Race to the bottom….

The recent clashes between the Meena and the Gujjar communities in Rajasthan illustrate well the race to towards the bottom. India is probably the only country in the world where people actually strive to be “backwards” thanks to the generous reservations policy under the Constitution.

The current crisis in Rajasthan also highlights an important issue on the subject of reservations that it does not matter how much a caste or tribe is indeed deprived or the need for affirmative action by means of reservations. It however does matter how much of a clout it holds in politics of the state so as to be included in the coveted list. In India, many of the so-called “backward classes” (a.k.a. Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) are actually the most powerful in terms of influence on matters of state. In Rajasthan, Jat is one of the most powerful communities and are still included in the OBC category. Meenas are included in the ST category but dominate the civil services like no other caste or tribe.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who himself came from a Harijan family strongly advocated limiting reservations for first 10 years of the new Republic. Sadly, politicians who came after him did not see the real logic behind his thoughts and have taken over the reservations issue as a convenient weapon in electoral politics. As long as this populist game continues, the unfortunate casualty will be the people who really need the reservations – the economically backwards from every caste, creed and religion.