A supply issue

When it comes to unedifying spectacles, India is never short of one. Whether it is MPs indulging in human trafficking or taking money for asking questions or peddling preferential cooking gas connections, or whether it is the entire Parliament and the political class going after an institution that is trying to maintain the rule of law, it is the same story. The persons who rule and who make the laws end up making the general public feel completely contemptuous of them. After that, to demand credibly that they are representatives of the people is like the saying in Hindi Sau choohe khaake billi chali Hajj pe (the cat goes on a pilgrimage after eating 100 mice.) The simple point is that by their actions, politicians have created a huge trust deficit.

The latest instance of this can be found in the manner in which politicians are badmouthing the Supreme Court, which has stayed the operation of the order reserving for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) 27 per cent of the seats in all educational institutions. Everyone seems to have forgotten that this was never on anybody's agenda or even on the United Progressive Alliance's manifesto. Arjun Singh, the minister for human resource development, sprang this on an unsuspecting country, and probably took even his Cabinet colleagues by surprise. It then became impossible for not just the government but also the opposition to oppose his move. What started as a private act soon became a public cause. It was then suggested that the reservations be made only for the poor OBCs. But the government did not listen, and passed an order saying that even rich and privileged OBCs would be entitled to this reservation. This led to the order being challenged in the Supreme Court, which asked the government to provide the basis on which the percentage had been arrived at. The government filed a review petition and now the Court has rejected even that, saying that the government cannot "play the game first, and announce the rules later". A fresh hearing will now be held.

Everyone knows what the solution to the problem is""increase the supply of seats, so that there is no need for reservation. But this will take time, and the government (indeed, every politician) wants to take the credit for this policy in the meantime. But the politician calculates that no votes can be won by investing in education, and more can be garnered by telling one decisive section of the electorate that it gains at the expense of all other sections. The implicit emphasis therefore is not on inclusion but on exclusion. Had it been on inclusion, the government would have first taken steps to increase the supply of seats in institutions of higher learning. Finally, in their eagerness to claim credit, the politicians are forgetting that if they go on attacking the credibility of an institution that is doing no more than ensuring equity for everyone and not just the OBCs, they are damaging the very fabric of the country. It is all very well to shout from housetops about historical injustices and the need to correct them, but if this is going to be done in a way that creates a fresh set of injustices, Indian society as a whole would be the loser.