Events & Issues
New Delhi, 14 January
2021
Welfare Corps For Sub-Castes
A PATTERN IN CONFUSION
By Dr S. Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
The Andhra Pradesh
Government has recently decided to set up 56 separate corporations for
sub-castes within the officially recognised Backward Classes. Chief Minister
Jagan Mohan Reddy is openly joyous over this decision which is “revolutionary”
in his perception. He expects that it will help emergence of young leaders from
small and marginal communities. They are now submerged in the bigger common
category called Backward Classes distinct from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes and officially designated Other Backward Classes (OBC) which is
estimated to be about 49.55 % of the State population.
The Chief Minister has
the satisfaction of fulfilling a promise he made to these castes in 2010. He
says that BC does not stand for Backward Classes, but for “Backbone Classes” --
a description which denotes their strength, stability, and courage to sustain the
entire society.
So long, there was
only one Backward Classes Welfare Corporation for all backward castes which number
139 in AP. This is different from the National Backward Classes Finance and
Development Corporation, a Government of India undertaking under the Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment to promote economic and development
activities for the benefit of the entire BWC and specifically to provide
employment, develop skills, and arrange loans for individuals and groups of
BWC.
The castes selected
for separate corporations have a population of 30,000 and above. Each
corporation, headed by a chairperson assisted by 12 directors is to bring together
their caste members for mutual welfare and development. The move will have the
effect of dividing sub-castes and uniting members within each of them.
The corporations are
entrusted with the main function of identifying eligible “beneficiaries” for various BWC welfare programmes. They are
classified in AP in five categories according to the degree of backwardness of
the caste as A,B,C,D, and E. Group C comprises SC converts to Christianity, and Group E socially,
economically, and educationally backward Muslims thus conferring backward class
status to specific religious minority groups.
Evolution of the
caste system in India is one of the most interesting sociological phenomenon in
India. Fusion and fission are normal in the system. But, political intervention
in organising and re-organising the units of this institution is cover a
century old story starting in anticipation of a democratic self-government.
Separate welfare
corporations are like reservation within reservation (also called compartmental
system) and quota system, arising out of the reality that castes are not and
cannot be made homogeneous groups. Social, economic, educational differences
even within individual sub- castes in many cases are as wide as between main
castes. Groupings like SC, ST, and OBC
are less likely to present a homogeneous group on any plane – social, economic,
educational, etc. – and are made only as a convenient method to execute the
policy of social justice and empowerment. Hence, there is no surprise that
individual castes within the BC want their individual progress also given the
fact that caste and then sub-caste consciousness are alive and active.
However, courts have
not conceded the reality of inequalities within SC and BWC easily. A court
ruling given in 2004 declared that SCs are constitutionally “homogeneous”. A legislation passed in AP reorganising 57
SCs into four sub-groups and to split 15% quota of the SCs among them became
invalid. The law was based on the recommendation of a commission set up by the
State Government, and the court order was based on the constitutional position
of the listing of the SCs under Article 341 that cannot be modified by a State
law.
Vanniars of Tamil
Nadu, whose untiring efforts led to the breaking up of the Backward Classes as
BW and MBC (Most Backward Classes) and recognition of the MBC as a separate
group in all-India policy, are now seeking separate quota for Vanniars in
government jobs and educational institutions.
They demand larger quota exclusively for Vanniars in the 20% seats
reserved for MBC which comprises 41 castes. They themselves include over 100
sub-castes. Their leader, who is the founder and leader of Pattali Makkal
Katchi (PMK) has issued an ultimatum to the AIADMK government virtually
threatening to review their electoral alliance with the AIADMK if their demand is not conceded before the
Budget Session.
Political interests
involved in the Backward Classes movements are openly working in all the
States. Jats in Rajasthan, Marathas in Maharashtra, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh,
for example, are leading political caste agitations over quota system.
De-notified Communities
(DNC) which are also covered under the MBC in TN are seriously perturbed over
the Vanniyar demand and has warned the government of serious backlash if
Vanniar demand were to be met. “Southern districts will literally burn if the
reservation for Vanniars is declared without caste-based census”, said a leader
of a DNC and former member of All India Forward Bloc. No more proof is required
to establish that MBC and BC are as much caste-ridden as the population as a
whole. DNCs obviously cannot accept
conceding major part of MBC share to one caste.
The Government of
Tamil Nadu has gone forward in this
backward politics and set up a commission under a retired judge to collect
caste-wise quantifiable data on castes, communities, and tribes as part of
the political necessity of the ruling
party to reiterate its commitment to “set right disparities” between castes and
sub-castes.
Confusion prevails as
two different certificates are issued – Denotified Communities by the State
Government and Denotified Tribes (comprising those designated as “criminal
tribes” by the British government) by the Union Government.
Within the BC,
attempts at both integration and disintegration have worked all along. One of
the latest is the announcement of TN government declaring seven sub-sects as Devendrakula Vellalar community.
The need for
sub-categorisation cropped up within the Scheduled Castes also. In AP, Bihar,
Punjab, and Tamil Nadu special quotas are introduced for the most vulnerable
among the SC. In 2007, Bihar Government set up the Mahadalit Commission to
identify castes within SCs that were left behind.
Existence of “creamy
layer” within the SCs was acknowledged by the Supreme Court in 2018. In August 2020, a 5-judge Bench of the Supreme Court held that
States can sub-classify SCs and STs in
the Central List to provide preferential treatment to the “weakest out of the
weak” while hearing the case of reservation within SCs for Balmikis and Mazhabi
Sikhs in Punjab. This reversed the
ruling of 2004.
Justice Rohini
Commission was set up by the Government of India in October 2017 to examine the
question of sub-categorisation of OBC so as to ensure due benefits to marginalised
sub-castes. Graded inequalities within the BWC were seen to justify graded
approach in fixing separate quota. The Commission is to submit its report this
month.
The above brief
survey of Quota Raj, though confusing, shows a pattern. Individual castes form
amalgamations to show numerical strength and demand adequate representation in
public offices, etc. When their demands are met, they split due to internal
disparities and seek quota within quota. The process will go on and groups will
multiply unless we give up playing caste politics.----INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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