The swift passage of the Bill for reservations to the economically backward has put paid to several arguments that flew about like misdirected projectiles against it. Passed in the Lok Sabha with 323 out of 326 and in the Rajya Sabha with 165 of 172 members voting for it, the Bill was a legislative triumph for the Government. The near-panic among the “Le-Lis” (Left-Liberals) showed up their resentment and fear that the Modi Sarkar may gain electorally from it. Yet the opposition to the bill among intellectual circles needs to be examined more seriously. That is because it denotes a basket of ideologies pernicious to our economic and social well-being.

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One such argument is that caste ought to be the sole criterion of backwardness. Nothing else, not even abject poverty, can qualify so-called upper castes for state assistance. It is reasonably clear, on closer examination, that such a position not just implies entrenched reverse discrimination, but the perpetuation of the very caste system which the formerly deprived have tried to overcome. How can turning that very deprivation into a prolonged entitlement by virtue of their birth lead to the annihilation of caste? Rather, won’t it lead to the reinforcement of caste?

That, indeed, is the crux of the issue. Caste-based reservations, despite whatever the Constitution-makers may have intended, do not remove or even weaken caste. They highlight and foreground it. What is worse, they centre-stage identity politics as the easiest type of social competence that a deprived person may aspire to or acquire. If identity assertion is all you need to do well in life, what about real competence, real skills, real abilities? If these become far less important, how can society as a whole benefit or succeed?

Repeated and contentious identity avowal has proved to be socially divisive too. Especially, because of the narratives generated and deployed to back it up. These narratives create hatred for upper castes and routinely invent or distort history. They give rise to ill-will and disrespect not just for certain aspects of our past, but almost the entirety of Indian culture and ethos. The damage is lasting; poor self-esteem, Westernisation, recolonisation, even conversion the results. All the while, to lessen the guilt of securing unearned privileges, beneficiaries are schooled to repeat that the state has done “nothing” for them. Over time, those benefiting from reservations now constitute a trans-generational elite, dubbed “Dalit Brahmins” by one author. The truly deprived remain at the bottom of both the social and economic pyramid. 

It is not that reservations have entirely failed; on the contrary, they have had a tremendous political, social, and economic impact. However, this impact has been vitiated, even crippled by the above drawbacks which, by now, are well known. Yet no political dispensation or party has been willing or able to tackle or take on the problem that is reservation. Even the RSS, which called for a national debate and rethinking on the issue, backtracked due to the political damage. On the other hand, communities perceived as not at all backward, in fact dominant in their respective states and regions, such as the Jats, Patels, and Marathas, have been demanding, even securing reservations.

All this has had one logical consequence — reservations creeping beyond the Constitutional cap of 50 per cent and now extending to the so-called forward or upper-caste sections of society. That almost no political party really opposed the 10 per cent quota shows that the time for reservations to the economically backward but socially forward has at last come. The difficulty is not so much that the income ceiling of Rs 8 lakh is too high or that creamy layers among the forward castes will also benefit. This quota, on closer examination, is designed to be inclusive, if inconclusive, a token gesture towards those who have been kept out of the benefits of reservation. Only families with incomes more than 8 lakh a year, in other words, less than 5 per cent of our population, will be out of its purview. These latter considered economically empowered are meant to fend for themselves. Perhaps, they are supposed to send their wards abroad to study, if all doors to normal admissions in colleges are barred to them. As to Government service, well, forget it.

The real problem with the Bill is that it shrinks the size of admissions and jobs based purely on merit to merely 40 per cent. Whenever a society compromises on quality, it gives the wrong message that its best and brightest are not valued. Some of these will perforce be ejected, seeking greener pastures and distant shores. In the end, India will lose. Our competence deficit will increase, as will our problems, with no natural interface between the capable and the country that so badly needs them.

Author is Director, IIAS, Shimla Views are personal