Outlook – July 20, 2019

reservation

GuJJars rajasthan

sept 2006-May

2008 Protests

and violence

demanding

reservation

2015 Gujjars and other

communities given 5%

reservation through

the Special Backward

Class Act

2016 High court

quashes the

order

February 13, 2019

assembly passes a bill giving 5%

quota to Gujjars. It’s being challenged in the s

C.

august 28,

(^2015)
Widespread
violence during
state-wide
protests
July 2016
High court
quashes the
government
July 2019 order
Patel demands survey after Maratha
reservation verdict
“Revisiting the reservation policy is the
dream of the dominant castes who
would like to go back to the pre­Ambed­
kar and pre­Mandal days. The purpose
of reservation along with other welfare
measures was to bring the sidelined
groups into the mainstream by ending
socio­political marginalisation. It
has not been implemented properly,
but here we are saying that it’s time
to rethink the policy itself,” says
Krishnan, who was also a member­
secretary of the National Commission
for Backward Classes.
a
LONG with the Mara­
thas and the Gujjars,
the high court order is
expected to bolster the
demand of Jats in Haryana
for OBC status with 10 per
cent reservation in jobs and
education. For over a decade,
the politically influential
community comprising 30
per cent of the state’s popu­
lation has been on the war path for a
quota. The large­scale violence and
agitation prompted Haryana to enact a
law in 2016, providing 10 per cent res­
ervation to Jats and five other commu­
nities. Though the Punjab and Haryana
High Court upheld the reservation in
2017, it stayed the order until 2018.
On the validity of the claim made by
the agitating communities about their
backwardness, Sanjay Kumar of the
Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies (CSDS) in Delhi says the
socio­ economic indicators suggest that
the Patels, Marathas and Jats are as
aff uent as the elite castes in their res­
pective states. Citing an analysis of a
CSDS survey in 2018, he says, “The
Marathas, Jats and Patels cannot be
termed as backward like the Dalits, adi­
vasis and OBCs. Their aggressive dem­
and for reservation or inclusion in the
OBC list could be a result of agrarian
distress experienced by these farming
communities and the desire for a secure
income from government jobs.”
The reverberations of the Bombay
High Court order are felt in the south
too. The politically influential Kapus of
Andhra Pradesh, also known as Balija,
Ontari and Telaga in various parts of the
state, had been enjoying reservations
since 1915 during British rule. “After
independence, the rulers conspired to
take away the reservation,” says Kapu
leader and former minister Mudragada
Padmanabham. “It’s time for the Centre
and the state governments to take an­
other look at all reservations and
convince the Supreme Court.”
As the Supreme Court is yet to pro­
nounce its verdict on EWS
and Maratha reservation,
one can expect more com­
munities jumping onto
the quota bandwagon.
Res ervation experts point
out that the identification
of backward communities
turns out to be a tough task
without proper data. The
Centre is yet to publish
the socio­ economic caste
census conducted in 2011.
“No census on the socially backward was
published after 1931,” says Krishnan.
Now that the BJP government is going
ahead with a plan to count the OBCs in
the 2021 census, the community leaders
are just waiting for the new figures to de­
mand their share of the pie—reservation
in proportion to their population. O
with inputs from M.S. Shanker
in Hyderabad
Jats haryana
March 2008-
Violence and rail
blockades led by
the All India
Jat Arakshan
Sangharsh Samiti
March 2014
Centre
grants OBC
status to
Jats
March 2015
Supreme
Court stays
the order
2016 State
enacts law
to give 10%
reservation
to Jats
september 2017 Punjab and haryana hC
stays the law until 2018, case pending
PatIdars Gujarat
October
(^2015) Police
arrest
Hardik Patel
on sedition
charges
april 2016 State
government
declares 10 per
cent reservation
for EWS,
including Patels
18 OutlOOk 22 July 2019