Lord Meghnad Desai, professor emeritus at the London School of Economics, on Wednesday slammed the India’s models of inclusive development saying it was wrong.
MUMBAI: Lord Meghnad Desai, professor emeritus at the London School of Economics, on Wednesday slammed the India’s models of inclusive development, saying it was wrong to identify deprivation on the basis of caste. Desai was addressing the 68th Convocation of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
Lord Desai said caste-based reservation was likely to create divisions. He cited the reaction of parliamentarians to the general bill on women’s reservation as an example of the “hollow claims” of the Indian political system.
Lord Desai said the Indian political system had taken a paradoxical route of inclusion, thinking it would break free of inequalities of the caste system. He said such a system would create vested interests and result in people clinging to the labels of backwardness.
“The creamy layer only wants to go to the IITs and the IIMs and government jobs and is not looking for good primary education,” he said. “We are investing in subsidies for a small percentage of the deprived and those who have already swam to the shore. We are not investing money in primary and secondary education.” Lord Desai said it was not a healthy attitude to have resentment against another part of society who have opportunities because of “historic backgrounds”.
Desai exhorted social scientists to examine the results of the Mandal Commission in the last 20 years. He asked social scientists to examine records and find out if the policy has has helped the SC/STs.
“We must examine the logic of this system in the light of the society’s construction,” he said. India needed to identify universal categories like low income, disabled and the elderly, which did not clash with citizenship. “As informed citizens, it is our duty to say this is not the way the country should go and think of ways that are not divisive.”
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