Outlook – July 20, 2019

reservation

The Maratha reservation verdict stokes fears of the dilution of affirmative action against the caste system

Quotas Against the Quota System

by Preetha Nair

n

early three decades after

PM V.P. Singh tabled the Man-

dal Commission rep ort in Par-

liament, the debates over its

recommendations granting

27 per cent reservation to the

other backward classes (OBCs) are

only getting louder. The violent anti-

Mandal protests that rocked the

country in the summer of 1990

changed the course of Indian politics

and further muddled the complexi-

ties of caste. Since then, the purpose

of affirmative action—to end centu-

ries of caste discrimination—has

been consistently diluted with vari-

ous politically dominant groups dem-

anding preferential treatment desp-

ite having always opposed it in the

case of those who need it the most.

Now, two recent development threa-

ten to stir the caste cauldron—the

Bombay High Court judgment on

Maratha reservation and Uttar Pra-

desh government’s move to bring 17

OBC communities under the sched-

uled caste (SC) category.

The Bombay High Court’s order of

granting 12 per cent quota in jobs and

13 per cent in education for Marathas,

who comprise a third of Maharashtra’s

population, have thrown up questions

on several constitutional issues. Many

lawyers argue that the inclusion of

influ ential Marathas into the ‘socially

and educationally backward commu­

nities’ (SEBC) may unsettle the funda­

mental premises of reservation policies.

Calling the judgment unconstitutional,

senior Supreme Court lawyer Shekhar

Nap hade says it breaches the 50 per

cent ceiling on reservation fixed by the

apex court. The Supreme Court had

put a 50 per cent cap on reservations

in its landmark judgment in the 1992

Indira Sawhney case, also known as the

16 OutlOOk 22 July 2019