Avoiding quota dystopia

It is time we tried different approaches before merit and talent are completely sidelined

India is on the cusp of embracing a dystopian education and jobs quota system, driven by crass politics and even judicial interventions. While regional politicians and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have been trying to push India to count its castes — with caste-based tensions foretold — the Supreme Court, in a recent judgment on reservations, has backed the idea of sub-quotas within quotas for the really backward within any category. Since this verdict comes with a warning to political parties that the judiciary will not accept any arbitrary creation of sub-quotas, it effectively mandates caste-based surveys.

The Supreme Court verdict will set the better off sections among the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) against others in the same broad categories, since the mandate implies a reduction of opportunities for those castes that have so far benefited most from quotas. This will, in turn, generate intra-caste conflicts.  Some Congress Dalit leaders like P L Punia and Kumari Selja are, in fact, calling for a constitutional amendment to nullify the Supreme Court verdict. Clearly, Rahul Gandhi’s gambit can backfire on the party itself.

It is worth noting that the current conflict in Manipur was triggered by a judicial verdict last year that said Hindu Meiteis can also be designated as STs, which was violently opposed by the Kukis. Now imagine the spread of such conflicts to SCs, STs, and OBCs in many states.

The political consensus will be to expand overall quotas rather than redistribute them within an existing category, as demands for quotas have only gone in one direction — an expansion . No political party wants to alienate any sub-group of quota beneficiaries. From the 50 per cent limit set on quotas in the Indra Sawhney judgment, the apex court has itself accepted the addition of the Narendra Modi government’s special quota for economic backwardness. Some states have long before moved to 69 per cent (Tamil Nadu). It is now inevitable that 69-75 per cent will be the new target for quota enthusiasts. In the long run, quotas may well make inroads into the private sector. During the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, the extension of quotas to the private sector was proposed (and then abandoned due to fears of an adverse impact on business confidence), but in its 2024 manifesto (Nyay Patra), the Congress has not only promised a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent limit on quotas, but also to extend quotas to private educational institutions. Extending this to private sector jobs seems to be only a matter of time.

To prevent a descent into aggressive identity politics and the endless expansion of the quota regime — which will ultimately drive talent overseas or to the high-skill niches — governments (Centre and states), public intellectuals and private sector think-tanks must develop an alternative strategy to ensure an upgrade in the competitive abilities of SCs, STs and OBCs. This may help whittle down the quota regime over time instead of making it irreversible.

Policies to expand job opportunities have to be at the base of such efforts, as quotas ultimately reflect the lack of reasonable quality jobs for youth. The Centre, state, and local bodies must work together to eliminate laws that inhibit job creation.

Thanks to the rapid induction of technology and automation in both manufacturing and services, skill demand is becoming polarised. There is huge demand for high skills (think cyber experts, neurosurgeons), and equally robust demand for lower-skilled jobs aided by technology (think Uber drivers, security staff, logistics and delivery persons, retail clerks). While no one will hire a cybersecurity expert or brain surgeon through quotas, at the lower end of the skill scale, hiring should be based on minimum qualifications and a transparent lottery system. When the government or the private sector, which currently tends to subcontract work, wants to hire peons and couriers, quotas are not needed; lotteries will distribute the jobs among various castes equitably just as well. Any need for additional skills can be subsidised by the employer, in this case, the state.

Secondly, there is a need for coaching and mentoring of SCs, STs and OBCs. This has to start from the primary and secondary levels, and continue into graduate and technical education. India already has a huge network of informal tuition teachers everywhere, and hundreds of coaching classes cater to every student’s needs. A government already committed to subsidising apprenticeships should invest in subsidising coaching at many levels so that the castes left behind can be upgraded on soft skills and the higher skills that will get them into a good institution. Apprenticeships will work once this upgrade of soft skills is extended to a wide swathe of castes and classes. Soft skills, such as the ability to speak English or even an Indian language fluently, and numeracy, can make all the difference between a job that pays Rs 8,000-10,000 per month in urban areas and a living wage of Rs 15,000-20,000 per month. There is also no reason why state schools should not be run by private trusts and companies, with core funding already coming from the public exchequer. It is the additional costs of retraining teachers, enforcing discipline, and improving infrastructure that may need to be funded by corporate charity.

Lastly, many otherwise qualified students and first-time job seekers do not have the mentoring inputs necessary to help them succeed. A public-private initiative to create mentors in every school, college or coaching centre will help. Companies can, of course, do this out of their CSR (corporate social responsibility) budgets, and additionally through trusts funded by billionaire wealth.

There may be other, better ideas out there that can be tried out as pilots and then scaled up if they work. In the ultimate analysis, what we need is equal opportunity for those disadvantaged by social factors. But it is a bad idea to think that the only way to do this is through quotas. Viksit Bharat won’t be built by quotas alone. Nor will it come about if we are busy fighting internal civil wars over quotas.

The writer is a senior journalist