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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SABBAVARAM, VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA.

PROJECT TITLE :

CASTE RESERVATION IN INDIA

SUBJECT:

POLITICAL SCIENCE - I

NAME OF THE FACULTY:

Ms. T.V.NIRMALA DEVI

NAME OF THE STUDENT:

DISHA CHATURVEDI

ROLL NO.:

2019094
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would sincerely like to put forward my heartfelt appreciation to our respected Political

Science professor, Prof. T. Nirmala Devi for giving me a golden opportunity to take up this

project regarding ― CASTE RESERVATION IN INDIA. I have tried my best to collect

information about the project in various possible ways to depict clear picture about the given

project topic.
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CONTENTS

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………. ………4

2. Caste………………………………………………………………………….5

3. History of Reservation in India ………………………………………………6

4. Committees and Commissions on issues of reservation………………………7

5. Advantages and disadvantages of reservation in India………………………..8-9

6. Beneficiary groups of Reservation…………………………………………….9-11

7. What the Constitution says about reservation provision………………………12

8. Judicial Interpretation………………………………………………………….12-14

9. Consequences of Reservation …………………………………………………16-17

10. Can merit replace caste?......................................................................................18

11. Suggestions …………………………………………………………………….19

12. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………….20

13. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….21
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INTRODUCTION

India is a huge country with a massive population of over 1.2 billion

people residing in it. It comprises of people from different ethnicity and religion. There is

also a rigid caste system prevailing in the country. We live in a free country and this freedom

is a gift of democracy to us. Our constitution gives us the right to freedom and most

importantly to exercise this freedom in an equitable manner. At the same time it is incumbent

on the part of the state to ensure that equality prevails in all sections of the society. However

in today’s time one of the major roadblocks to this equality is the Reservation System.

India being a developing nation is currently facing many challenges and the

reservation system being one of them. The biggest question that lies in front of us is whether

implementing this reservation system has really helped the downtrodden? The current

scenario clearly depicts that the ‘lower’ castes are still discriminated in their daily lives. To

uproot casteism it is important that we fight the reservation system which alone will lead us

to development, competency, equality and unity. Firstly we need to understand that the

reservation system only divides the society leading to discrimination and conflicts between

different sections. It is oppressive and does not find its basis in casteism. It is actually the

antithesis of a communal living.

The main objective of the Indian reservation system is to increase the

opportunities for enhanced social and educational status (in the sense better than the

previous—until it becomes equal to that enjoyed by an average member of other

communities) of the underprivileged communities and, thus, enable them to take their rightful

place in the mainstream of Indian society.

MEANING OF RESERVATION
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Reservation in India is the process of allocating some percentage of seats

(vacancies) in government institutions like educational institutions, jobs for members of

backward and under-represented communities which are defined primarily by caste and tribe.

CASTE1

Caste system is defined by Sir Herbert Risely as “a collection of families, bearing

a common name, claiming a common descent, from a mythical ancestor, human and divine,

professing to follow the same hereditary calling and regarded by those who are competent to

give opinion as forming a single homogeneous community . Caste leads to a hierarchical

division of society. A sense of highness and lowness is associated with the gradation or

ranking. The Brahmins are usually regarded as pure, while the Harijans are regarded as

untouchables as they fall in the lower position in the gradation. The status of an individual is

determined by his birth and not by a person’s individual achievement. The membership of the

caste is therefore unchangeable, unacquirable, non-transferable and unattainable. Each caste

has its own set of customs, traditions, and occupations.

The reservation system finds its origin in the age-old caste system of India. The

caste system at its birth was meant to divide people on the basis of their occupation like

teaching and preaching (Brahmins), kingship and war (Kshatriya) and lastly business(vaish)

etc. but soon it became an instrument to divide the society on caste-basis, creating various

walls between different sections of the society. Today we stand divided widely into Hindu,

Muslim, SC, ST & OBCs with newer reservations coming up for other different sections of

the society like Christians, Kashmiris, Jats, Kashmiri Pandits, Tribals etc.

HISTORY OF RESERVATION IN INDIA2

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The idea of caste based reservation system was envisioned by William Hunter and

Jyotirao Phule in various forms in 1882.The Hunter Commission was appointed. Phule made

a demand of free and compulsory education for all along with proportionate representation in

government jobs.The Hunter Commission was implemented by the Maharaja of Kolhapur in

Maharashtra , Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj in 1902.He introduced reservation in support of

backward classes to wipe out poor quality of their life by providing them opportunity in the

state government.He was the first king in India to implement Reservation Policy.

After India obtained Independence, Dr.Ambedkar was appointed chairman of the

drafting committee for Indian Constitution. The idea was that a vast majority of the poor were

from a very small caste group and they needed a social net so that they can be accommodated

into society as full fledged members. It is important to note that this part of the reservation

was for electoral rights first (to guarantee political representation - Poona Act ‘35) and a

education/job rights issue second. Also note that education was made free in these early

attempts so that poverty does not hinder their education by these early efforts. If not for

Dr.Ambedkar's efforts, even this would not have come through during Independence.

Ambedkar remains an icon for minority causes even today and is revered because of this.

In 1990 Mandal commission recommendations were implemented by Vishwanath

Pratap Singh that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for the historically

disadvantaged classes of the society. It provoked nationwide public wrath in 1990.At present

we have a reservation system with a percentage distribution of

Scheduled Castes – 15% Other Backward Classes (OBC) – 27%

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Scheduled Tribes – 7.5% Total reservation – 49.5%

General (Open to all including SC/ST and OBC) – 50.5%

COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS ON ISSUES OF RESERVATION:3

a. 1882 – Hunter Commission was appointed. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule made a demand of

free and compulsory education for all along with proportionate reservation/representation in

government jobs.

b. 1953-Kalelkar Commission was established to assess the situation of the socially and

educationally backward class. The report was accepted as far as Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes were concerned. The recommendations for OBC’s were rejected.

c. 1979-Mandal Commission was established to assess the situation of the socially and

educationally backward. The commission didn’t have exact figures for a sub-caste, known as

the Other Backward Class (OBC), and used the 1930 census data, further classifying 1,257

communities as backward, to estimate the OBC population at 52%.ln 1980, the commission

submitted a report, and recommended changes to the existing quotas, increasing them from

22% to 49.5%.ln 1990, the Mandal commission recommendations were implemented in

Government Jobs by Vishwanath Pratap Singh. Student Organisations launched nationwide

agitations. Rajiv Goswami, a Delhi university student attempted self-immolation. Many

students followed suit.

d. 2003- The Sachar Committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, and including Sayyid

Hamid, Dr. T.K. Ooman, M.A. Basith, Dr.Akhtar Majeed, Dr.Abu Saleh Shariff and

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Dr.Rakesh Basant was appointed for preparation of a report on the social, economic and

educational status of the Muslim community of India. Dr.Syed Zafar Mahmood was the civil

servant appointed by the PM as Officer on Special Duty to the Committee. The committee

submitted its report in the year 2006.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS –
st
1. 1 amendment1951- To Article 15 of the Constitution, the following clause shall be
added: "Nothing in this Article or in clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the State
from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and
educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes.
2. 65th amendment 1990 - There shall be a Commission for the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes to be known as the National Commission for the 143 Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes.
3. 77th amendment 1995- Amendment of Article 16, Nothing in this Article shall prevent the
State from making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or
classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the
services under the State."
4. 82nd amendment 2000- In Article 335 of the Constitution, the following proviso shall be
inserted at the end, namely: “Provided that nothing in this Article shall prevent in making of
any provision in favour of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the 147 Scheduled
Tribes for relaxation in qualifying marks in any examination or lowering the standards of
evaluation, for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of services or
posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State.
5. 93rd amendment 2005- allows the government to make special provisions for
"advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens",
including their admission in aided or unaided private educational institutions.
6. 103rd amendment 2019- introduces 10% reservation for economically weaker sections
of society for admission to Central Government-run educational institutions and private
educational institutions (except for minority educational institutions), and for employment
in Central Government jobs.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF RESERVATION SYSTEM IN INDIA4

Reservation is a form of affirmative action to uplift the status of socially and economically

backward communities in India.

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Advantages:-

1. Increase in no. of people from backward sections in various decision making

i.e.,Increase in representation from different sections of society.

2. It has helped some people from backward sections to

achieve higherposts or services in the public sector as well as in some private

institutions.

3. It has encouraged the people to fight for the justice whenever there is violation of

their human rights.

4. Meritocracy is meaningless without equality. First of all people must be brought to

the same level whether it elevates a section or decelerates another regardless of

merit.

5. Reservation has slowed down the process of forward becoming richer and

backward becoming poorer

Disadvantages:-

1. It is a form of ethnic discrimination.It’s working as a barrier for inter-caste

marriages.

2. It’s a biggest enemy of meritocracy.It’s resulting into the degradation of quality of

students and workers enrolled in different institutions.

3. It’s propagating notion of caste based society instead of eliminating it.

4. Poor people from forward castes don’t have any social or economic advantage over

rich people from backward caste. If this prevails ,it may result into the formation of

another backward caste of people belonging from poor people of forward caste.
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5. Beneficiaries of reservation are largely from dominant class in backward castes.

Marginalised section still remains marginalised.

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION SAYS ABOUT RESERVATION PROVISION5

India’s constitution guarantees “equal rights.”

Article 14 says that “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the
equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”

Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste,
sex, place of birth, etc.

Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, etc.

At the same time, the constitution provides for a “reservation system.”

Article 46 says “The state shall promote with special care the education and economic
interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular of the scheduled castes and
the scheduled tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of
exploitation.”

India’s reservation system contradicts it’s own constitution’s promise of “equal rights”

JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION6

Whereas it is true that 60 years ago almost all the families of certain communities were
backward but presently backwardness and poverty are not restricted to communities. Mandate

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provided by express words of Constitution through Article 16,46 and 335 has been
ignored.There were many suits filed because of this policy.Some of them were

1)M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore, AIR 1963 SC 649.

2)T. Devdasan v. Union of India, AIR 1964 SC 179.

3)State of Kerala v. N.M. Thomas, AIR 1976 SC 490.

4)A.B.S.K. Sangh v. Union of India, AIR 1981 SC 298.

5)M.Nagaraj v. Union of India, (2006)8 SCC 212.

In a fee disparity case “D.P. Joshi Vs State of Madhya Bharat” (AIR 1955 SC 334), No
capitation fee was collected for bonafide resident of M.B students and all other students who
were not having domicile of Madhya Bharat were charged capitation fees which was Rs.
1300 for nominees and Rs. 1500 for other state students.This rule was violative of Art. 14
and 15. S.C held that this rule was not discriminatory.

Article 15(4) of our constitution empowers the government to make special provisions for
advancement of backward classes. Similarly Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity
in matters of employment or appointment to any post under the State.

“Clause 2 of article 16 lays down that no citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex,
descent, place of birth, residence or any of them be discriminated in respect of any
employment or office under the State.”

However clause 4 of the same article provides for an exception by conferring a certain kind
of power on the government:

“it empowers the state to make special provision for the reservation of appointments of posts
in favour of any backward class of citizens which in the opinion of the state are not
adequately represented in the services”

Thus two conditions have to be satisfied:

1) The class of citizens is backward

2) The said class is not adequately represented.
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In a case Balaji v/s State of Mysore (AIR 1963 SC649) it was held that ‘caste of a person
cannot be the sole criteria for ascertaining whether a particular caste is backward or not.
Determinants such as poverty, occupation, place of habitation may all be relevant factors to
be taken into consideration. The court further held that it does not mean that if once a caste is
considered to be backward it will continue to be backward for all other times. The
government should review the test and if a class reaches the state of progress where
reservation is not necessary it should delete that class from the list of backward classes.’

What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is a reservation-friendly constitution but

nowhere in the constitution is the term ‘backward classes defined. What actually constitutes a
backward class? What are the determinants of a backward class? These questions remain
unanswered and it is only with the help of judicial pronouncements that they have been given
some meaning. Question arises how can reservations be made for something that has not been
defined?

VOTE BANK POLITICS7

According to Article 334 of the Constitution lays down that the provisions of the
Constitution relating to the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes and the representation of the Anglo-Indian community by nomination in the House of
the People and the Legislative Assemblies of the States shall cease to have effect on the
expiration of the period of sixty years from the commencement of the Constitution. In other
words, these provisions will cease to have effect on the 25th January 2010, if not extended
further.

The Ninety-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The

Constitution (Ninety-fifth Amendment) Act, 2009, extended the period of reservation of seats
for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and representation of the Anglo Indians in the
Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies for another ten years, i.e. up to 26 January
2020.Article 334 of the Constitution had originally required the reservation of seats to cease
in 1960, but this was extended to 1970 by the 8th Amendment. The period of reservation was

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extended to 1980, 1990,2000 and 2010 by the 23rd, 45th, 62nd and 79th Amendments
respectively. The 95th Amendment extended the period of reservation to 2020.

The politicians are not ready to enforce this article strictly as it may result in a loss of vote
banks for them. The political laloos and babus think of the reservation policy mainly because
most of the upper-castes do not take real interest in the political process of voting. In view of
this either some-one else misuse their votes or the voting right is simply wasted.Thus their
votes depend on the middle and lower castes.No political party is ready to stop this system. In
simple words, this means that reservation is a bait to lure the consolidated votes of backward
classes whose numbers are too big to be ignored.

Our preamble of the Indian Constitution says that India is “sovereign,

socialist,secular,democratic,republic”,then how can the caste system prevail and consequently
reservations? Today,this evil system persists and plays a vital role in the society as the major
weapon for vote bank politics.The whole perspective of Mandal Commission regarding
reservations are gradually being extended and expanded to sections of people,demanding
reservations within reservations.The initial condition of reservation was acceptable since at
the time of Independence these SC/ST comm.
unities weaker and exploited,but after so many years of Independence the same criteria of
caste does not make sense.This has just been used as political puppet.It is purely for political
mileage.

I am not against a low caste/tribe individual taking good profession but as

professional education, only right candidate should move up. If one really evaluate the
requirements, the marks in exam reflects a student’s grit and determination in doing his
work/career. If admissions are to be done for lower marks, because of caste certificates, will
the system turn-out better dedicated doctors. Even in IITs, there are many candidates who
leave the curriculum in the middle since they could not withstand the arduous learning
process. In such a case why waste the opportunity of those who are really eligible for
professional studies.

No Indian youth, whatever be his caste, will be barred from entry on the basis of
merit, to any of our prestigious centers of learning if the Government seriously considers a
qualitative improvement right from the primary school stage. Let us go to the roots: once you
take care of the roots, the plant will be healthy and will have durable, intrinsic worth. Let the
Government take care of the child at the start and he or she can compete on his own terms.
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CONSEQUENCES OF RESERVATION8

• In the Higher Education institutes and Government Bodies reserved category people
are given the relaxations, which results in admission of people who have lower
aggregate percentage of marks both in academics & competitive exams.
• The Financial and social status of the reserved category people is increasing, and well
supported by the government.
• People mainly the students of various education institutes were started protesting
against the Mandal Commission in form of closed roads, highways, transportation
services, government services, schools, and businesses of India. About 150 students
were attempted self-immolation throughout India.
• The population of reserved category community has increased through the years since
1990, though the government still has not made any policy and official statistics of
Indian population based on caste, which are still pending to be released to the public.
The combined population of Indians is increasing as always.
• Several Unreserved or General category communities has started demanding
reservation for them, these communities which include (Gujars, Jats of State of
Haryana, Seers, etc.). Jats have got Backward status now despite being economically
and politically dominant in Haryana.
• Some philosophers believe that Indian has lost its pace for the development due to the
reservation in India, since more capable persons were not offered the places which
they deserved on the bases of acts done in past.

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• Some think that reservation in India is not good for society since the people were still
remain divided among themselves due to the increase and decrease of Financial and
Social status in the society.
• Reservation policy which was designed to be a temporary support has turned out to be
permanent crutches and is the biggest obstacle in achieving the cherished goal of
equality.
• There are people from other communities who are deprived of jobs despite of the
merit and qualifications they possess. They might not be economically or socially
well off. In such a scenario, what is the fate of the Constitutional guarantees provided
to them. How long can they be deprived of their rights in order to promote the
interests of other communities.
• Caste disparities which were forgotten in the struggle for Independence came back
with a bang due to reservation policy, judgments of the Supreme Court and the reports
of the various Commissions This policy has strengthened the caste system instead of
removing the inequalities prevalent in the society due to the caste system.
• People strive to be declared as backward just to avail the benefits of the reservation
policies. So, instead of promoting equality it has started a new battle between
various communities to be declared as backward and to avail the endless benefits
which follow
• Also the reservation system in India is creating a workforce which is not capable
enough to compete at the global level. India needs people for growth and development
but reservation is adding undeserving candidates as well. So I think reservation
system should be demolished and if the government really wants to uplift the
underprivileged sections of the society then a well-balanced policies should be
formulated.
• People have started misusing it. There are many examples of people making false
documents just to get a seat in a college or a job. This leaves the more eligible
candidate to give their seat to a person belonging to a reserve category.
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CAN MERIT REPLACE CASTE?9

When we think of a an alternative to the caste based reservation system, merit pops
up in our mind. Today when a student applies for an admission in any university, the
admission forms are filled with questions like ‘Are you SC/ST or OBC or General Category?’
How does it matter which category does he belong to, what matters is his merit. A category
cannot decide whether he is eligible for admission or not. There many economically worse
off children belonging to the forward classes but they cannot get the fruits of such reservation
merely by virtue of belonging to the ‘general’ category. Sometimes these children belonging
to the backward classes do not even deserve and still possess the necessary merit as against a
child who studied very hard for months to get a seat, thereby snatching away that seat just
because he comes from a particular religion or caste for which our government provides
reservation. Many students don’t make it to the institutes because of the economic reasons
and those who do not fall in the reservation criteria don not get a fair opportunity too.

But for a person to achieve merit he needs to be educated properly.But most of the
classes do not have the financial aid to get educated properly. The boys and girls who reach
the top have not become brilliant overnight; the foundation of the legend power of these
extraordinary brilliant students would have been laid right from the primary school
stage.Years of sustained effort could alone raise them to the pinnacles of excellence.

Can the government provide such kind of education right from below for every citizen — the
SCs, STs backward classes, other backward classes and bulk of the poor among the so called
‘forward communities’? Then there will be no need for any reservation.

Thus caste should be replaced by the financial status of the people and not by merit.

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SUGGESTIONS

To remove this evil it suggested the following:

1. Reservation benefits should be given only in education fields but not in getting
jobs.
2. Propose reservation based on economic status

Instead of introducing reservations for these backward classes what is required is to

bring about revolutionary changes in our education system at the grass-root level. When
proper education is not provided to children belonging to such categories during the primary
stage itself then on what basis are the reservations provided at a subsequent stage.

Reservations on the basis of caste and not on the basis of condition are bad and
unacceptable. Fair and just reservations to uplift the people with poor conditions of life, those
who don’t have meals to eat, clothes to wear and no home to live in. They shall be made on
the basis of factors such as gender as women are more disadvantaged than men since
primitive times, domicile, family education, family employment, family property, family
income and if any disabilities and traumas. The process of reservation should be such that it
filters the truly economically deprived individuals and bring them all to justice.

We don’t need reservations based on castes or religion but only to actually provide
aid to those who have minimal resources; and merit should be given equal and due
importance in admission procedures as well employment opportunities. This way we would
be successful in removing caste discrimination and unite the economically rich together in
helping the economically poor, irrespective of their castes.
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Avoidance of fragmentary approach within our country and focus on merit- based
selection constitutes definite advantage of this approach is also suggested. Emphasis should
be given to uniform primary and secondary education so that groups underrepresented in
higher education institutes and workplaces become natural competitors. Government should
announce long term plan to phase out regional reservation.

CONCLUSION

The issue of reservation has remained a cause of disagreement between the reserved and the

non- reserved sections of the society. While the unreserved segments, keep on opposing the

provision, the neediest sections from within the reserved segments are hardly aware about

how to get benefited from the provision or even whether there are such provisions.

On the contrary, the creamy layer among the same segment is enjoying special privileges in

the name of reservation and political factions are supporting them for vote banks. Reservation

is no doubt good, as far as it is a method of appropriate positive discrimination for the benefit

of the downtrodden and economically backward Sections o, the society but when it tends to

harm the society and ensures privileges for some at the cost of others for narrow political

ends, as it is in the present form, it should be done away with, as soon possible.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTERNET SOURCES

www.wikipedia.com

http://www.shareyouressays.com/

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/

http://edition.cnn.com/

http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com

www.westlaw.com

BOOK SOURCES

The Constitution of India , M.P.SINGH