EDITOR, BAHUJAN SANGHARSH, RAHATE COLONY,
WARDHA RD., NAGPUR - 440 022
From the day the Constitution was enacted in
1950, reservation was opposed taking support
of the Constitution itself. Article 29(2) says:
“No
citizen shall be denied admission in any educational
institution maintained by the state or receiving
aid out of state funds on grounds only of religion,
race, caste, language or any of themâ€.
Taking clue from this article Brahmins went
to Supreme Court where Justice S. R. Das quashed
the Madras Province reservation in 1951 that
was in vogue since 1921. This decision sparked
big protests led by Dravida Kazhagam under the
leadership of Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy. Prime
Minister Nehru had to surrender and amended
the constitution.
SUPREME COURT RESCUES BRAHMINS
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had supported the amendment
that was introduced on June 1, 1951. Clause
4 was added to the Article 15. The amendment
read:
“Nothing
in this article or in clause (2) of article
29 shall prevent the state from making any special
provision for the advancement of any socially
and educationally backward classes of citizens
or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribesâ€.
The government later appointed the Kaka Kalelkar
Commission (1953). But that was also sabotaged.
The very chairman, Kalelkar, a Brahmin, had
opposed his own recommendations and wrote a
letter to the President of India against his
own report. The B.P. Mandal Commission report
was sabotaged by Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi.
Brahminism prevailed.
When Mandal Commission recommendations were
announced by V.P. Singh, the then Prime Minister,
the whole Brahminic India was red with anger.
Violent agitations were launched in North India
. Property worth crores of rupees were destroyed.
They enacted fake suicide dramas as they dare
not take direct fight with the OBCs. Entire
media was used to create chaos and confusion.
All-India Brahmin organisations including the
RSS, VHP, Brahmin Sabhas revolted against the
decision.
Even Brahmin “communistsâ€
like Jyoti Basu, Geeta Mukherjee, Somnath Chatterjee
and Sikh Surjit Singh of CPM opposed the move.
The upper castes had never waged such a fierce
war against SC/ST reservations. They knew that
SC/ST reservation was only 22.5% which was never
fulfilled so far. Their share was kept below
10%.
But the OBCs constitute 52% of the population
and if given the share the upper castes would
suffer substantially. The Supreme Court rescued
the upper castes by limiting the reservation
to 50%. The SC decision was never challenged
in parliament.
CULTURAL HAVOC
The 27% quota in higher education initiated
by HRD Minister Arjun Singh was also opposed
with equal force by the upper castes.
History thus tells us that the main target of
the upper castes is the OBCs and not Dalits.
The upper caste fear is quota to OBCs will create
havoc in the cultural field. It will damage
their “Hindu
nationâ€. The
Shankaracharya of Dwarka feared that OBCs would
quit Hinduism if they were given reservation.
Swapan Dasgupta in an article, “Curse
of Mandal†in
the Times of India (Aug.13, 1990) said: The
Mandal Commission will severely curtail Sanskritising
tendencies within the intermediate castes. This
will undoubtedly be lauded by misguided critics
of Brahminism, but few will relish the
civilisational havoc that is likely to result
from making a virtue of cultural backwardness.
UNITY OF BLOOD BROTHERS
Thus, Brahmins see this as a threat not only
to their share in the services but the fear
is much deeper. They are afraid the slaves would
not remain slaves if the OBCs become part of
the governing class and would challenge the
very foundations of Brahminism. Brahmins would
lose monopoly not only in bureaucracy but face
the wrath of the OBCs. Brahmins would be challenged
intellectually.
The “merit
mantra†is nothing
but enmity that exists for centuries in the
minds of Brahmins.
The Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs have been their original
enemies but not the Muslims. The Nagas, Dravidians
â€â€
the original inhabitants â€â€are
the first and the deadliest enemies of the Aryans
who fought with them throughout in history.
Extending reservations to OBCs would unite them
with their more deadly enemies, Dalits, and
their joint fight would make them realise they
were blood brothers, artificially kept divided
by Brahmins. If the Muslims and Christians also
join this fast expanding reserved sector the
days of Brahmins could be counted.
Thinking sections of Brahmins are deeply worried
and this is the cause of the spontaneous opposition
to OBC reservation.
Rightsreserved http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/OPINION/Editorial/Rights_reserved/articleshow/778882.cms
Following the recent Supreme Court judgement
in the Nagaraj case, the group of ministers
on Dalit affairs has taken the right decision
to protect scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled
tribes (ST) from the creamy layer concept.
What are the options available for the Centre
and Parliament? A government move for review
is not advisable in view of past experience
with review petitions.
The best way is for Parliament to step in through
the constitutional amendment process, declaring
that the concept of exclusion of socially advanced
persons/sections cannot apply to SCs and STs
till untouchability is actually eliminated in
all its forms and expressions.
It is necessary to protect SCs and STs from
future onslaughts by those who have not cared
to understand the social and historical background
of the caste system with specific reference
to SCs and STs.
The existing constitutional provisions need
to be strengthened for this purpose, and to
that end certain amendments are necessary.
Article 46 says: "The state shall promote
with special care the educational and economic
interests of the weaker sections of the people,
and, in particular, of the scheduled castes
and the scheduled tribes, and shall protect
them from social injustice and all forms of
exploitation" .
To this, the following needs to be added: "And
it shall be the right of the weaker sections
of people and, in particular, of the SCs and
STs, that the state and all institutions of
or created, promoted, or assisted by the state,
function totally in accordance with this right".
Article 335 reads: "The claims of the members
of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes
shall be taken into consideration, consistently
with the maintenance of efficiency of administration,
in the making of appointments to services and
posts in connection with the affairs of the
Union or of a state".
This Article consists of a principal clause
and a subordinate phrase (not even a subordinate
clause). The principal clause is a mandate.
But this has been lost sight of, with the focus
only on subordinate phrase, "consistently
with the maintenance and efficiency of administration"
. Maintenance and efficiency of administration
is the responsibility not only of SCs and STs
but of all. To preclude scope for misunderstanding,
the subordinate phrase needs to be deleted from
Article 335.
Article 335, and not Article 16(4), is the real
source of the right of SCs and STs to reservation.
In the Constitution, SCs and STs are referred
to as SC and ST only and not by terms like backward
classes.
Articles of Part XVI, which concern special
provisions relating to certain classes, have
as much force as Articles in Part III, which
spell out fundamental rights.
However, to preclude scope for misinterpretation,
Article 335 needs to be transferred from Part
XVI to Part III and numbered as the new Article
16(4), while renumbering the existing clause
(4) as clause (5).
The latter is the source of reservation for
the category commonly refer-red to in the Constitution
more as socially and educationally backward
classes (SEdBCs), and in other places as other
backward classes and as backward classes.
SEdBCs may be substituted for any backward class
of citizens in line with Article 340(1) and
Article 15(4). Not only the new clause (4),
but clauses (4A), (4B) and renumbered clause
(5) of Article 16 and clauses (4) and (5) of
Article 15 need to be made mandatory.
Equality is a basic feature of the Constitution,
and equality includes social equality. On reservations,
the Constitution does not give the state with
options to play around with.
To preclude doubt and scope for interpretational
conflicts, clauses of Articles 15 and 16 need
to be made mandatory.
Along with these constitutional amendments,
the winter session of Parliament can also consider
taking other steps, such as continuing reservation
in privatised ex-PSU entities, representation
in the proposed National Judicial Council for
one member from the SCs and STs on a rotational
basis, as well as a member from SEdBCs and SEdBCs
of religious minorities on a similar basis.
The writer is former secretary to the Union
government. Census wipes out dalits in Maharastra
http://www.ibnlive.
com/news/ census-wipes- out-dalits- in-maharastra/
13107-3.html Dalit dilemma: Education rises,
not prosperity http://timesofindia
.indiatimes. com/Dalits_ Education_ rises_not_
prosperity/ articleshow/ 738643.cms
NEW DELHI: Dalit anger seems to be on the boil.
Suddenly, there is a rash of violent protests
across the country. What is the trigger? What
are the reasons for Dalit anger to cross the
tipping point now when they are steadily gaining
political clout?
While there’s
bound to be a complex combination of factors
for a category of people to vent their ire violently,
a study of Dalit education patterns, seen against
their actual socio-economic standing, provides
significant pointers to what might have heightened
a sense of frustration.
Here are some telling figures. In 1961 barely
10% of India’s
64.4 million scheduled caste (SC) population
could read and write. By 2001, 45% of SCs were
literate, a 4.5 times growth in 40 years. In
the same period, for the population as a whole,
literacy went up from 24.5% to about 54% â€â€
just over two times.
Among Dalit women, the spread of literacy was
even more remarkable â€â€
about ten-fold â€â€
in this period, while for Indian women as a
whole, it grew about three times.
There’s
an obvious story is these figures. Dalits have
been looking at education to break out of the
oppressive mould and find a way for upward social
mobility. Hence the focus on education. And
this effort has
been relentless; it’s
going on for 40 years.
Now look at some other figures relating to Dalits’
economic status. As many as 36% of Dalits in
rural areas and 38% in urban areas are below
the poverty line. Against this, 23% of rural
India as a whole and 27% of urban India are
below the poverty line.
Now look at these figures. About 27% of Dalits
gets work for less than six months a year, compared
to about 20% among the non-SC/ST population.
Over 45% of Dalits are landless agricultural
workers, while among the non SC/ST population
only 20% are landless workers.
In short, despite their determined effort to
secure education for bettering their lot, Dalits
don’t
seem to be making much headway. It seems there’s
no escaping their misery. In turn, this could
be
sufficient reason for an increased sense of
frustration among Dalits finding expression
in periodic anger. In fact, the surge for literacy
among Dalits would have looked still more remarkable
had some parts of the country, like UP and Bihar
, not dragged down the Dalit national average.
UP has an effective literacy rate (ELR) â€â€
the proportion of the population aged seven
years or more that is literate â€â€
of 46.3% among Dalits, while the figure for
Bihar is 28.5% against the national average
of 54.7%.
The point is reinforced by enrollment data.
Between 1995 and 2003, total enrollment in primary
classes increased by about 14% for the population
as a whole as also for Dalits.
At the secondary and senior secondary levels,
enrollment increased by 45% for the whole population,
but a shining 60% among Dalits.
In higher education, the growth in enrollment
of Dalit students is stunning â€â€
it grew by over 106%, as against 42% among the
total population.
In short, equipped with education, Dalits are
seeking a better deal. If they still don’t
get it, there will be more trouble ahead.
Respect urself, u'll be respected by others.
P.S.ATTRI
