Dividing India: one bit at a time
Last week, while catching up on news-reports re. the Ranganath Misra Commission, I was struck by how slowly but steadily we keep chipping away at an already fragile sense of national identity…by pitting one region against another, by pitting “caste” against “caste” …and now one religion against another.
But I am getting side-tracked. The Ranganath Misra Commission is not about “national identity”; it is about “development and progress”. And how is this development and progress going to be measured? By improving numbers in government employment, of course. So we have:
Since the minorities– especially the Muslims- are very much under-represented, in government employment, we recommend that they should be regarded as backward in this respect…
…but wait, there is more…
…we recommend that they should be regarded as backward in this respect within the meaning of that term as used in Article 16(4) of the Constitution- notably without qualifying the word ‘backward’ with the words “socially and educationally‖ and that 15 percent of posts in all cadres and grades under the Central and State Governments should be earmarked for them… [ link ]
In simpler words: as long as you are a religious minority, you can qualify as “backward” (regardless of your social status or privileged upbringing or indeed, educational qualifications) and get a reserved seat in college – or a job in the government.
Not only does this contravene the spirit of Article 16(4), it also defies logic, considering that as a community Muslims have a higher literacy rate than Hindus in 10 states and higher literacy rate than SC and ST on national level. Christian literacy rates – as most of you would know – outstrip most communities and are amongst the highest in India. Yet Justice Misra would not hesitate to qualify them as “backward”.
As astute observers have already pointed out, there is now a real possibility that at some point in the near future, we will breach the 50% limit on quotas (as has already been breached in TN) and be well on our way to 85% reservation in colleges and government jobs – which of course makes a mockery of the whole system of education and employment.
The Commission’s report also curiously – if implicitly – talks of “quota-within-quotas” as in:
We further recommend that the reservation now extended to the Scheduled Tribes, which is a religion-neutral class, should be carefully examined to assess the extent of minority presence in it and remedial measures should be initiated to correct the imbalance, if any.
I am not a trained lawyer but what this appears to be suggesting is that if there are religious minorities within a Scheduled Tribe, they should be considered for an additional quota.
But it was the next sentence in the paragraph that made me really sit up…
The situation in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep which are minority-dominated and predominantly tribal, as also such tribal areas/districts in Assam and all other States, is to be especially taken into account in this respect…
Oxymorons apart, what on earth is that supposed to mean? That there will be reservation for non-tribals in Nagaland? or for non-Christians? or for neither?
At the root of all this fight is of course a scramble for scarce “resources” – in this case seats in educational institutions and government jobs.
The scramble for seats is easily explained …who would not want their child to be educated well? but the culprit in this is the government that prevents privatisation of education and freeing it from government controls.
As for the scramble for government jobs, thats understandable too – at the very least they translate into easy money; in some cases they also translate into enormous “power”.
But is employment with the government an effective way to pull a community out of “backwardness” (even if we assume – for a moment – that a community with 80% literacy rate is backward)? And are reserved seats in colleges really a way to improve lives?
Should someone not be talking about primary education? and healthcare? and the welfare of the girl child? or the oppressive situation of women in certain communities?..and of job creation – not by carving new government departments but by promoting enterprise – of freeing the economy and encouraging entrepreneurship?
It is painful to watch and silently bear this.
No child in India should be deprived of education. No able-bodied person should be without a job…but illiteracy, poverty and deprivation does not come in neat quotas and percentages. Unfortunately, as I wrote more than three years ago, while poverty may not come in “quotas”, votes do. And until that changes, there is little hope.
And so quota by quota, sub-identity by sub-identity, our leaders continue to divide Bharat and continue to divide Indians while we watch…silently.
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Related Posts:
A rethink on majority and minorities
More on Sachar, OBCs, reservations etc…
Of literacy rates and first claims and Might this be the real cause of Muslim “backwardness”?
Image copyright: Supreme Court of India website
I observe that under-representation in government jobs is still a problem for left handed people even 60 years after independence.
Successive governments have neglected their duty of carrying out surveys to expose the extent of this unequal representation. The media only highlights the high-handedness of government officials.
The right handed are the majority and are occupying most of the government jobs. The left handed minorities want to be classified as backward for just that reason alone and guaranteed government jobs.
/disclaimer: Tongue Firmly In Cheek/
With all kinds of quota contortions that are practiced in Tamil Nadu, I think it probably will exceed 100% soon (although since we haven’t focused on merit, no one will discover this).
Good ones…A and Harapriya!
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Separately, a brief excerpt from Minorities’ quota: Centre to await court order
NEW DELHI: The government will await the court verdict on reservation for the minorities in Andhra Pradesh before proceeding further on the report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which has recommended a quota for the minorities. Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed said this here on Monday. The NCRLM has recommended 15% quota in government jobs, besides non-minority educational institutions, for minorities, with 10 per cent of this quota going to Muslims.
I almost missed this.
Excerpts from Ministry for automatic inclusion of Muslims in BPL list by J P Yadav
Posted: Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 at 2054 hrs IST
New Delhi: In a move that could stir the political pot, the rural development ministry under Congress leader CP Joshi has given a proposal on ‘automatic inclusion’ of Muslims in the below-poverty line (BPL) list of families along with Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
Aware of the political sensitivities involved, the ministry plans to replace the word ‘Muslim’ with ‘minority’ to pre-empt opposition—especially from BJP-ruled states who are likely to protest the move.
…By proposing of automatic inclusion of Muslims under the ‘minority’ head, Joshi has gone beyond what the Saxena Committee report — it was appointed by the rural development ministry — recommended on the methodology to be adopted for a BPL survey. While it said that weightage should be given to certain social groups, including Muslims, during the survey, it did not favour automatic inclusion. According to the Saxena report, SCs/STs would get three points and Most Backward Castes (MBC) two points. The Saxena report said that Muslims and OBCs be given one point each.
Automatic inclusion of Muslims in the BPL list could be the first major attempt by the Congress-led UPA government to woo the vote bank that roughly constitutes 18% of the country’s population. The proposal could be significant given that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar go to state polls in 2012 and 2010 respectively, states where the Congress is desperately trying to get a foothold.
Inclusion and exclusion from the BPL list is a big issue in the rural hinterland, particularly in the Hindi heartland, since benefits of most Central and state-sponsored welfare schemes like Indira Awas Yojna, old age pension are decided on the basis of the list.
Come on, do you want to protest against some XYZ getting included in the BPL list ? I tell you it is designed to divide the people along such and such lines. Don’t take that bait.
Let each conceivable person or grouping or party also ask for the same treatment that they be “automatically” included in the BPL list.
Let us all be in the BPL list, no one left behind ! That is a unifying step !
Thanks Shantanu for bringing this to attention through your forum, and putting it in the correct perspective with your title “Dividing India”.
Yes, this is the new “Divide and Rule”. Macaulay lives on!
Wikipedia (Divide and Rule in India) has a quote from Constantine’s Sword by James P. Carroll:
… Certainly that was the story of the British Empire’s success, and its legacy of nurtured local hatreds can be seen wherever the Union Flag flew, from Muslim-Hindu hatred in Pakistan and India, to Catholic-Protestant hatred in Ireland, to, yes, Jew-Arab, hatred in modern Israel. [Ancient] Rome was as good at encouraging internecine resentments among the occupied as Britain ever was.”
And
wow! Thats a cool bit of information……..
Well again.. what can be done?
A: Thanks for the excerpt…Sad but true…
@ AparnA: This is what can be done:
1] Make people aware of this issue
2] Get in touch with your local opposition party leader (if you can) and make them aware of your feelings on this matter.
3] Write to your local newspaper
I am in discussions with a few people re. what else can be done…so pl. watch this space in the days to come. Thanks.
NRI here. I do not have a problem with a new state being carved out in India. Nor do I have a problem with India being split into Pakistan and Bangladesh.
I think the Britishers meant well. Just look at Europe.
Europe is still being divided. Bosnia/Herzegovina incident took place only a few years ago. They are surviving – in fact, thriving. Europe is made up of many many nations. They are doing well. Why can’t Indians? Europe is cut up into minorities based on race, language and religion. They developed the EU. Why can’t Indians live together and form a more stronger bond by being separate but together?
It is in our (Indians) blood to discriminate. Since childhood, children are thought that they belong to this cast and they believe in that God. Others are from another cast and are inferior and they believe in another God. Indians have to learn to live with one another. Separate but equal. This point has to be driven into the hearts and minds of the people.
Dear Shri Shantanu:
I do not know what India talks about when it talks of oneness and unity.
My land, Andhra Pradesh is burning, with separatists, divisionists, selfish politicians screaming for dividing and splitting this great Telugu-speaking land. Students are being blamed for all the burning and high-decibel rioting and indiscipline. But what are students but young, raw, passionate beings of high energy ? How come no one lays a finger on the ‘leaders’ or rather mis-leaders who are inciting the young into mindless action ?
One like me who reveres her land and soil, and sings of the greatness of her powerful and noble ancestors, has no voice to reach the powers that are! And the ‘powers’ ? it clearly seems to me everything they utter and do is with an ulterior motive, and to hell with feelings of all of us who want unity and strength of our land, our mitti, our beautiful Andhra Pradesh ….
And unfortunately one like you who seems interested in the evolution of a great unified India, are unable, because of your positioning outside India, to see or tackle the ground situation in the country…
An agonised
Surekha
@ Nevil: This is not a discussion of new states being carved out in India – that is another post.
I strongly disagree with several of your points…and I do have a problem with India being split further.
As far as I am concerned, the only point that needs to be driven into the hearts and minds of the people is that we are one…Indians First…everything else, second.
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@ Surekha: The situation is grim…and believe me, I go through the frustration you have mentioned every day…My only consolation is that I am getting closer to the day when I would be able to devote far more time to this than I am at present…
Until then, we must remain hopeful.
What is the status of Hindus of the unreserved category? Simple fact – For all practical purposes they are stateless people. People without rights. 50% is already reserved and those in the reserved can take the balance 50% open seats as well. Which means that unreserved class Hindus are not entitled to even one seat of education or jobs. Which naturally means that unreserved class Hindus (falsely and fraudulently called “Forward Caste) are not entitled to education, jobs, livelihood and even the right to live.
its been out in the open that the upa is hell bent in dividing the nation into more castes and tribes and suffocate the so called majority hindus and break their backs till they cant stand. the so called business leaders who visit temples and donate obscene amount should put a stop all funding to the upa, but i guess they cant think beyond their profits.
“Govt buckles, agrees to caste in 2011 census“…and so we continue to chip away, bit by bit…
🙁
This is a direct consequence of not having a strong opposition at the national level. The BJP is pretty rudderless at this point, more focused on settling internal disputes. There has been so much nonsense going on in the second term of this congress government – extreme and obscene levels of divisiveness, starvation, corruption, kashmir, … i have never seen our country in such bad shape – and all we see are some feeble protests by the BJP and the opposition instead of ripping them to shreds. what a shame. A Jayaprakash Narayan like movement is needed again.
“Information of caste and religion will help evaluating (whether) social & religious backgrounds had limited economic opportunities for most Indians” http://bit.ly/mOL67b
Sad excuse to conduct a caste/religion census…If it is really about economic opportunities, why not conduct a census of income/education levels and access to education and healthcare?
Sir
If, God forbid, it turns out that economic backwardness has much to do with social backwardness, would you not think it better that caste was included in the census?
In any case, it is better to know than to not know. Aren’t you at all curious to learn how we have faired socially since Independence? how many divisions and sub-divisions there are in each caste? Do the castes who claim they are poor really poor? What is the demographic weightage of the tribal (who gets even less say than you in decisions regarding his/her own future)?
As for your ‘unity’ argument, c’mon, it’s not like we are any great shakes at it in the first place.
From The Lokpal quota and the Indian state (emphasis added):
A natural extension of quota in Lokpal is quota in the judiciary i.e the Supreme Court. In fact, Keshava Rao (Congress) an elected representative blasted a fellow guest on TV rubbishing all his arguments by saying “you went to a better school†and that he supported quota in the judiciary. Lalu Prasad claimed “We are there to change the constitution no – dont worry†when an anchor posed some weak constitutional issue to him. In due course, it would be considered “curiously amusing†if a judge does not recuse himself from hearing a case across benefit lines.
Moving on, if you concede that expecting an Indian to adjudicate across caste/religious lines is foolish, then obviously you cant expect Indians to have a sense of justice to investigate across these lines. So we will setup police corps to reflect these lines. Paraphrasing Arun Shourie’s words. As the edifice rises, what you think is todays ceiling is tomorrows floor.
All together now
Lets see what we got.
The country is split vertically such that the new benign socialist state plans for each group its own route. Just the right length and width. From childhood education, scholarships, to college admissions upto the post graduate level. From food rations for the poor to bank loans. From contesting in elections from reserved constituencies, to public jobs in the services. From getting caught in corruption and getting investigated by Lokpal bench of your group, to be investigated by a police corps from your caste or religion, to a final judgment in the Supreme Court by a bench of your caste.
When this happens,
We will cease to be a country,
But multiple countries sharing a territory.
“Post Muslim inspector, SIs in areas having higher community count: Centre to States” http://j.mp/KdBas7
Another step in the long-running process of “Dividing India” – One Step at a Time..
Thanks to our wonderful leaders & their policies, we now have “Minority” vs. “Minority” http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/101887-church-slams-upa-udf-for-appeasing-muslims.html … #DividingIndia
From Church slams UPA, UDF for appeasing Muslims, 15 OCTOBER 2012 23:42 VR JAYARAJ
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has warned the Congress-led Governments in the Centre and in Kerala against their policy of appeasing Muslims in the name of minority welfare programmes and against the neglect of Christians and other sections in the implementation of such schemes meant for all minority communities.
“We have to state this, though sadly, while evaluating the minority welfare schemes and policies of the Congress-led Governments in the Centre and Kerala: What the Governments are implementing now are not minority welfare schemes but Muslim welfare schemes,†says the editorial of Laity Voice, a publication of the Commission of Laity of the Syro-Malabar Church.
Stating that the Governments’ act of protecting the majority community among the minorities is an affront to the other minority communities, the Laity Voice editorial says that the goal of reserving schemes meant for all minority communities for just one section is not minority welfare but community appeasement and creation of vote-bank.
Now “minority agenda” in paramilitary too:
In a controversial move, the Union Home Ministry has asked the Central Paramilitary Forces (CPF) to take “initiatives for increasing the recruitment of Minorities†along with Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
While there are provisions for quota for SC, ST and OBCs in paramilitary forces, there is no such stipulation for Minorities.
In a letter dispatched to the Director Generals of BSF, Assam Rifles, CRPF, ITBP, CISF, SSB, NSG and BPR&D, Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh directed the Chiefs of these forces to come prepared to discuss the agenda points including “initiatives for increasing the recruitment of Minorities and SC/ST/OBCs†for a meeting that was held on September 20.
Posting this here for the record:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-to-review-terror-cases-against-Muslims/articleshow/28653096.cms
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This is what I wrote on fb re. the above bit of news:
Just stumbled on this bit of news: “Centre to review terror cases against Muslims”
Why just Muslims? Why not terror cases against everyone who may have been wrongfully detained (such as a Sadhvi against whom no charges have yet been framed)?
Interestingly, “…internal discussions within the ministry last year had thrown up a suggestion…to review cases of undertrials in states, irrespective of their religion or community.”
Clearly these suggestions have been overlooked..
Blame it on “election season”…
I was reminded of these opening lines from a post written almost 4 years back:
“…struck by how slowly but steadily we keep chipping away at an already fragile sense of national identity…by pitting one region against another, by pitting “caste†against “caste†…and now one religion against another (http://bit.ly/8hA2XC)