Deshpande, the eminent sociologist, to understand more about India'a caste politics. Why is it important that 76 years after Independence to know which caste each Indian belongs to? How will make a difference to our society? At the time of Independence it was the belief of our leadership, which was widely shared, or at least there was no strong countering opinion at that time. The belief was that caste would wither away with economic development and therefore the State's first responsibility was to bring about development which would take care of all other problems, including caste. It was felt at that time that people needed to forget their caste. They needed to rise above their caste identity, and therefore public talk about caste was discouraged. At that time, speaking of caste was considered a retrograde thing. This was the dominant view after Independence, and it had no serious challengers at that time, at least at the national level. The silencing of caste in the public discourse also served to hide the fact that the benefits of development were flowing disproportionately to the upper castes. The opportunities that were being created by development and what was then called as the great task of nation-building were taken advantage of mostly by the upper castes. The Nehruvian strategy of development, which emphasised heavy industries and the leadership of the State in the economy, served to expand greatly both the demand and the supply for what was then called 'scientific and technical manpower'. The State invested in higher education, particularly technical education, to increase the supply of technical professionals. The State's development strategy also massively increased the demand for technical personnel. At that time the people best situated to take advantage of these new opportunities -- on the one hand, high quality higher education heavily subsidised by the State; and on the other hand, expanding job opportunities in the public sector enterprises and government administration -- were the upper castes. The Nehruvian era thus enabled a crucial social change -- the conversion of caste capital (or the material advantages based on caste status) into 'merit capital' (or the material advantages based on secular qualification

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India is ready for the simultaneous pursuit of justice, equality, excellence. Indians should create a glide path to reach 100 years of Independence with 100 per cent reservation for 100 per cent of its people. Listen to this article Best of both sides | Manish Sabharwal writes: Bihar caste survey is a cynical attempt to expand reservation India needs a different approach x Beginning today, a fortnightly column, which will offer not this versus that but the best of both sides to inform the debate. A good democracy doesnt weigh citizens but counts them. Everybody is equal and judged as individuals, not as a member of groups. The challenge lies in the gap between this ideal and the reality every society tries to bridge through policy. But is discrimination between applicants for jobs and education the most effective policy tool to deliver equality? Is it possible to discriminate in favour of one group without discriminating against another? Its hardly time to end reservation but expanding it the Bihar caste survey is a cynical attempt to do so is unfair to future generations and divisive. Radically rebooting Indias infrastructure of opportunity, employment, employability and education offers a powerful policy alternative to reservation without dividing society. Laws that make discrimination based on caste, gender, and religion illegal (which should always exist) find it hard to coexist with reservation policies that discriminate based on caste, gender and religion (which should always be temporary, if justified). An argument against reservation doesnt imply the 299 remarkable innovators who wrote our Constitution did something wrong or unnecessary by introducing reservation. They recognised that voting was only one step in creating equality and that some discrimination, though undemocratic, was temporarily necessary. I have also heard reasonable arguments that 75 years are insufficient to right centuries of historical wrongs. As every doctor knows, the dose makes the poison. Anything powerful enough to help has the power to hurt if the dosage is too small or for too long. The many decades since Independence need us to expand our goals to pursue equality and excellence. Equality without excellence is neither sustainable nor satisfying. Pursuing both means a new definition of equality. That means equal treatment, unbiased competition and impartially judged outcomes, not equal outcomes achieved by unequal treatment, biased competition and preferential judging. This pursuit needs to shift from discriminating between children based on their parents to creating the infrastructure of opportunity that allows the pursuit of excellence and judging them on the sweat of their brow and the courage in their heart. Rebooting our infrastructure of opportunity requires accelerating reforms to our 3Es of education, employability, and employment. But I suggest three low-hanging fruits. In education, state governments must fix government schools without wasting more energy on small class sizes, teacher qualifications or teacher salaries but focusing on the binding constraints of performance management (fear of falling and hope of rising), governance (allocation of decision rights), and soft skills. In employability, we must attract massive new financing for skills from employers by redesigning the system around the five design principles of learning by doing, learning while earning, learning with qualification modularity, learning with multimodal delivery, and learning with signalling value. This requires ending regulatory cholesterol that restricts linking degrees to apprenticeships, confuses apprenticeships with jobs, judges vocational universities like traditional ones and blunts online higher education growth.In employment, massive non-farm, high-wage, formal job creation requires cutting the regulatory cholesterol for employers that breeds litigation, compliance, filings and criminalisation by passing new labour codes. There is a lot of wor

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New Delhi: A recent study says that casteism is not only prevalent but also institutionalised in the Indian higher educational institutions particularly in the technical fields of medicine and engineering. However, these institutions rarely acknowledge the discrimination and wilfully ignore both subtle and overt forms of casteism. The study, entitled The Steady Drumbeat of Institutional Casteism, was conducted by the Forum Against Oppression of Women, Forum for Medical Ethics Society, Medico Friend Circle and the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties, Maharasthra. The study focuses on the various ways in which casteism is practiced and even normalised in the current higher education system of the country. It may exist in the direct form of abusive casteist slurs, gestures, comments and physical exclusion or in its indirect ill-informed opposition to the constitutionally mandated policy of reservation and routine biases inflicting psychological harm upon the victims. It was conducted in the aftermath of the tragic suicides of Payal Tadvi and Rohit Vemula. The study refers to their suicides as institutional murders, while highlighting the culture of victim-blaming and apathy towards the victims of such institutional murders for calling them mentally weak even after their death. Such an approach is also observed in the cases of sexual harassment of women too. As per the study, persons who share experiences of caste-based discriminations in higher educational institutions get accused of being obsessed with caste identities or being over-sensitive or paranoid about it. This culture of not recognising and dismissing discrimination without the willingness to appreciate the experiences of persons from their own locations, contributes to the further marginalisation of such persons and their experiences. According to the study, the Hindu religion founded on caste hierarchy and Brahminical supremacy has been continuously striving to perpetuate the hierarchical caste divisions to establish hegemonic ideological power over Indian society. The rate of inter-caste marriages, even as recently as 2011, was merely 5.82% and there has been no upward trend over the past four decades. As per the study, the opposition to reservation is used by the so-called high castes to supposedly save merit while discrediting, discriminating and humiliating people from oppressed social backgrounds for exercising their due right. However, this argument to save merit is totally absent in the case of management quota or paid seats. In fact, some students who got admitted through reservation were among the top 10 in various examinations, the study says. However, the caste-based discrimination against them doesnt stop, even after they have proven their merit. Further, the study underscores the failure of the implementation and non-compliance of various UGC regulations, government and court reports on the issue by the Indian higher education institutions leading to a large number of drop-outs and even suicides by those affected. At the same time, the study deals with the issue of privatisation of higher education in India at the expense of public education which has adversely affected the overall prospects for oppressed social groups to break their vicious cycle of exploitation. The lack of the policy of reservation to ensure social justice and representation of the oppressed combined with exorbitant fees makes such private education institutions inaccessible and exclusive. Seats in private medical hospitals have risen exponentially since 200. Photo: WES Within even the public education institutions, the representation of such groups is dismal. According to data by the education ministry, presented in 2019 in Lok Sabha, out of 6,043 faculty members at the 23 IITs, only 149 were SCs and 21 were STs- accounting for less than 3% of the total faculty members. Similarly, out of the 642 faculty members across 13 Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), only four belong to SC and o

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'Reservation policies are creating more harm in Indian societies rather than solving caste discrimination.' write arguments to support the statement

Arguments against reservation policies in India often include the following points:

  1. Perpetuation of Caste Id: Reservation policies are criticized for perpetuating caste divisions by emphasizing caste-based identities and creating system of preferential treatment. This can hinder the goal of fostering a united and inclusive society.

  2. Merit-Based Opportunities: Critics argue that reservation policies may lead to a focus on caste or background rather than individual merit, potentially undermining the principle of meritocracy which is essential for the nation's progress and competitiveness.

  3. Stigmatization and Stereotyping: Some argue that policies can lead to stigmatization and stereotyping of individuals from reserved categories, which may affect their self-esteem and social integration. This can perpetuate social divisions rather promoting unity and equality.

  4. Limited Reach: Critics contend that reservation policies may only benefit specific sections of the targeted communities, while leaving a proportion marginalized within these communities. This limitationsacross the broader category beneficiaries, potentially failing to address the needs of the most vulnerable.

  5. Alternative Solutions: Critics suggest that alternative approaches such as focused educational and economic development initiatives, may be more effective in addressing caste discrimination and socio-economic disparities without the potential negative consequences associated with reservation policies.

These are some of the key arguments presented in opposition to reservation policies in India. It's important to note that opinions on this matter are diverse, reflecting the complexity and sensitivities of addressing injustices and promoting social equality.

The wounds of the centuries you don't wash away by saying: 'you're free to go where you want to, do as you wish, and choose the leaders you want.' You're not taking a man who has been stuck in chains for years, liberating him, taking him to the starting line of competition, saying 'you have the freedom to compete with everyone else,' and you only believe you were very reasonable... This is the following and more profound step in the civil rights movement. We pursue freedom but the chancenot just legal equality but human skillnot just equality as a right and a principle, but equality as a reality and as a consequence Discover the world's research25+ million members160+ million publication pages2.3+ billion citationsJoin for free www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 VOLUME 2 : ISSUE 8 || April 2021 || Email: [email protected] Website: www.whiteblacklegal.co.in www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 DISCLAIMER No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form by any means without prior written permission of Editor-in-chief of White Black Legal The Law Journal. The Editorial Team of White Black Legal holds the copyright to all articles contributed to this publication. The views expressed in this publication are purely personal opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Editorial Team of White Black Legal. Though all efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and correctness of the information published, White Black Legal shall not be responsible for any errors caused due to oversight or otherwise. www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 EDITORIAL TEAM EDITOR IN CHIEF Name - Mr. Varun Agrawal Consultant || SUMEG FINANCIAL SERVICES PVT.LTD. Phone - +91-9990670288 Email - [email protected] EDITOR Name - Mr. Anand Agrawal Consultant|| SUMEG FINANCIAL SERVICES PVT.LTD. EDITOR (HONORARY) Name - Smt Surbhi Mittal Manager || PSU EDITOR(HONORARY) Name - Mr Praveen Mittal Consultant || United Health Group MNC EDITOR Name - Smt Sweety Jain Consultant||SUMEG FINANCIAL SERVICES PVT.LTD. EDITOR Name - Mr. Siddharth Dhawan Core Team Member || Legal Education Awareness Foundation www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 ABOUT US WHITE BLACK LEGAL is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed journal provide dedicated to express views on topical legal issues, thereby generating a cross current of ideas on emerging matters. This platform shall also ignite the initiative and desire of young law students to contribute in the field of law. The erudite response of legal luminaries shall be solicited to enable readers to explore challenges that lie before law makers, lawyers and the society at large, in the event of the ever changing social, economic and technological scenario. With this thought, we hereby present to you WHITE BLACK LEGAL: THE LAW JOURNAL www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 A Research Paper On the Topic ARGUMENT FOR AND AGAINST THE RESERVATION IN INDIA Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements For the Term End Examination By Prajwal Dwivedi B.A., LL.B.(Hons.)-8101 www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 Acknowledgment I made an effort to do this project. Without the kind support and assistance of many people, however, it would not have been possible. To all of them, I would like to extend my sincere thanks. I am highly indebted to my faculty( Dr. Prakash Chandra Jha) to provide his guidance and on-going monitoring and information on the project and his support in completing the project. I want to express my thanks for the kind cooperation and support I have received from my parents and friends to complete this project. Thanks go to everyone who is a part of the project and my colleagues who helped me on the project. Prajwal Dwivedi BA LLB www.whiteblacklegal.co.in ISSN: 2581-8503 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE 4. CASTE SYSTEM IN INDIA 5. ARGUMENT FOR AND AGAINST THE RESERVATION IN INDI

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Debate on Reservations in Constituent Assembly was an important topic discussed in the constituent assembly. In India, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) receive reservations at rates of 15%, 7.5%, and 27%, respectively, for direct recruitment through open competition throughout the country. Other than through open competition, the proportion established for direct hiring on an all-India basis is 16.66% for SCs, 7.5% for STs, and 25.84% for OBCs. Debate on Reservations in Constituent Assembly is one of the important topics for UPSC IAS and covers a significant part of the General Studies paper-2 syllabus. In this article, we shall cover in detail about meaning, the notion of reservation, and issues and challenges in favour and against reservations. Debate on Reservations in Constituent Assembly UPSC Polity Notes: Download PDF here! What are Reservations? In India, reservation focuses on reserving seats in government offices, educational institutions, and even legislatures for specific groups of the population. Before 2019, the reservation was mostly granted based on socioeconomic and educational disadvantage (caste). But as of the 103rd constitutional amendment in 2019, economic backwardness is also now taken into account. The Extent of Reservation in India Article 15(4), 15(5), and 15(6): Government Educational Institutions (IITs, IIMs, etc) Article 16(4) and 16(6): Government Jobs (IAS, IPS etc) Article 334: Legislature (Parliament and State Legislature) History of Reservations in India The caste system in the Hindu religion classifies people into four groups or varnas: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. These four varnas are said to have descended from Brahma, the universes creator, the Vedas, and people in Hinduism. The Varna system is thought to have been transformed into the present-day caste system. Timeline of Reservations in India at Glance Year Events 1882 William Hunter and Jyotirao Phule conceptualised the concept of a reservation policy for India in 1882. 1933 British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald instituted the reservation policy in 1933 under the name Communal Award. 1991 After Mandal Commissions recommendations, OBCs were also covered by the reservation. 2007 Under the All India Quota Scheme, 15% of the seats were reserved for members of the SC category, and 7.5% for members of the ST category. 2019 Introduction of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act 2021 For undergraduate and graduate medical/dental programmes beginning with the 202122 academic year, the Government of India has agreed to grant 27% OBC and 10% Economically Weaker Section reservations under the All India Quota Scheme. Learn more about the Scheduled Tribes here!Debate on the Reservation System in India The making of the Indian Constitution was drafted over the course of three years, beginning with the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on December 9, 1946. The debate on the Reservation System in India was one of the most well-known of all the discussions that took place in the assembly. After the Britishers left India it was necessary to formulate strong regulations in order to govern the country. All social classes, whether upper-class Hindus or members of lower castes, were addressed by the legislature when it convened to draft the Constitution. Caste and class prejudice are ingrained in Indian society, which is why measures like reservation have to be implemented in order to uphold democratic norms. Issues in the Debate Debate on Reservations in Constituent Assembly was flooded with many issues and challenges. Some of the issues are tabled below: The Poona Pact provided a separate electorate for the underprivileged classes in order to serve their interests, but the outcome was not what was anticipated. According to the contract, the classes were supposed to have 28 seats in the central province (the population of the depressed class was 25%), but they only received 20. Accor

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In All The Arguments You Need, we take on mindsets standing in the way of progress and rebut them with facts and logic.This week, the Supreme Court began hearing petitions challenging the validity of a Constitutional Amendment, passed in January 2019, that grants a 10% quota to those belonging to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in previously unreserved, upper-caste communities. The amendment fundamentally altered the spirit of caste-based reservations one of the most hotly debated topics in the country.The Constitution of India recognizes affirmative action in public education and employment for people belonging to historically discriminated and marginalized castes and tribes as a fundamental right. But when said people Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and communities recognized as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) claim their right to equal opportunity, historically privileged, upper-caste, unreserved communities allege that reservations discourage merit and genuine talent by providing the former an unfair advantage. Many deem poverty to be eligible for reservations in education and employment over caste-based marginalization.However, pitting economic deprivation against casteism leaves the latter pervasive, and doesnt get to the heart of what drives social inequality in India even 75 years after its Independence. Here are all the arguments you need to debunk prevalent notions against caste-based reservations.Casteism is a thing of the past.Barely a month ago, a nine-year-old Dalit child from the Jalore district in Rajasthan succumbed to injuries after his privileged-caste teacher beat him for trying to drink water from the teachers pot. Almost all the matrimonial advertisements in any newspaper seek out partners from their own castes. In urban residential and housing societies, a common feature across cities is the existence of two distinct elevators one for the residents and their guests and the other (and only the other) strictly for service workers employed to clean up after the residents: waste collectors, delivery agents, domestic workers. Many homes do not even offer a glass of water to their household workers. Those who do, often keep a different set of utensils. When someone is on the hunt for a new house, they are often asked for their last names ostensibly to determine their caste. At times, house owners give out cryptic messages like they let their house out to only pure veg tenants yet another caste marker. These are all discriminatory practices rooted in caste, showing how it is deeply entrenched in the societal organization of South Asia, even when it isnt obvious. In fact, the discreet nature of how casteism plays out isnt a sign of its decline, but its normalization.Reservations should only exist to level the playing field initially; they should be discontinued for higher positions/promotions.At present, only 6% and 9% of the faculty in IIMs and IITs respectively comprise persons from scheduled categories, whereas the state mandates the reservation of a collective 22.5% 7.5% for STs and 15% for SCs of faculty positions. Some central institutions do not reserve faculty positions for marginalized communities at all. Others often deliberately mark reserved category Ph.D. candidates or applicants poorly during interviews so that they fail to clear the admission criteria, and then justify reallocating those seats to general category candidates.The situation is not very different in public service, where SCs and STs rarely fill up white-collar positions with higher pay and administrative-level work. On the other hand, they are overrepresented in low-income, labor-intensive professions such as peons, cleaning staff, delivery persons, etc reinforcing the idea that scheduled communities are best left to tend to the same jobs that the caste system has determined for them and, moreover, that privileged caste communities are meant for more respectable work with better pay, perks, and power. To de

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