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The
concept of creamy layer should be made
applicable to SC/ST category as well. Otherwise
the weak and deprived among SCs/STs will not
benefit from the quota system. It is a fact to
be noted that only 5 per cent of SCs and STs in
the past 55 years have benefited from quota.
This 5 percent elite section has been cornering
all privileges of reservation and scholarships
meant for the Dalits and Scheduled Tribes. This
elite section has access to education,
healthcare, nourishment and their children block
the benefits of reservation for the poorest SCs
and STS. That is one of the reasons why there
has been no perceptible changes in the life
style of the remaining 95 per cent SCs and STs.
If the concept of creamy layer is not applied,
the same set of people will be taking advantage
of reservation generation after generation at
the cost of needy and deserving people. The very
purpose of reservation seems to be heading
toward a failure because of its inability to
ameliorate the conditions of a vast majority of
the depressed people. There is no logic behind
giving reservation benefits to the likes of Ram
Vilas Paswan, Mayawati, Meira Kumar, Mahaveer
Prasad, Sushil Kumar Shinde or PA Sangama. Their
sons and daughters can compete with general
students for jobs and admissions.
It is also disturbing to note that no new
leadership is emerging among the dalits. One of
the reasons for this could be that the same set
of dalit politicians are contesting elections
from reserved constituencies year after year,
thereby depriving other dalits to take advantage
of reservation. In this regard, the case of Ram
Vilas Paswan is very relevant. He is a national
leader yet every time he chooses to contest
election from the reserved constituency of
Hajipur. Whereas the ideal situation would be
that he contested elections from some other
constituency thereby leaving Hajipur for some
new dalit faces. But the fact of the matter is
that Ram Vilas Paswan is not concerned with the
upliftment of Dalits. His only concern is his
own political career.
Now a few words about the OBCs. It is
appropriate that the concept of creamy layer is
applicable to them. But it must be kept in mind
that backwardness is a relative term and it
keeps on changing from time to time. Several
castes included in the OBCs list are no longer
backward in the real sense. They have witnessed
unprecedented growth in economic and political
affairs. Take the example of Yadavs. As of now,
they are included in the OBC list. But during
the last few decades, their social, political
and economical positions have undergone
tremendous transformations. Their presence can
be felt in every aspect of social and political
activity. They are now politically empowered,
socially dominant and economically prosperous.
Their political representation is in far excess
of their proportional population. Same is the
case with Kurmis. These two aggressive backward
castes capture a major portion of the jobs/seats
reserved for OBCs. The real backward castes like
the barbers, potters, carpenters, blacksmiths,
gardeners etc can not compete with the
aggressive Yadavs and Kurmis. The result is that
they are deprived of reservation benefits meant
for OBCs.
Similarly, the Jats in Rajasthan were included
in the OBC rank because of political
considerations. They don’t deserve to be
categorized as backward caste. They are the land
owning and business caste, yet they are included
among the OBCs. They capture 85 per cent of jobs
reserved for OBCs thereby depriving the most
backwards castes of any quota benefit.
So, taking into account these facts, the Yadavs,
Kurmis and Jats should be excluded from OBC list
and should be treated as general category. Then
only the purpose of affirmative action can be
achieved. It must be ensured that the quota
system does become a means of creating an elite
section among the backward castes.
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Comments: |
Quota system for employment in
Government Services, admission in to
professional colleges and others has
become a political tool in hands of
unscrupulous politicians who are
bent upon to take out all creams
from the society to meet their
vested interest. It has become tool
to beat the political opponents
without any consideration of
political affiliations. But I have
not lost all hopes. A time is just
approaching fast to beat this self
defeating theory. After all India
has to progress and come to status
of developed nation. Nothing can
stop it. - Janak Kumar Singh -
May 3, 2006
As per my own analysis following is
the Mandal commission's chronology
of events (past, present and
future):
Mandal I (1989-1990)
V.P. Singh Era
There were street wide protests.
Everyone seemed to be opposed to the
reservations. The newspapers, TV,
radio and other media outlets were
busy describing how evil the
reservations are for India. The
overall mood was that reservation is
the cause for all the evils in India
and that India is now doomed. Some
backwards felt threatened by the all
around hostility in the society. The
OBCs who had previously opposed
reservations for the SC/STs suddenly
found themselves to be on the same
side of the fence as the SC/STs. The
people availing OBC reservations
included the baniya's of Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka, the
Jats of Rajasthan, the Kshatriya
community in Maharashtra, the Yadavs
and Kurmis in Bihar and so on and so
forth.
Mandal II (2006)
Arjun Singh Era
In terms of education and economic
conditions, the backwards are better
off than they were at any time
during the past 5000 years. This is
the age of blogs, the Internet and
lighting fast communications.
Protests are organized against the
reservations but not to the same
extent as in the past. For the first
time points and counterpoints are
being traded regarding the
advantages of reservation too. It's
no longer possible for a party to
make a claim based on biased
thinking without inviting arguments
and counterarguments from the other
side. Some of the people feel that
Indian outsourcing industry will be
doomed because of this. For the
first time in their history the
backwards feel bold enough to speak
up their mind.
Mandal III (after another 15-20
years)
The backward community will be much
better off than anytime in their
5000+ year old history. There will
be as many rallies and signature
campaigns in favor of reservations
as there will be against them. For
the first time people will discuss
the pros and cons of reservations
objectively without being biased and
hateful against the other party.
Mandal IV (50 years from now)
Except for some fanatic cults and
sects most of Indians will be of
mixed castes. Majority of the people
will have a mixture of FC/OBC/SC/ST
blood and caste itself will become
laughing matter. - Rajendra Kumar
- May 4, 2006
Rajendra Kumar ji, in your analysis
everything was logical but 50 years
from now all caste could have mixed
without reservation but not with
reservation.
50 years from now castes will be
more dominant and there will be
three strong castes.
Forward Caste : Superior breed of
people who will still be on top as
they were thousands of years back
and are now and who will progress
without the clutch of "Reservation".
They will dominate each and every
field simply because they will have
to struggle more.
Backward caste who used reservation:
These will be second grade citizens
who progressed but only because they
could use clutch of "Reservation".
These people will not make to the
top as they will live life long with
inferiority complex. While with the
help of reservation some of them can
top in jobs it is unlikely that any
one can top in business or other
fields.
Backward castes who could not/did
not use reservation: They will be
what SC/ST and EBC are today. They
will see no light of the day .
There will be no mixing or very
little mixing between these as
reservation will divide them in
three distinct and visible races
like Blacks, Whites and Latinos in
America. - Kaushal Das - May 4,
2006
Mandal V (100 years from now)
All upper castes will be
successfully eliminated from the
society and all backwards will live
happily ever after. Mission
accomplished! 100 years of war
against upper castes finally paid
off. - Kumar Ratnesh - May
4, 2006
The creamy layer are the Super
Forward Castes of today - rolling in
luxuries, kids studying either
abroad or in the best of schools,
plenty of money and reservation for
their future generations. The hollow
illogical argument forwarded by them
in brief translates to - We, the
miniscule minority, want all the
jobs for our kids who have received
the best of education from posh
schools and colleges and we do not
want to leave anything for our poor
brethren. The creamy layer do not
want to uplift the poor. They want
to uplift themselves to the level of
the rich Forward Castes. To hell
with the poor backwards, they should
be ignored, they are backwards you
know. Good, selfish logic!!!
However, can you leave behind a
massive chunk of the population in
the dark, corner all benefits and
think they will not notice? The FCs
tried it and it did not work. It
will not work for the Super Forward
Castes (the creamy layer) too. Their
development and the resultant
affluence is not hidden to the
downtrodden. I can see it emerging
as a solid political plank for
shrewd politicians of the future. A
plank like the one which catapulted
the present day "creamy layer netas"
to power. It is only a matter of
time before new netas of the poor
emerge, educate and enflame the
masses against the creamy layer,
redraw the lines and very soon the
creamy layer will find itself
sitting with the FCs, fretting and
fuming. If the creamy layer thinks
their present day netas will protect
them, it is a mirage. The new netas
will have the support of the vast
majority of poor and will easily
make the present day "creamy layer
netas" look irrelevant. That day
even the today's creamy layer, which
is so vociferous in its support for
reservation, will start thinking
logically.
Can we be logical today and force
our politicians to educate our poor
so that we all develop together to
make a safe, balanced society or
will we allow ourselves to be fooled
by vote hungry politicians who are
busy cornering power to get richer
with every passing day and who care
two hoots for what happens to India
and its society.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF and there is
no sane reason why, in the not very
distant future, the creamy layer of
today will go the very same way the
Forward Castes went. How long can
your surname protect your interests?
- Rajesh Chaubey - May
8, 2006 |
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