CHAPTER 3

EVOLUTION OF RESERVATION POLICY

3.1 Introduction

Rescrvation policy has remait~cd an integral part of public policy of both

the British Indian and 1'rins:ely India. A policy that was formulated by the British

to provide li)r representation to lndlans in the administrative set up was later

extended to recruitment. promotion. and educational institutions. The successor

democratic governments continued to pursue this policy with the exception of

effecting some cosmetic ch,anges to it now and then.

The states in India were given the liberty of implemer~ting reservation policy

on the basis of criterion evolve:d by them. This was to enable them to adopt policies

which werc considered hcst and in coilsimance with circumsta~ices prevailing therein.

Hence a cornnxon gn~und was not found either in determining the backwardness and

also the pel-ccntage otreserv;~tion to be provided for its elimination.

This chapter intend> to examinc the concept of reservation briefly and the

recommendations o f various commissii~ns constituted by the government.

3.2 Concept of Reservation Polic)

Reser\atiiin l>olic) ha!; as i t + owed objective the amelioration of BCs

who were \.ictitn\ of the pre\,alent i:a\te sy tem. a feature unique to the Indian

social milieu Hertce scholars havc been able to provide a composite definition

of this policq

It is gcl~erally unclerstood as involving three aspect:;-positive discrimination,

reverse discrimination and compensatory discrimination. Positive discrimination

involves providing special treatnic~lt to thosc who are susceptible to exploitation.

Reverse discr~mination is a sort of vindictive measure, which in other words means

discrimination against th(~se who had discriminated a particular class for decades.

Compensatory discrimination invol\ed adoption of rnea:;ures to safeguard the

interests of historically di?,advantiigeti sections of people.

I-lowc~er ail rhcse policies tic) rccluire a certain amount of sacrifice by one

section of thc societ). Certain castes are to be discriminated against to provide

sustenance to certain other castes.

3.3 Evolution

The princely State of Mysorc was the first to take note of representation to

backward coinmunit~e~. Mysore li)rlntllated its own measures to ameliorate and

provide rcpresentatic~n to the dcpri\'c(i sections of the society. During the period

between 1874 and 1x85 the (;overtinlent of Mysore reserved 20 percent of middle

and lower le\cl jcihs ill the Police Ilepartment for the Brahrriins and 80 percent for

Muslims. I liniius and India11 Chri\tiai~s. .-2gain. from 191 4. the Government of

Mysore introduced a system of nolnini~tion of qualified backward class candidates

to the post of Assistant con~niissioiicri (Ihi~nmaiah: 1997:108)

A grcal in~~ovat ion by M. Vishweshvarayya, the Dewan of Mysore, was the

institutiori o i \cholarships for backward class of students. In 1917, a sum of one

lakh Rupees was pnividcd in the hudget to provide scholarship for BCs and

depressed classes.

3.4 Sir Leslie <:. Miller Committee

In 1918 the Maharaja of Mysore appointed a committee under the

Chai~manship of'the then Chief Justicc of the Chief court Sir. Leslie. C. Miller to

investigate and report o n the situation and suggest measures to provide adequate

representation to depressetl classes.

Justicc Miller made a complete study about the situation and found that the

Brahmin C:orrlmunity was over represented in the services. Hence barring

Brahmins ebcr.1 othcr- community was backward. The hliller committee made

several recom~liendat~ons for the amelioration of the BC:; like exemption from

qualifying educational rests, relaxatiol~ of severity of prescribed tests, enhancement

of scholarships 10 HC' students and that preference should also be given to BC

students while admitting them to educational institutions. The committee also

recommended that while applying rhi. reservation policy to government jobs first

preference should he g v c n to the scheduled castes. Thus the extent of reservation

was :;upposed lo he implrlnented in reverse order. tirst to the depressed classes and

then for the classr.: yuch as fiindub. Muslims and Indian Christians, and finally,

open to thc Hrahtiiiiis.

7'he go\emment ir~! it:: order dated I6 May 1921 accepted the recommendation

of the conrtl~inee with regard to reservations. A central recruitment board was

instituted to rcglster ail the applications ibl- appointments and to put the applicants in

touch with offices where vacancies existed. The board wa:; to serve as a vigilance

committee to ensure that necessary steps were being taken by the administration to

attain the objective set forth in the govcrnrnent order (Kuppuswamy: 1978:60)

3.5 Nagan Gowda Committee Report

The reorganization of the M!sore state in 1956 necessitated a revision of

the reservation policy ti~ll~owed un t~ l then since i t thencefo1i.h included areas which

were not cc~nsidered by the Miller committee. This also resulted in several

comlnunitics being inclucled among the BCs. The second BCs commission was

appointed under the chairmanship ol a backward class political leader Dr. Nagan

Gowda in IOhO to determine the BC's and to recommend the extent of reservations.

The Nagan committee devised a new criterion among others in ascertaining

the backwardness of a community i c . general educational backwardness, based on

certain fixed standards. The con~mittec used the state average of students of

different cornmunitics studying in high school in 1959-60. For this purpose those

below the state average wt:re classifieii as educationally backward.

In its ~rccomrnendal.iom the conl~nittee li~rther classified thr BCs into .'BCs"

(group A ) a n ~ l "More HCs' (MBC) ((iroup B). 1.he more BCs were those whose

standard ol'cil~~cation was above this l~rnit. and those who were up to state average

were groupcci under hackwiard class. i'hc committee recom~nended that 50 percent

of scats i n llie technical institutions and 45 per cent of the jobs in the government

service sho~ild he rcservcd for BCs. It has to be divided among the Most BCs and

BCs in the ratio of 1 X : Z Z . The committee recommended for the first time that all

the students tYom families whose income was less than Rs. 11200 per annum should be

given fiee hostel and cducational ticilities. But the committee did not use this

economic criterion for thc plurpose of reservation in admission to technical institutions

antl for jobs in government service. The committee also recommended that these

reservations should be reviewed after 10 years (i.e., by 15181) and the communities

which show itiiprovenient in their educational status and representation in government

service be renioved from the list after such a review.

Polit~cal considerations got introduced into the policy of reservation. Caste

and community organisetio~ns had hy now become a powerful force to reckon with

in lhcsc matters. llvel) c:on:imunity was obdurate in forsaking their claim to berlefits

of reservation. Controversies sprung up with regard to the ascertainment of

bac:kwardness by the Uagan Gowda committee. The exclusion of Lingayats from the

I list of l3('.; caused tnucli constenlation in that community. In the litigation that

foliowcd as ,I consequence, .[he Mysiire High Court struck down the government order

implernentlng the recommendation of'the committee. Fina1l.y it ended in the Supreme

Court strikillg dokn the state government order on reservations in 1963.

Consecj~ientl>. thc statc government itupleniented a modified reservation policy

between lc)h; ancl 1077 under which the income of parents antl their occupation were

taken into account thr (letenmining the backwardness of the people.

3.6 Havanur Commission

The lejection ol' the Gowda Committee report made it clear that it is

impossible ignore caste sensibilities while implementi~ng reservation policies.

Devaraj IJrs. the Chief Minister of Kamataka appointed another commission under

the chairmanship of I>.<; . Ilavanur, an active proponent of the new reservation

policy and an able policy advisor in 1972.

Havariur conducted :a selective sample survey of the socio-economic status

of different ~ ~ 1 s t ~ and co~nniunitics. It was for examining the nexus of social and

economic status of the people.

liavenur fiirthcr categorized the backward castes as follows:

a. Backward Comrounities:- whose student average per thousand is below

state average.

b. Backward Caste:. whose student average per thousand is below 50 per

cenl ( > I the state dderage.

c. Backward Tribes:. Who students average is below 50 percent of the state

average and who ire nomadic and denotified tribes.

As ;I ~esul t the co~nmission recommended 46 per cent reservation ie..

44.:520/;, hi i ~ ( ' ' s and I-l0/o ibr SC' and S'l's.

Soi~ii. o!' the ne\v recommendations made by Havanui- other than those

made h! lhi, (?re~,ious committees acre:

a) 'l 'utor~al iilst~titt~c~ns should be startcd or coaching facilities sho~tld be

pro\ i~led in the ur~iv'crsities to prepare the candidates belonging to BCs, SC

and S I to prepare th'em to compete successfully with the advanced classes.

b) Financial assistarlce should be given to the members of the BCs to

c o n s t r ~ ~ t houses.

c) With [respect to the representations made by the two minority communities

namely. Muslims and Christians, the commission categorically asserts that.

r . I Musli~ils cannot he treated as coming under Article 15(4) or Article 14.

t i o ~ c v c r bincc the I\/luslirn group is socially and educationally backward

according to the facts found by the commission it recommends that the

Muslitns ma! hc trt:ated as a category under Article 14 for purposes of

reser\ arion in educational institutions and government service and that such

rescr\ ation could be about sis percent.

% .

7 ('hrist~;u~s canni~t t'e treated as backwards, However the Christians desired that

the ci~it\erts from SC and tribes sho~tld be given the s a n e facilities as others.

The ( ' o n ~ n l i s s ~ o n declared tiiat the expression 'SC' cannot include non-

Hindu group\. I he cot~imission also asserted that it is impossible to find the

identity o f th~!sc ( ' h i - ~ s t i u ~ ~ s convet-ted lio111 the Scheduled Castes.

The c i ~ n ~ r n i s s ~ o n ;!.lso asscrts [hat caste is not be taken into consideration as

a criterion tlloilgh the list o:!'hack\vard comniunities drawn up by the commission

specifies c a r c and tr~hch I K:.lppus\\amg.: 1978: 28-152)

1-lie :;cjverrlment of Karnataka implemented the above recolnmendations

afier adding .;wen more casl.es to the list of BCs while also creating another group

'backward special group'. The (h,vernment also fixed an income ceiling of

Rs. 10000/- to exempt tht: well to do elements o f backward communities from the

benefits of reservation.

Even the above decision o l the government was also met with stiff

resistance liotn the ].ingayat comrnu~~ity. They approached the High Court which

generally upheld the rna.lor recommendations but deleted those additional castes

included by the governmemi order. 13ut it retained the 'Backward Special Group'

created by the Government 'Order after fixing its percentage to 5 .

The 1.ingayat further went in appeal to the Supreme Court against the

Judgement. I'hc Suprcrne Court allowed the government to collect fresh data and

deterniine the back~vardness of thc people.

3.7 Second BCs Con~rnission (Venkatswamy Commission)

I h e Supreme C'oun order resulted in the appointment of the second BCs

Cornmission popularly h.no'wn as Vcnkatswamy Commission. Some of the new

criteria adopted hy the commission \bere the number of households living in Pucca

and Kuchn houses. landlcss households owning about 20 standard acres of land and

finall) rept-esentation In classes I . 1 1 and I11 state governm'znt jobs. The castes and

cornmunitie\. wliich had more than the proportion of their population in

govcrliment ~crvicc. MCI-z declared its forwar-d.

-llie cornmissiori Iiund that 3_'.0804 of the total population of the state was

educationall) backward bul rec~>mrne~ided only 27% reservations for these

comrnunities. I t also ~secommended abolition of 'Backward Special Group' and

'Backward Tribe'

Dissension by majority of ~ncmbers was an important outcome of the

commission's recommentlation. I t was argued that the data collected was

unscientific and had no ht:aring to thc state average or the ground realities o f the

prevailing situation.' 'The c~.,mmission according to the dissenting members had

acted arbitrarily and they therefore requested the then Chief minister of Kamataka

for its rejection.

Lack ol'unanimit) among the rncmbers of the comtr~ission as evidenced by

the dissenting and assentir~g notes attached to the report forced the government to

rejec~. the Venkatswamq (:i~n~,mission report.

3.8 Chinnappa Reddy Commission Report

A I'hird H('s ('otnmission \\as: constituted under the chairmanship o f

Justice 0. ('h~nnappa Iicddy in 1988. I h e commission submitted its report in

1990 The cornmissiori m : ~ d e certain novel and stringent provisions for the

exclusion of communities and castes if they fulfill the criteria mentioned below

(a) Either of his parents is ;I class I or clitss I 1 officer in the service of the government

or holds an equivalent post in a puhl~i. sectol- undertaking or is employed under a

privale employer and draw; a salar! ~ \ i ~ i c h is not less than that of a class I officer.

(b) Eit1ic1- o i ' h ~ s parcnts i.; a prol'ess~t~tial i .e . [ a ] Doctor [b] I.awyer [c] Chartered

Accountant ( d / Income i a x Consultant [el Financial or Ma~~agetnent Consultant [fl

Dental Surget~n [ g ] 1lnginee:r or Arch~tect

(c) Hoth L I ~ his parents are graduates

(d) I:~thct of h ~ s pnrents is an income tax assessee

(e) h1thc.1 ol'hls parents is assesbed to sales tax

(f) Either of his parrrtts or both together own more than 8 hectares of rain fed

dry land or its equiivalent.

The commission's recommendation was to fix the reservation for BCs to

38%. Thih r-cport again m~et with resistance from the dominant Lingayat and

Vokkaliga caste groups. The then chief minister Sri Veerendra Patil himself a

Lingayat constituted a committee to study the recommendations. But he got

displaced (io~i! power before the com~nittee could even commence its work.

The l'eerappa Molly governnlcnt lirst issued consecutive orders watering

down the recoinmendat~on of Chinnappa Reddy Commision. It increased the

recornniended quota lion1 38% to 57",,> bringing the entire Lingayat and Vokkaliga

communities ilnder its arnbit. l'he government while accepting the "Creamy

Layer' norm of the Supreme Court judgment and of Chinnappa Reddy

Commiss~on did not accept the exclusion of children of parents who are graduates

from reservatioti henetits. I'he govertimznt also excluded the most BCs from the

cream) layer criteria. I'he 32 cast~,s excluded b ~ . the commission were also

included in rlic OH('s Itst. Further the government increased the quota of

rcser\~atiiins i t > 73 prs cettt (50% fix OliC's and 2% tbr SC/!iT)

I:ollon~ng the Sup~eme Court ludglnent the government answered the court

that i:s would not implemct~t the above quota of reservation (Pinto: 19942271).

3.9 Tamil Nadu

Next to Mysore the erstwhile state of Madras was witness to large-scale

agitations for reservation of posts in government for OBC, SC and ST. In 1924

after the Justice Party was e11:cted to power quotas were reserved for five specific

groups. N o n Hrahmins \vho were estimated to be 72 percent in the population

were given a quota o f 41.67 per cent Anglo Indians and Christians who formed

four per cent were given a quota of 16.67 percent, Mohammedans seven percent in

population \?-el-e also given a quota of 16.67 per cent. Depressed classes who were

14 percent 01' population were given a quota of only 8.33 percent.

The a h , ~ \ e quota oi'n:servatlons was stoutly oppose:d with the accusation

that the afllucnt non-Brahmin Hindu groups cornered all the: benefits arising out of

this policy'. I lence a separate reservation policy was envisaged and implemented in

1947 enhancing the quota to r non-Brahmin Hindus to 42.86%. A separate category of

backward 1 lin~ius was introtluced with a quota of 14.29%. The quota for Harijans as

they were then called \\as ::ubstantiail) increased to 14.29%. The quota for Anglo

IndiansIChristians and Mohamrnedans ucre reduced to 7.14 percent.

Poli t ic~/~~tiotl 01' reservation poi~cy was another featill-e at'tel- the attainment

of indepencic~icc in Tamil Nadu. tnlightcneci by the benetits that accrued to

various group\ collseclucnt to the iniplcn~entation of I-eservation policy by the

Justice Part) n ~ , i ~ i > poliric;il parties hryan to utilire it effcctivrly

tolloiving the i-ecommendatiotis 0 fA.N. Sathanathan committee the Tamil

Nadu govet-nment again rc~.;ised the quota of reservation to 18% for SCIST, 3 1

percent for IK's and ? 1 percenl for <)pen quota. In 1980 the M.G. Ramachandran

government \vent a step further hy enhancing the quota for BCs to 50 and

correspondingly reducing the open nierit quota to 31 percent. (Guhan : 1991 :48)

This drastic chani;e in quota did not find a total peaceful acceptance even

among the B('s dcspi~e the Madras High court having assented to this

enhancement Many termed i f its appeasing a few specific groups having

consolidated themsrl\es on caste hasis. The OBCs said the quota was woefully

inadequate in terms ol.tlnr ratio they constituted in the population of Tamil ~ a d u . ~

In a hid to consol date itself among the BCs and to outdo others, and also to

keep in consonance with thts party's views the DMK government in 1980 created a

separate categor) called most BCs. A separate 25% was allotted to this category

from the cs~st ing i0"% lor HCs lx t ra one percent has been give11 to S C and

Scheduled lribe in :rccordance with the court's decision that the ST should have a

separate percentage.

As things stand in Ta~iiil Nadu, there exists an overall 69% reservation

broken up ;IS 19 percclit for SC and ST. 1 0 percent for OBCs. 20% for BCs with

the balancc of .; 1 perceii k i n g a\.a~lable ~ ~ n d e r merit quota.

In Kcr;llri caste co~~solidation \\as coterminous with political development.

They drew sustenance l i o ~ n each othc.1- and never dared to antagonize one another.

The caste groups as 111 Earnataka have acted as pressure groups within and

without. Political parties have o f c o u ~ ~ s c played a predominant role in shaping the

reservation policy

In 1967. a co~iirnittee was i:cj~lstituted under the chairmanship of. Nettur

P. Damodaran. an Ex MI', to study ;ind report on the reservation policy. The

reservations reconinicndcd by the cc~n~mission for OBCs was 38% other than that

for S(3 and Scheduleil l 'rihe. An asgregate annual family income of below

Rs. 80001- should he the leve;l at whicli an income test should be applied. The test

of social backuardncsh due to histot-ici~l reasons should be applied objectively to

include those ~(~rnmrini t ies no1 listed in the backward class table. The commission

submitted its repon i n 1970

The Wctti~r ('ommission Kcport was accepted by the Achuta Menon

C;overnnicnt. 4 tlrade LKLS launched by both the advanced and backward

comm~inities :Igalnst the repon:. I t w a s alleged that the report was only a weapon

against thc ti>r\rrtrtl castes The de~rouncement of the repon found staunch

supporlers even ,irnonS [he lor\\ial-d sections of Chi-istian community \vho had ~ ~ n t i l

then remained c i \~ l~pc~a t i \ e l ! complaccir~ on this issue.' The N.S.S was perturbed

by this and thc Nair coinmunity began 1c1 agitate to do away with backward class

reservation and i+.mrcd 10 ha,;c reseri ;~tih~n on economic backwardness. The N.S.S.

General Secretary Kidangoor (iopalakrishna I'illai characterised reservation as a

whip to lash the for\basd comn~rirrtties." l 'he Nairs held a big demonstration in

Trivandrum in Mar~:li 1'173 to prcssure the government to give up backward class

reservation. In detkncc the Exhayas under the auspices of the Sree Narayana

Dharma Paripalana (SNIIP) Yogani organised another demonstration on June 29,

1973 "to impress upon the government the urge o f the community for maintenance

and continuance of the existing rcscrvation till adequate representation is secured

in favour of the BCs" (Memorandunt to the Prime Minister of India by members of

Ezhava or 'rlliyya con~munity, 1974. 1': 5 ; Srcedharan 1973 : 386-89). The Ezhavas

said that there s h o ~ ~ l d not be any cconomic limit for members of BCs. They

wanted to increase reser\'ation to 49 percent as in Tamil Nadu. They are averse to

including an! more communities i r t the list.

The I 'K. Vasudevan Nair ministry consequently bowed to the pressures

exerted on i t and finally announced its decision to reject the proposals of the

commission.

3. 11 Gujarat

The state of' (illjarat has rig~stered giant strides in the field of industrial

developn~cnt. But the her:etits otthis development have been widespread unlike in

Bihar or West iSen~i l ani! thus the necessity for reservation was not felt badly for

the amelior;it~ot~ ot' ( )H(~ '> ; . Moreo.ic~ attempts lor reserving posts in government

had resulted i l l sc>ci;tl conil ic~s

I t \\,;is (>lily in .4pril 1078 that reservations were provided for OBCs.

Moreover the reservations for SC and S'T had evolved gradually and only after it

Carrie to the notice of the government that the proportior1 of the educated among

these sections had increased and they need to be represented as their proportion

7 there was woefully inadequate in ternls of their percentage in population .

Reservations for SC' and ST' was providetl in the legislative: bodies.

The government reporter of 16-5-1951 carried a r~otification for reserving

some posts in class 111 and class IV for the BCs and this provision was officially

implemented liom 4-5-1053, In order to till these posts backward class candidates

were to he called from the general administration department and their number was

to be fixed on the bas1.s of posts lying vacant since Yovember 1950'. The

government did not reserve any posts in Class I and Class I1 service until 20-9-

I969 when the quotas were more precisely defined. In C:lass I and 11 jobs, 5 and

I0 percent respectively were reserved for the SCs, STs; in class I1 and IV it was 7

and 14 percent respectivcly At the district level. since 1960, posts in Class 11 and

IV had all i i l ~ ~ n g been reserved more ur less in proportion to the SCiST population.

Since 1064. ~ f ' n u hackward class (01 SC and ST) candidates were available for the

"reserved" pi~sts such posts had to be carried tbrward for the next two years within

the limit ot the clistrict"; populatiolr. Thereafter they could be filled from the

~~nrt:ser\,ed cl;lss. Frim 1970 onfiat-cli a roster system was introduced in all classes

of llle s r r \ ic~,s :\ 40 point roster \ \3s created for class I11 and IV whereby one

post after e\ery 40 or 100 was resell eci for the BCs with a lnaxirn~~m limit o f 45

percent and ;I carry over 1-~rovision k11 t\vo years.

3.12 Baxi C:ommission Report

I n a hid to avclid controversies and also to find a solution to the problem of

BCs a corninission urider Justice ihsi was appointed in I972 to submit a report on

the same.

I h c Waxi comini:;sion identified 82 communitie:j as constituting the OBCs.

l'he Baxi commission report estiiilated the OBCs population to be 45 percent o f the

overall population in Gujarat. I t recommended that I0 percent of seats should be

reserved in medical, engineering. dental, technical, agriculture and veterinary

colleges. It hr ther recommended that for admission to these seats, OBCs

c;mdidates should have :marks which were not more than 5 percent below the

lowest thr non reserved admission with an absolute minimum of 55 percent as

qualifying marks. In addition. 5 pcrcent seats were to be reserved for the OBCs in

class I and I 1 state ser\ices and I0 percent in classes Ill and IV. The ten percent

OBCs quot ;~ was to be reviewed by the government after I0 years in March 3988.

Thc Sanata govt:rnment o n 1 Apt-il 1978 accepted these recommendations.

Together filth the existing, quota of 7 percent fix the scheduled castes, 14 percent for

scheduled 'I ribcs. and 10 percent ti>r [he OHCs, this brought the aggregate of jobs and

seats reservcd to 3 I perccnt. AwarJ ofscholarships and educational facilities to OBCs

provided tlie~r parental income did ]lot exceed Rs. 48001- per year. This limit was

raised to KI. 72001- in c;lse c ~ f nomad~c and denotitied tribes.

No \o<)nel- thari the report itcis implemented the very inethodology adopted

by thc l i : i \ ~ C'otnmission in cstiinating and designating OBCs came under

vehc~nellt crittc~sni. I'he cornmissiul~ it was alleged had acted in undue haste, thus

ignoring se\i.lal castes who w o ~ ~ l d well have found a place among OBCs.

Moreover caste and religion should hi. ignored and only economic criteria should

be adopted fils designating OBCS.'

3.13 Rane C'ommission Report

Relcn t i~~g to the prt:ssures in opposition to Baxi comlnission report the then

Madhav Sill11 Solanki government constituted a new commission under the

chairmanship olSustice C.V. Rane in 1981. It was asked to identify the castes that

was left out irom thc list of OBCs and also to report whether certain number of

seats and posts should be resewed for the OBCs in proportion to their population.

The Knue C'omrnission adopted a new criterion of 'income and occupation'

instead of castt: In identifying backwardness. Thus they identified 65 occupations

as backward ~ ( ~ v c r i n g about 35 percent of the population which was 10 percent

more than thc l3ax1 (-'omrniasion's 45 percent. The Government accepted the

recommendations but I-<jectetl the criterion of 'income and occupation'. It also

enhanced thc icservation tbr OBCs to 18%. A one-man committee was also

constituted to lind our whttthcr any other eligible caste group was left out from

reservation q ~ ~ o l t i

The clc.ci>~on to enhance the quota (I!' I-esel-\ation:; t i ~ r OHCs to 18%

i-esultetJ in u s~ ,~~i .~v ic le agitatiun. One i ~ f the inajor arguments of the agitators was

that even the, i . \ ~ > t ~ i i ~ quot; of rcsesvation lbr SC. ST and OR('s were not being

l i l l ly utilizeci \ i : i o r~ l~ng to ligures qi~oted b? a Gujarat official spokesman the

actual u t i l iza~~on rangcd liom 11.6 10 17 percent in various courses. Only about

one percent 01' the population in littecn plus age group among the SC and ST/

OBCs enrollei1 thelnsclves fix graduate courses while this ratio was 6.6 percent for

the rest of the population.

The students felt thali the enhancement of OBCs reservation by 18% would

only bar the entry of meritorious candidates to various institutions. They are not

averse to a 10% enhancement.

The government silently zave into the agitation by postponing the

implementation ot' the con~missions report. The agitation also resulted in the

replacement 01' thc Madhav Sinh Solanki by Amar Singh Chowdhary. He

prornised to look into the inclus~on of' economic criteria while identifying

backwardness (Shah : 1900).

3.14 Bibar: The Mungerilal Commission

The Hihar government appointed a BCs con~mission under the

chairmanship of a tbrmel congress chief minister Mungerilal in December 1971 to

identify. among many other things, the RCs in the state.

l ' he coliirnissivn identified 178 backward commu~-tities in the state hailing

from Hindu. Ll~is l i~n and Christin~r taiths. The 128 castes were declared as "more

baci\\val-d' I taking into account the social status. ed~tcational backwardness.

inadequac? % ) t i-e~)re~c.ntation in go\ernment services adequacy of share in trade,

conlnierce. ilrclustry clc 11 reconi~ntmded 26 percent reservation in jobs and 24 per

cenl in educ;ition,il tiist~~utions l;i~ tiiem. But the C'hief Minster Jagannth Mislira

did not take any actloir on these reconimendations in view of his known support of

the forward castes.

The .li~nata Party govemmenl headed by Karpoori l'hakur subsequently

accepted the Mungerilal cornmissio~l report. He announced reservation of 8

percent for OH(:s. I ? percent for more BCs, 14 percent for scheduled castes, 10

percent for scheduled tribe!;, 1% per cent ibr women and 3 percent for economically

10 backward persons. Agitation for and against was the resulr. of this decision by the

Karpoori Thakr~r government. Violent tiisturbances began to grip several parts of the

state. In November 1978. the Chief Minister announced a revised formula under

which 3 percent resenation in services was given to women and 3 percent for

economically backward persons (Sachidananda 1997: 166-167, 178).

3.15 Reservation Policy in Central Government Services

During the 13ritish rule agitalions were launched to provide reservations in

legislative asscmbl) and also for the creation of separate r:lectorates for various

commi~nities. Rarnsa) Mac l>onald's communal award even went further for the

creation of separate electorates for scheduled castes. I t was only aiier the Poona

pact that such ti provision was abolishled.

Reser~i~tions I r i govet-nment wrvice were introduced for the depressed

classes in 194: h! hi. I<~-i~isl-~ y o v c ~ n i ~ ~ e n t . But at that tinli~ hardly any qualified

persons iinm rile unto~tc1ial)les and tribals were available to take advantage of the

reservations. It1 lac! 111 1947 the go\.el-riment decided that no useful purpose would

be served h) reser\.ations for S1' arc too k \ v and were available for appointments

(Shah 1997: 130.:344)

In thc wake independence. the new government took particular interest

in the welfire of the depressed classcs. Mahatma Gandhi's special emphasis on

the amelioration of the untouchables and the nomination of Dr. B.R Ambedkar as

the Chairman was also a reason tbr this. Through a resolution moved by

Dr. Amhedkar. all the prt:viously existing reservations, except for the SCs and STs

were abolished. Special provisions tor reservation of seats in legislature and in the

services were made in the constitution only for these two categories. For OBCs

only a reference t i 1 the protection of their interest was made in one of the Directive,

Principles, I.'~tcr. 'i gcneral reference in the amended Article 15 allowed the states

to take steps l i ~ r the advancement of the socially and educationally BCs. Only

clausc 4 c ~ t Art~clc I h made a somewhat direct reference in this regard. This article

is about guaranteeing equality of opportunities for all, but clause 4 makes

provisions l i ~ r reservation of posts liir what it describes as "any backward class of

citizens" and [hat too on11 if a class i \ not adeq~iately represented in the services of

the state. Through Article 340, the procedure to determine the need for reservations

and the cri ter~a for identifying berlcticiary gl-oups within the category of socially

and educatio~lally Ht's. wc-e left investigations by commissions. which the

presidenl nl;i> appoint. !\s against rhis. Article 335 makes explicit prorision of

reservation ti11 schc.dule3 castes and S Is. In addition some time bound provisions.

which have nil\\ e ~ p i r e d were mai:c l;)i- An~lo-Indians. On the insistence o f the

sikh leadersli~p. ihc iIepri:ssed caste. of sikhs were everitually included in the

scheduled castes list (Ibici).

3. 16 First BCs commis:rion or Kaka Kalelkar Commission

f h e central government appo~nted the first BCs commission under the

chairmanship of Kaka Kal82lkar on 29 January 1953. It submitted its report on 31

March 1955. On the hasis of criteria evolved by it, the commission listed 2339

castes as sc~c~ally and cducationall~ backward. The commission made the

following reconimendations.

I . In all science. engineering. medicine, agriculture. veterinary and other

technical instit~~tions. a reservation of 70 percent of seats should be made

for qualified students of BCs t ~ l l such time as accommodation is provided

for all thc students eligible f i x admission. The remaining 30 percent and

also all seats unavaied of by B('s should go to rest of the students.

2. In making selectini~ to the reserved quota of seats., qualified candidates

from cx~rcmelq li('s should hc laken into consideration first, and in making

distrihutlon, ihr principle of lavouring the lower of the two claimants

among the candidates from the ~ a r i o u s communities should be followed

3 . A sclectio~l colnn~ittce consist~ng o l some of the representative of all

c ~ ~ n n l c l ~ i i t ~ c s 0 1 0 1 ~iecessarily oi the backward alone:^ should be set LIP to

assist tlic educationai authorities 111 the selection of des,erving candidates.

4. I'rrsiige. po%el- iincl influence. scales of pay. security of employment and

scope to distribute patronage all these have made government service

;ittractive So long as it coiltinues to be so. clainls of OBCs for adequate

representation in th'c service should be recognised by providing reservation

of delinite quota of vacancies in each class.

5 . 'fhe ~ntercst of'the s,tate, the efficiency and the running of the administrative

luachincry and the :increasing role of welfare state which the administrative

services have to play in relation to masses of the country-all these demand

that reservation should, where education is sufficiently high among the

cotnmunities, be in proportion to the population of the communities of the

C)t3('s. l'aking all these lactors into consideration the conclusion reached

by a majority o l th'c members of the commission is that in all government

and local body services. the minimum basis of representation of OBCs

should be as tollr~ws.

Clahs I- 25 percent of vacancies

~ ' 1 . 'IS\ . . 11-13-i/3 percent of Vacancies

Class 11- 40 prrc(2nt of Vacancies

( ' l a s~ IV- 40 perr:entof Vacancies

This percentage would he over and above that which has already been

coi~crded h\ the go\crninent in tiic case of scheduied cast?s and scheduled tribes

6. At the end of tcrl years. the ~dequacy of representatio~l of OBCs should be

re\ iL.\\ed 111 the light 01' rhe statistics then available as a result of the 1961

or c;irliet- cerlsuser:. which may contain all communities listcd by the

comn~ission in the OBCs group.

7. For thc purpose of'iiistribution of the reserved quota of posts among all the

communities comprising the OBCs no hard and fast rule need be followed.

The circumstanccs and the social conditions prevailing in the country

necessitate greater iconsideration for the most backward and unrepresented

comniunities in thc: group. Some system of rotation worked out in the

conditiorls prevailirlg in the respective state is called for. Communities

should be conveniently grouped according to the degree of advancement in

each ht,irc and degree of advai~cement in each state and representation in

the reserved quota be granted beginning with the most unrepresented

groups. I his method need not be adhered to for all times. After a period of

15 yeat-\ the position si'lould be reviewed (Maheshwari: 1991: 1 1 7-1 18)

The ceiitrai gobernment refusrii to accept this report on the ground that no

objective criteria were appliecl in the identification of the BCs. Five out of the I I

members of thc commiss io~~ had giver] notes of dissent. It also urged at the same

time chat the hest cartdidates shoulii as a rule, be recruited by means o f a

compi:titivc t.\arninatton t~i thout iln! regard to caste consideration. In his

forwarding IettL.r Kaha Kalelkar, thc i:hairman stoutly opposed caste being made

the ba:jis ot ~-c\i.r\ iltioii In p~lblic s c t ~ i i c . I le emphatically wrote. .'I am definitely

against reser\ation in gov~ummenr icrvices for any community for the simple

reason tliiit thc \crvic'es arc not mean1 f i r the servants but they are meant for the

society as a \\11<1lc. h i 1 . 9 - 2 0 ' hnLn Kalelkar recognized the central role of

public admini.;t1-ation 111 tile society and favoured recruitment ol'only the best illen

available in tile land Ile ~ridiculcii the practice of reservation by categorically

declaring: 'Ilcser\ar~oll 01' posts ti)r certain backward communities would be as

strange as rcxrvat io i~ of ratients tor particular doctors. The patients are not meant

to supply adequate or proportionate clientele to all the doctors, whatever their

qualifications' I lc rccornrriended thc principle of 'no resewation' but generous

preference (Ibid). His tinii view was that backwardness in society could be tackled on

a basis othcr than castc. I h e Kalelkar Commission has classified a very large section

of the population a i hacku,ard, and if special assistance had to be given to such large

numbers. thc ovcrnnrent argued, the really needy will be swapped by the multitude.

'The ;governmen1 prcter-red (economic criterion for the definition of HC.

3.17 Second BCs commission or the Mandal Commission

I'he '\<conti IK's Commission was appointed under the chairmanship of

B.P Mancial o n I " .lanuery 1979. ' lhe commission submitted its report on 31''

December 1 O X O . In its findings it Sound that the SC and ST constituted 22.5% of

the populati<)ii and the OB(3s 52%. r h u s in accordance with the principles of

justice 52% 01' the posts under ccntral government should be reserved for them.

But sincc thc Suprciiie (:hurt has tirmly laid down that reservation should be

restrictcti to ' \O'h. tlic ci~~nmission rceommended that total reservations should he

-19.5% i.c .I"",c l i 1 1 lilt: OBCs and 32.5% for SC and Schcdclled Tribes. The

comrnissioli 'ilso rccommrntled that ircscrvations should exlend even to the private

sector irhicli I \ a~dcci t i ) the central govcrnmcnt.

l h e \ ' I ' S11ig1i ~!.ovcI.niIicIIt ~iccepted the recommendations with a minor

rnoditicatio~~ O I I '7 s t 1900 alier a span o f nearly [en years since the

com~nission 11ad suhinittcd its report, The government decided that candidates

belorrging to iociall? anti educati(inally backward castes recruited on the basis of

merit in an open conipetition on iht. same standards prescribed for the general

candidates shall riot he tidjusted against the reservation of 27 percent. This was

quite contrary tv the ri.cotnmzndaticrt~s of the commission which stated that it shall

be ad-iusted against the rescrv;ltion u f 27 percent.

The acccptancc oi' this report led to agitations on a national scale.

Unprecedcntcd \ i~)lc~ic-e ar~d destruction \\;as a consequence of the governmental

decision. V.1' Singh o\ ,ernment w h ~ c h was a coalition put even its partners in a

fix. Unlike !he kalclhar Commission report which was d i s c ~ ~ s s e d in the

parliarnent. thc rielails ;ind priicedurc adopted by the Mandal cornmission were not

even discussed in thz cuhint.t.

Mandal c~oiil~iiision has adopted some criteria of education too to identify

backw;lrdness ovcr and above the caste criterion. It recommended two separate

criteria for identifying tile h,lcl:ward section of the Hindu co~nn~uni ty and of other

communities \\here caste iystem ih lion- existent. In respect of employees

belonging to t i x liinciu ('omniunit). tile following criteria were adopted: (i) an

ernployec \+as tlt~cmcd t i> be socially hackward if he does not belong to any ot 'the

three- twice borri (L)\ i l i V;trlias i.e. hi. is neither a B r a l i m i ~ ~ or Kshatriya nor a

Vaishya ancl ( i i l i i ~ \ \ . I \ ilzenicii ro be ciiiicationally backward " if'neither his father

had studied he!orril 1 1 1 ~ ~ pi-irn.il-! le\cl' !\-; regards the non- Ilindu cointuunities ( i)

an e n ~ p l o ) ~ . ~ , \\:I> ilcc~ncti to be soci;illy backward : it' either (i) he is a convert from

those Ilindu ~ t ~ ~ n r r > u ~ ~ i t i t : s or- (ii) i l l case he is not such a convert. his parental

ir~cc~me is llclc~w the po\:erty line. I z.. Ks. 71 per head per month. (iii) he was

deerned to be cduca~ionally backwarii -5i'ncither his father nor his grand father had

studied beyoiid the prin12.r~ level" ( Ikpor t of the Second BCC Appendix vii : p.

91). Moretrvcr i t 1s stilted that the comtnission had travelled all over the state,

perused thc iarious reservations. schemes prevalent in the state, conducted

interactions. \vith \aritius groups anil over and above to ;all those conducted an

extensive socio- educalional field s u r \ r y l ' before arriving at its dccisions.

3.18 Criticism

'The hlar~dal comnlis:iion had identified certain aspects. which were the

prime reason lor sonre comr-nunities ro be backward. But these matters are not

confirled tu rhi. hackward co t~ imuni t i~~s alonc. For instance in terms of literacy

India lags far hehind nl;rn) of its ciil.tntelparts in the world. This is mainly due to

the lack olacccss r c , cdilcational fac~lities. By providing reservation in jobs alone

will not enablz the backward communities to ameliorate their condition. To secure

the jobs they h:i\r got I ( , q~lal1.f). in thc selection tests, entrance to which might be

educational qu;~I~ficatioli.

Caste i.v\irvati<w or1 an all inilia scale will not improve the stature of

backward catc , . '111 o i c i liidia. In lac1 the situation of' a p~lrticular caste in one

srate n-lay Ihc :,~~c;ltl\i ill va~.iar~ee with another state. Thus when it comes to a

competition Ltrii('nS t l~cii , ca'ites. thc l'ol\\;lrd ;among thc castes shall dominate the

1es:j I b r t u n ; ~ ~ ~ ~ o n c h I'liere will hi. ;I clamour for even more sub divisions like MRC

in future rl~cis ticspoiling the i d [ ; basis of reservation policy giving rise to

perpetual contlicl\

B.P hlandal ha> r'slied heav~l\ . on the 193 1 census, i.e., the last caste- based

one conducted by the erstwhile Brit~sh government. Even that census was bound

to expire in 1941. I ) L I ~ 10 the outbl-eak ol'the Second World War it was impossible

to conduct atic~thcr ccnst~s. Parti~iori of India has caused a large displacement of

people bclongirig to \ario.is religions. castes and tribes. The social stature of many

of these denominations has changed ilver the years. I t seems that Mandal instcad

of making an intensi~i. study of the lists of the states' BCs has made a compilation

of all these lis~h. 1 he commission co~ild, if it had not kept political expediency in

mind., conducted a ties11 caste baseti census on an all India basis before arriving at

hasty conclus~ons. '- '

'I'he i:iniiaI c<~rnini:jsion relhscd to include economic criterion for

identifying hach\+ardncss. It says t h a ~ poverty is due to social backwardness and

not due to ecoriornic birckuardness. According to Mandal the substitution of caste

by cconornic lrsts bill ;~rnount to ignoring thc genesis o f social backwardness in

the Indian Socii.~! ( I 1 IKC' Report : 1) Thus i t refuses to exclude the prosperous

section of OlK\ h~ir exienil!: 11-~e benefits to all.

In sucli . I ,iali. 01' rc:servati(~ri i i l i . percentage ot' seats left t'or the general

catcgory will hc \irtuali\ i ~ i i . Moreovci tlie government doesn't create such large

~ u ~ ~ u b e r of johh ,.o as 1,) . ~ c c o n ~ i i ~ o J a ~ i ~ r l i c ati)rementioncd nurrtber ot'castes. Only

by providirig rcsel.vation!; within particular states can the conditions of backward

castes be atni.liorrcteii i'his is so I~ccause the plight of the BCs throughout the

country is tl(>i unifornl arid it varies greatly li.or11 state to state. A caste may in a

particular stare be soc~ally, ieducationally and eco~lo~nically advanced that it needs

to bc cxcludcd froin tlie backward castes list. Hut in another state they might be so

much so backward as to be included in OBC list.

Multiple tactors like social. educational and economic have to be

considered to idelltit) backwardncs. Caste by itself should not be a criterion.

Access to cdiicational ficilities is a serious factor in determining backwardness.

The depressed classes should be well trained and equipped lo take advantage of the

reservation benefits a1locatr:d to it. Similarly the living conditions should be

satisfactory mough. None of the co~nmissions has given stress to measures other

than reservatiol~s ti)r ameliorating tlie conditions of the backward class. Despite 50

year:$ of indcpcndence there still exists regions which do not provide for basic

amenities of life.

Political expediency should not be considered while formulating 1: reservation policq. A separate arrangement has to be set up (i.e. a permanently j'

funcrioning bi~dy) in order lo conduct surveq's and to monitor the developlnents

made by vat-ious castes. Reservation {In an all India basis will never ameliorate the

H C s Steps sl~ould hc. initiated at ti151 to improve the living conditions and access

to educational iacilitics I l ' i t is proviclcd \\ithout regard to any of these factors and

safeguards. 17c.1-pct~ial conllicts bcr\+cc.n i;>rual-d and backward castes. backward

atid most b;tckwiir(l caste \\.ill hc ~ I I C c v ~ l ~ l ~ r i l l ies~ilt. This will result in

increasingl\ c~tsteisatii~n of the soelety which is dangerous tilr the unity and

developmor~ ( 1 1 the ndlion

3.19 Conclusion

None , ~ f the cornmi:;sions appointed either by the state government or

central govern~nent has gilier~ a composite definition of backward caste or forward

caste S u r p r ~ \ ~ n g l ) they ne\er e \ en bothered to conduct a caste-based census to

ascertain tlic true status of particular castes in society. In fact some of the

commiss~ons Itdd recornmended a re5urvey after a particular period had elapsed

about the conclit~ons ot'cer.tain castes cn.joying the benefits of reservation. Instead

of doing 50 tlic government appointed new commissions and the commissions

never conducted any fresh sui-veys

I There \ \ a h i t ilote of dissent .against tll~s reco~nmendation by a member M.S. Patel who was a 1,inpayat. lie alleged lhat the committee deliberately got tlie originally estimated percentage (11. [,ingayat studying in Iligh schools revised by the Director of Public Instructio~i (IIPI) so as to make it 111o1c than the state average (6.6 percent) with a view to removing L.ingayats from the BC's list

This pc~iod ( 195(>-1972) was alzo marked by tlie rule of Lingayat in Karnataka under the ('hiel' Vinistersh~sps of S. Nijalingappa and Veerendra Patil, who do not want their o n n c~~ in rn i~n~t ) . to be excluded froin the list of backward classes and lose t l i ,~ beliclirx i~l'resei\iitior~s, (Thimnia~ah : 1997 : 1 1 1. 1 12, 128-1 j0)

' First tlic co\erage o l the survey was ilisputed. It varied frotn 70 percent to 90 percent and more i~npoi~antly Bangalore sit! was not adequately cokered by the survey. Second. tlic data i~scd for deter~nin~ng tlie status of different castes in terms of literacy percelltape st~idei~ts i l l SSLC. percentage ol' Urban pop~~lation and percentage of self' eniplo\.cd \+ere all fitund dcfecti\c as they did not tally i&,itl~ the state average of tht: 1081 cc~isus. I llc critel-ia used \\ere not appropl-iate. p,artl?. because tliel-e was double \ueigl~tagc give11 to eacli 0 1 tlie criteria. like the percentage of families. percsotage i~t'familiei ou ing 20 stalldill-d acres of land and above and percentage of falllilies liv~ng ill pucca and kuclla Iio~ises. The conirnission used nine points for deterini~ling the bach\vartlness of 0:: ~;lstes and 10 points for tlie remaining 13 castes. Beside\ tlie cr,mti~i~siot~ used the st;~tc awl-age equal to or above fol. detennining the 62 cabtc a\ hacknard hut {onl) abo\ i. t l~e state average for I3 c,rstes.

It uiii build tltat the infornlat~on about caste was not insisted ~ ~ p o l l froin students appcai-111s i i ~ r rlic SSL,C exarninat~on. tlow reliable then was the data on caste wise pcrcent;tgc ol'SSI,C passed students which the commissio~~ nsed? Apart fro111 this the resr~lts o l orle esarninali'on (i.e. April 1085) cannot really indicate the educational backwardncss of different caste groups because education is a long drawn out process. Therefore we irlust take an average o f all or several years o f SSLC qualified people to determine the educational status of one group. Though the commission collected data on the tot;~l nulnbcr of SSLC qualified people in each caste througll the household survey. i t did not use t l len~ for reasons not explained anywhere. The second backward classes coillmi\sion classified even those castes whose percentages were equal to the state average as forward. This has t o u n d to be arbitrary and contrary to the existing judicial interpretation.

The statc government while appointing the second backward classes cominission had excluded irepresentativer from the two major castes (Lingayats and Vokkaligas) from inetnhershl[) o f the comtnission (Thiinmaiah : 1997: 13 1 - 134).

3 In 1933. tllc Madras provi:;ional backward classes league, leaders among SC's (Such as Mr. M.C. Ka.iah) and Muslim group. all began accusing the forward non-Brahmin cominctnirics of~orner ing a large share in public employment (C;uhan.S: 1991: 46-55)

The A l l Indi;~ Oppressed Employees Association felt that any reservation concession intended to uplift one section o f society should not be at the cost o f fundamental rights o f otllcrs. Even the pireferential treatment on economic grounds should be only a1 the rccrui~meilt level. It should not he continued after that on any account.

5 By 1970. tl>cie u'a5 a slight fall in thc absolute n~imber o f Nairs and Syrian Christians in g o v e r i ~ ~ ~ l r ~ l t sel-vices. According to the Nair Service Society (N.S.S) president Kalatllil Velayudhan Nair fioln 1961-62 t i l l 1968-69 in the appointments made by p ~ ~ b l i c service conuniss~on out o f '3584 public appoint~nents 52476 were from backward classes. Only 22 percent \\en1 to forward communities, while 78 percent were for h~chward classes (Malayala Manorama August 29. 1071)

" He wanted tire community to unite atrd fight against reservation for backward class (speech b? scneral secretary Kidangoor Gopalakrishna Pillai, November 6, 1971 Mannaln .layanti Souvenir 1971 p. 11 1). The annual conference o f the N.S.S lnet on Nove~nhcl- h 1071 and adopted a iesalution demandins reservatio~i on the basis o f econom~c t~;lck\vardi~ess. A series o l ~iieelings and discus:;ions followed against reserbatio~l tor back\\ard classes hnr~\biilg fiilly well that this was aimed at the I:zllava> tl'rc~nch;ind. Perunna, (1Q72) "Nair Youtll Society!~im Yuvajanangale Sll\vasall~ i ~ i ~ l t t i k k u n ~ ~ a sa~~ivaranav~.~n~ "(Mal) Manna~n ]ayanthi souveilir pp.124- 1 K t l 1 l V~.I;~yudIlan Nair i l ' l ' l ) "Samwaranathinte peril miinnokka saniiida!anpli. puhachu kollunn~i" lhid pp-133135: Sailliaradas: ('1972) "Sa~~i\,a~;ina~ri en~~vadeken~-fathu pan;ikhara~~o-pavdpetravano". lbid pp-141.142; R.K. I I S;rti l\*ari~~natI~i~~!e peril ciidae nianusliya kui-uthi nadakkiiilnii' lbid pp 148 l iO . 5rc ;11\(, Malavala Kaiyanl M;I\ ;. and September 9. 1971 ) Christian papers too supported tllc Nair', and t h e i ~ ~csolc~tioi~s (Deepika July 6 1971: editorial Malayal;~ I v l ; ~ ~ i c ~ l a ~ n ; i Augl~ht 7Y. 107 I

Irl (illjarat. tt 11;1s r,) he e~n[~hasired that the SC and Scheduled Tribe have been able to acliicve 1nuc11 else. bcslcles getting government jobs through reservation systetii. The percentage litcratc nll18,nl; SC ill Ci~~jarat i s allnost 40 percent according to the 1981 cellsils MIIIIC t l ie ra t i i~ ic~r lion- scheduled castes population i s 43 percent. This i s still higher thaii all- 111d1a average which XI-e 21 percent for scheduled castes and 39 percent for tlie rest ofthe popiila~tion. Similarly in the case o f urbanization in Gujarat, 32.69 percent alnoltg the schedulled castes live in cities, which is higher than the 30.98 percent ibr the rion-S(: population 111 West Bengal where the share o f population is estimated to hc livitig in urban areas IS 30-44 percent, almost the same as Gujarat their number \+'a\ to he fixed on the basis o f posts lying vacant since November 1950. The share of S(' i s only 11.4 1 percent. Clearly the process of social integration between SC and non S( coti~~tiunities w i l l be more advanced in cities than in rural areas, in todays circumstat~ce\. I his i s espe~:ially so III Gujarat where many o f the scheduled castes in Urban areas \r,orl, in textile mills. (Mahesh 1985:lOl)

8 It i s true that wlrvr~ itock taking was done in October 1959, i t was found that there was a huge backlog o f rcservcd posts that had not been filled. Besides upper caste prejudices (which rcsistt:d the entry o f SC and ST candidates in posts filled through direct reci-u~tri~cl~t) one reason [nay he the lack o f incentive on the part of SC and ST to go in fiir (iovcrt~ment employment when they were getting other jobs which allowed ti1e111 ti) \ lay with their families in the cities e.g. jobs in the Ahmedabad mills. (Sheth: IO'P2 10).

9 The Baxi ( ornlilis\lon did not p i ~ b l ~ s h the data i t had collected through its survey, giving rise to doubt5 abc~ut the cotnplete validity o f the c1as:;itication proposed by it. Indeed m;lil) o f t l i r pru~ninent orgarrisations who could be said to be mobilizing tlie backward clri\se!, tl~cmsclves did not agree with the Baxi Commission. The Gijarat Kshatriya Sahlia alleged that the commission had le f t out poor among the inter~nediatv and even r l ~ e upper castes to include only castes like tlie Kolis and the Barias who cr~~istituted almost 65 percent o f the list o f the OB(7 put together by tlie Baxi comtlil?slon I ' h r Kshi~triya Sahlia argued that the caste, community and religion sliould not be tlic c l~ tc r i ;~ tc deterniilrc backwardliess in the fbrtiiation o f tile socialist state. Anb i~~ le \ \ l~e tc income i s below the limit o f income tax no matter o f which caste he i5 - he i t tisllatriya, Patikar, Vaniya, Brahmins, Harijan, Advasi etc should be considcled hack\rar(l. One becomes backward because o f one's limited economic income. SOIIIC < i t ' t i le leaders also appointed out that there were castes in the Baxi Conimission l i s t wl i~cl i did not eben have a 5 percent literacy rate and they could not be expected to the use OBCs reser~ation quota. Little information exists about the actual i l t i l i zn t~~~n rlt'tlle 13 percent (313C quota atid the social bachgl-ound o f those wlio are able to i lse it tS11;lh : 1990)

10 111 i ts e l e c ~ ~ ( x ~ I I I ~ I I I I ~ ~ ~ ~ O . the: Janata l ' i~rty liad called for an cud to caste discrimination and p rn~ l i i ~c i f 11) c11\11rc that tlie OHC tic1 1101 sulle~el- f~rom ally d isc~. i~n i~ ia t io~ l or inequalit? l i IIIOIIII\C~ o radical reduction o f disparities in 1;+vour o f the weaker scct io~~ ot t l~c \ ~ > c ~ e t > There was also a promise to reserve 25 to 33% o f all a p p o i n t ~ n c ~ ~ ~ \ 1 i , i \er~~tnent senice for the Backward Classes Sachidananda (1997): Iti6.lh7.I'R I

I ' Tl ie indic;~t i~rh for dcterinining social and educational backw:rrd~less are gr-ouped under three lie ad^ in tlie first part o f thc leporl i.e, social. educational and econoniic.

4 . Social ( 3 . ~ 1 I ? I'oint:;)

I . (astcs ;~nd classes considerc(l socially and educationally backward by others

2 . ('iisteb iclasses 'which rnainl? depend on manual labour for their livelihood

> ('astes a classes where at least 25 percent females and 10 percent males above tllc state average get married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least I 0 percent females and 5 percent rnales do so in urban areas.

4. C':lsres ' classes where participants o f females i n work is at least 25 percent nhme the state evelrage

3 Educalional ( 3 s 2 -= 6 Points)

5 ('aste 1 Classes where the riurnber o f children i n the age group o f 5-15 years \ \ I io never attended school i\ at least 25 percent above the state average.

6 ( ' a w /classes where the rate ofst i ldent drop out in tlie age group o f 5-15 years is .IT least 25 percent above the state average.

7 C'aslc 1 classes amongst whom the proportion o f matriculates is at least 25 percent below t l e state average.

13. Econol i l~c (4 K I - 4 points)

8 (';,.tes ; C'1asst.s ,where tlic average value of fanlily assets is at least 25 percent below t~he state average

9 C.~~teiclasicz where the ni1111ber of fallli l ies l i v ing in kucclia houses is at least 75 percent abobe the state average.

10 C '~ i \ te /c Ias~e~ whei-e tlie zoiiice o f drinking water i:; beyond half a Kilometer 1;1i iiiore tlian 50 pel-cent o l the liouseliolds/

clastes/clazzcs rvtiere tlie number ol Iiouseholds having taken consumption loan is at least 75 percerlt above the state a\crage (Appendix p. 52) only those casteslclasses which had ;I score o f 50 percent i e . 11 I points out o f 22 ill all) or above were listed ;is socially and cduca~tionally hackward and the rest were treated as 'advanced'. (Cl ioudl iar~ 1'190: PI': 130-34)

I' L i ke the kaha;i K;llelk,rr- Commission. the Mandal commis:iion did not liave even the basic dsi;i OII tlic population o f t l i c ililf'el.e~lt cor l im~~ni t ies fi-on1 \\liich alone it could liave pnlcccdcd to pick and clioose the other backwal-d classes's with the help o f I-elev;lnt iiidicalol-.

'What r l ~ c rcpon coiitains i!; a liotch-potch from the censuses of 1971 and 193 1)

l l i e I~~II~LII.I~I~II licrcciitaxe l i ~ i Si and ST and non-tiindus (22.56 and 16.16 respectiicl\ I as per the 19'71 ccn:;ii. and the percentafe for 'forward Hindu' 17.58 as

-- - ~~ ---- ~ - - --- --

estrapoialcd I ' R I I I I i l i ~ it~colnplrtr I931 census are added and the sum (56.3 is subtract~.d f r o m 100. 1 he resulting percentage (43.7) which is o~ i ly a derived figure, along u i t l r ;1bo11t olle half of the population percentage for non-Hindus (8.4) has been prcscnted h) the c o ~ n nission a!; !he estimated popillation of the other backward classcs i3> .rrhitrdrllj considering ccrtain castes as forward Hindus' and then treating the remaining caste5 as backward classcs, the commission overlooked the strata immediatcl> belou the so called 'hi-ward Hindus' and treated them also as backward classes.

The report also does not contail1 any substantive data on tlie socio-economic t:ducation;~l and occ~rpation~al conditions of the different communities. It is from these data alonc that !he commi:ision c o ~ ~ l d have had an overall assessment of the castes/ comiiiunirie~ as advanced or so backward a s to be brought under the umbrella of the constirutio~i (Uadhakrishnan : 1990 pp: 23-25)