A reserved nation?

A group of refugees from East Bengal, who later settled in the district of Raichur in Karnataka, have long fought to be recognized as Scheduled Caste. They had fled to India in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War and have since campaigned to be included under the SC category. And now, after a long fight, it is quite possible that they might be on the precipice

Background

The hopes of this group led by 40-year-old refugee Prasen Raptan, was raised a few years ago when after years of the government not taking any action, Jagadish Shettar, Karnataka’s then Chief Minister took up the issue and formed a committee in March 2013. According to Prasen, this committee, which was formed just before the 2013 assembly elections, has been exploited by candidates running for both the MLA and MP elections to garner favour and votes. However nothing much happened in that regard.  

At the end the committee found merit in granting SC status to refugees, many of whom now have Indian citizenship. There are 1,864 Hindu families (24,854 refugees in total) that had been rehabilitated after the 1971 war, and reside in five rehabilitation camps in the Raichur district of North Karnataka.

Recently, Karnataka’s Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, met the members from the rehabilitation camps during his state tour ahead of the Parliamentary elections (2014) and promised them that his government would ensure SC status for them. Now it depends on the Centre as to whether this request is granted.

Analysis

Discrimination lies deep rooted in India’s caste system. Given its diversity, differences prevail based on culture, religion, socio-economic status, etc. The Government of India has enacted progressive legislation to empower marginalized groups for inclusive growth however it has not always worked.

The categories of Schedule Castes (SCs) and Schedule Tribes (STs) were introduced to benefit the socio-economically, disadvantaged people in society. Since India’s independence in 1947, these groups were given reservation status to ensure participation and representation in various fields. At present, those categorized under SC and ST, make-up almost one-fifth of India’s population.

Reservation has however, at times acted as double edged sword, fueling aggression and contempt towards marginalized groups. Although it works in favor of the backward castes of the society, it has created controversy in the country as reservation ensures opportunities for a selected group of people.

It is argued that the downside of reservation is that it suppresses ‘meritocracy’ which is the availability of options to the most capable and deserving person. 

A running theme that underlines the Indian polity today is that being branded as ‘backward’ would mean securing government favours and a space among elites. For individual political leaders, the situation is often exploited for their personal enrichment, promoting vote bank politics.

Assessment

Our assessment is that the reservation system perpetuates differences in society instead of eliminating them. The government should find better ways to provide access to welfare measures for the impoverished and this should be done with better indicators to evaluate the economic status of an individual, caste should not be the only factor to obtain benefits.

The caste based system, also turns to be ‘anti-progressive’ as it creates dependency and does not reward merit or efficiency. Reservation should not be the only manner to restructure and integrate the Indian society; it permits ‘caste consciousness’ which can do more harm than good, to the development of a diverse country like India.