Context: Affirmative policy regimes in India need reforms and be subjected to a continuous performance audit.
About the reservation policy
Enunciated the principle of justice: In a deeply unequal and oppressive social order, reservation is a system of affirmative action that provides historically disadvantaged groups representation in education, employment and politics.
It allows the Indian government to set reserved quotas or seats, which lower the qualifications needed in exams, job openings etc., for “socially and educationally backward citizens.”
Problems with current policy
Still no equity: The current system suffers from a “problem of reification” where theassumption that the disadvantages of every sub-group within each category are the same is severely misplaced.
Justice G. Rohini Commission’s report on the sub-categorisation of OBCs concluded that -
97% of central OBC quota benefits go to just under 25% of its castes.
983 OBC communities, 37% of the total, have zero representation in both central government jobs and admissions to central universities.
And just 10% of OBC communities have accrued 24.95% of jobs and admissions.
Furthering social divisions:Asymmetrical distribution of reservation has severely deterred political projects of unified subaltern solidarity.
Parties that were once able to build large Bahujan solidarities are now finding it difficult to garner such support.
Insufficiency of data: Lack of legible data on socio-economic conditions of varied social groups at local levels of State and on the implications of liberalisation and other social changes on varied caste groups.
Way forward
Develop a wide variety of context-sensitive, evidence-based policy options that can be tailored to meet specific requirements of specific groups.
A socio-economic caste-based census becomes a necessary precondition to initiate any meaningful reform in the affirmative action regime in India.
Institutional reforms: India need an institution alike the Equal Opportunities Commission of the United States or the United Kingdom, which can -
Provide timely information: By making a deprivation index correlating data from the socio-economic-based census of different communities, including caste, gender, religion etc.
Undertake an audit on the performance of policies upholding social equity.