(Please see the correction at the end)
The Rajasthan Assembly has passed two new Bills, which are likely to add a fresh dimension to the political agitation that is currently raging over reservations in Gujarat and threatening to spread to other parts of the country. One of the Bills seeks to provide five per cent reservation in government jobs and admission to state-owned educational institutions for members of the state's Gujjar and a few other backward communities. The other Bill envisages a 14 per cent quota for government jobs and seats in state-owned educational institutions for economically backward people, who do not otherwise enjoy any other caste-based reservations. This is an unprecedented move and what impact it will have on the reservation agitation in Gujarat and other adjoining states remains to be seen. Earlier, a similar attempt was made by the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan in 2008, in the wake of the Gujjar agitation for reservations that had led to the death of over 70 persons. But that move was stayed by the state's high court.
This time, too, the two Bills will have to cross several more hurdles before the new quotas can be enforced. The Bills will have to be endorsed by the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre and approved by the President. More importantly, a decision has to be taken to include the two Bills in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution as has been recommended in a resolution passed by the Rajasthan Assembly. Laws included in the Ninth Schedule cannot be challenged in a court of law; nor can they be subjected to any judicial review. This is crucial for the two Bills passed by the Rajasthan Assembly as with the proposed system, the share of reserved quotas for jobs and seats in educational institutions will be more than 50 per cent. This is the cap to which the apex court is opposed in principle. Already, three states -Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha - have reservations that range between 66 per cent and 73 per cent and these laws enjoy the privilege of being included in the Ninth Schedule. And the apex court has been urging even these states to review their reservation policies to bring them in line with the norm of a 50 per cent cap on such quotas. Though it will not be easy going for the two Rajasthan Bills on reservation, the fact that the state Assembly has passed them could give fresh impetus to the Patidar agitation in Gujarat and even have a knock-on effect on other states prompting them to bring out similar laws.
The logic of reservation of government jobs and seats in state-owned educational institutions for the disadvantaged sections of society cannot be questioned. In India, such reservations were initially meant for members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Subsequently, their scope was expanded to cover backward castes. While the idea of reservations needs to be defended for ensuring social justice, the absence of which had disadvantaged certain castes and communities for many decades, the unfortunate fact is that reservations have always been blatantly used by political parties for vote-bank politics and not as an instrument of social transformation in a manner that they can grow out of such crutches over a period of time. Introducing economic criteria to make the reservations policy more effective can certainly help, as long as it does not dilute the overall objective of delivering social justice to all. Equally important is the role of rapid and widespread economic growth that brings more people out of poverty and substantially reduces the need for such quota-based reservations.
A correction
Our editorial stated that laws included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution could not be challenged in a court of law. The fact, however, is that the Supreme Court had ruled on January 11, 2007, that any law placed in the Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973, was subject to judicial review if it violated fundamental rights. The error is regretted.
