Principle of Compensatory Discrimination

Compensatory Discrimination is a term coined for the policy or programs that give preference to
a group or groups of people with a stated goal of countering and compensating the past or ongoing
atrocities, excesses, injustice, or discrimination of any sort against them. This measure has been
adopted for uplifting the weaker sections of society by several countries including India, the USA,
Belgium, Brazil, and even China. In the USA, it is called Affirmative Action. A direct application
of compensatory discrimination can be seen in the reservation of seats in educational institutions,
the reservation of vacancies in public service, and the preference for such groups in government
contracts.
Purpose
For a society as a whole to grow it is necessary that every section of the society take part in the
development of the society. At the same time, every section should also receive the benefits of the
growth. A society can never grow if several sections of society are repressed or exploited. Every
section of society should get a sense of hope that they have a better future ahead. Further, it is also
true that historically several sections of our society have been discriminated against and there
exists a prejudice against them in the socially uplifted sections. To bring such downtrodden
sections of the society to the same or comparable level, the society as a whole must take special
efforts and measures, which is exactly what the purpose of compensatory discrimination is.
Another important objective of compensatory discrimination is the reduction in social
discrimination existing in the minds of people to the extent that the elite of the society reflects
every section of the society comparably thereby bringing about the end of compensatory
discrimination itself.
Logic Behind Compensatory Discrimination
It is often said that meritocracy alone should be the factor in determining the social progress of a
country. However, there are several problems with meritocracy as mentioned below:
1. It does not take into account the social capital already accumulated by the classes that have
historically been socially powerful. How can a person whose family has been suppressed
for thousands of years compete with a person who always had the best of the resources
available to his disposal?
2. The measurement of merit itself may be biased because of past prejudices.
3. Acquisition of merits such as good education and past experience itself is difficult for such
sections because of discriminatory practices of the past.
4. People tend to hire people who are from similar backgrounds, which puts the weaker
classes at a disadvantage.
The only solution to this problem is to help them to reach a stage where they can compete with
everybody on an equal footing.
Judgements:
In the case of N M Thomas vs the State of Kerala, the Supreme Court has held that Article 16(4)
which is a prime source of compensatory discrimination, is not an exception to Article 16(1) but
only an instance of classification. It further held that reservation can be done even without Article
16(4) and under Article 14 which permits reasonable classification.
In Mohan Kumar Singhania v. Union of India explaining the nature of Article 16(4) the Supreme
Court has stated that it is an enabling provision conferring a discretionary power on the state for
making any provision or reservation of any backward class of citizens which in the opinion of the
state is not adequately represented in the service of the state. Article 16(4) neither imposes any
constitutional duty nor confers any Fundamental Right on any one for claiming reservation. The
state government takes the total population of the backward class and their representation in the
state services and after doing the necessary exercise makes the reservation and provides the
percentage of reservation for the posts, then the percentage has to be followed strictly.