Quota Judgment - Watershed Moment in History of Independent India

[10nnix]

A staunch quota opponent in me could not but smile at the judgment today. For the first time in history of independent India

1. Government has been forced to think beyond cast. How beautiful is it? Is it a start of a thinking & administration paradigm beyond cast system in India.

2. The true core spirit of quota was to benefit the really deprived ones who actually never got the benefit of the quota system so far. They were the 20% privileged who perpetuated their monopoly over benefits at the expense of 80% deserving targets.  Is it a start of a real trickle down of benefits to masses, as was the spirit of the original constitutional mandate.

Making educational and economic backwardness as an overriding criteria to provide quota benefits, the court has forced the system to think beyond cast. This in my view is a watershed moment in Indian History.

What do you think ladies and gentlemen?

[shibi]

My understanding is that the Supreme Court has upheld the 27% reservation for OBCs in central govt. institutions, taking the overall reservation to 49.5%. The court has only asked to exclude the creamy layer from the OBCs. So essentially the judgment is going to perpetuate the reservation regime. 

[10nnix]

On the face it looks like quota perpetuation judgment. Lets go a little deeper
1. Provisions that merit is not hurt badly - Cutoff provisions to make sure they don't go too low for quota candidates
2. Provisions that creamy layer includes new criteria of backwardness education and economics in particular are really a new beginning for polity in India

Lets face it Political interests would never let quota regime go away in present context. Why I welcome this judgment is that this marks a beginning where parameters other than "Pure Cast" are laid down as basis for reservations.

Gradually this logic would take away vote bank power from quota politics and pave the way for more open discussion on validity and effectiveness of quota system in bettering the life of disadvantaged.

Sometime historical moments are only visible in retrospect, and IMHO this is one humble beginning that would mark a subtle departure from present reality of pure Cast politics in India.

[PKBasu]

Interesting viewpoint, 10nnix. I certainly didn't look at it this way at the outset. But perhaps you are right: the fact that the Supreme Court has defined the creamy layer, and excluded them from the purview of OBC reservation (but perhaps not SC/ST reservation? I haven't looked at it closely at all) may mark an important new departure.

I personally strongly disagree with the whole notion of reservation -- especially for OBCs -- as a basis for altering historical wrongs. The notion that Brahmins and the "upper castes" have been oppressing the others for centuries (a very senior Indian politician of the right said to me personally that "unpe kai hazaar saalon se attyachar ho raha hai" in justifying the new reservation bill that was passed in 2005) is simply not borne out by historical facts, especially for the so-called OBCs. SCs (Dalits/Harijans) have indeed suffered severe discrimination and oppression, but reservation is not necessarily the best solution for them either (as it perpetuates a sense of entitlement and reduces the incentive for enterprise and effort). Excluding the creamy layer, however, makes reservation a more effective measure -- if properly applied, and not abused.

[puneets]

The important task for the government will now be to define this so called 'creamy layer', and implement the various directives that the Supreme Court has 'suggested'.
50% reservation looks a bit too much, and this being a hot button issue, leaves very little chance for this percentage to come down in the coming years.

[10nnix]

Couple of watertight observations in the judgment

1. Inclusion of creamy layers is against the basic structure of constitution - This takes away the power of parliament to amend the constitution to circumvent this judgment (Any thing that is against the basic structure of constitution is automatically illegal and null and void. This includes any laws that govt may enact)

2. Creamy layer has been referred in the judgment as defined by Indra Sawhney judgment of early nineties. That has very stringent provisions for identifying creamy layer.

I will not be surprised to see a big hue and cry from pure cast based quota proponents in coming days after the fine print is analyzed.

A very interesting and important moment in Indian history indeed.

[PKBasu]

Well, Arjun Singh is attempting to scuttle the creamy layer exclusion. But if it violates the basic structure of the constitution, then there is very little he can actually do. (Does the creamy layer exclusion apply only to OBCs or to SC/STs as well? Should Jagjivan Ram's daughter, Meira Kumar ex-IFS now minister, have benefited from the fruits of reservation, for instance?).

[10nnix]

This Judgment is only in the context of OBC quota, SC/ST quota is not affected at this moment.

Already I hear noises, one from Dave Goda,  that creamy layer should be excluded in that quota as well. Some of the really backward SC/STs such as chamars for example have never been able to get SC/ST benefits, SC/ST creamy layer now has almost a monopoly over those benefits.