| Also, consider this. Reservations for backward castes and tribes have been in place in the public sector and in government educational institutions since the 1950s. Initially, reservations were imposed for ten years. Later, this policy was extended to 20 years. |
| In the eighties, the issue was put under the scrutiny of a commission (Mandal) that suggested that the central government reserve 27 per cent of its positions and 27 per cent of university admissions for backward and disadvantaged castes. |
| To be fair, the protest riots and the dramatic self-immolation by a clearly deranged student over Mandal were a gross over-reaction. But it is easy to feel a frisson of resentment against such affirmative action, not because they are wrong per se, but because it is clear that the government is going about it the wrong way. |
| Two experiences exemplify some of the issues. A distant relative by marriage comes from a north-eastern hill tribe. Although her tribe was classified under the relevant schedule of the Constitution, her family was, in fact, extremely well off "" enough to educate her in a tony English-medium school. |
| Indeed, there was little evidence of backwardness in her financial background and education, both of which adequately equipped her to compete on a level playing field for university education or employment. |
| Yet when it came to admissions to a respected college under Calcutta University and, later, to the State Bank of India, it was under the reservations policy that she achieved both. It would be difficult to describe this as a shining example of social justice "" just as it is for the Rajasthan government to include the prosperous Jat community in the backward classes list. |
| Of course, these examples are exceptions; it is true that most of those for whom jobs and education are reserved do come from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds. But the question is: do reservations really work effectively if efforts do not, to use a cliche, begin at the grassroots? |
| Can disadvantaged people deliver optimally at university and in their jobs if their primary and secondary education is defective or non-existent? Wouldn't it be more useful if the government focused on quality basic education for those who cannot afford it "" not just for those who come under a Constitutional schedule "" so that they do more than fill in reserved sinecures? |
| This is what governments in south-east Asia "" Malaysia in particular "" did through the fifties and sixties to such useful effect. |
| University admissions are a good example of the kind of issues that such policies raise. In my time, the minimum cut-off marks for scheduled castes and tribes were at least 20 percentage points lower than for ordinary students. |
| Though admission criteria were not as terrifyingly stringent as they are today, they were nevertheless tough enough given the fact that the number of students seeking admission to reputed colleges far outstripped the number of seats available. |
| Decades later, I can still clearly recall the resentment of high-scoring students who had slogged through the grind of board exams "" some of them unlucky enough to be poor but not "scheduled" "" and found their chances of admission reduced because a fourth of the seats were reserved. |
| Stipulating reservations in employment, without first addressing the real causes of social backwardness, tends to exacerbate negativism rather than foster grand integration and social development. |
| The same arguments against reserving seats for women in Parliament or on corporate boards apply here. To be truly effective, affirmative action must enhance meritocracy. |
| In any case, the logic of reserving jobs is hard to understand in a liberalising economy. In these days of relatively unfettered competition, a job reservations policy in its present form "" whether in the private or public sector "" is like asking athletes to run with weights tied to their feet. |
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