In 1963, the Supreme Court of India ruled that total reservations could not exceed 50%.

Setting up of Mandal Commission

Criteria to identify OBC

Social

1. Castes/classes considered as socially backward by others.
2. Castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labour for their livelihood.
3. Castes/classes where at least 25 per cent females and 10 per cent males above the state average get married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least 10 per cent females and 5 per cent males do so in urban areas.
4. Castes/classes where participation of females in work is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

Educational

1. Castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5-15 years who never attended school is at least 25 per cent above the state average.
2. Castes/classes where the rate of student drop-out in the age group of 5-15 years is at least 25 per cent above the state average.
3. Castes/classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25 per cent below the state average.

Economic

1. Castes/classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25 per cent below the state average.
2. Castes/classes where the number of families living in kuccha houses is at least 25 per cent above the state average.
3. Castes/classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half a kilometer for more than 50 per cent of the households.
4. Castes/classes where the number of households having taken consumption loans is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

Weightage

Findings and report

The commission estimated that 54% of the total population (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities were ‘backward’. Figures of caste-wise population are not available beyond 1931. So the commission used 1931 census data to calculate the number of OBCs. The population of Hindu OBCs was derived by subtracting from the total population of Hindus, the population of SC and ST and that of forward Hindu castes and communities, and it worked out to be 52 per cent. Assuming that roughly the proportion of OBCs amongst non-Hindus was of the same order as amongst the Hindus, population of non-Hindu OBCs was also considered as 52 per cent.

Recommendations

The recommendations can be represented in a gist form as follows:

The population of OBCs which includes both Hindus and non-Hindus is around 52 per cent of the total population. However only 27 per cent of reservation was recommended owing to the legal constraint that the total quantum of reservation should not exceed 50 percent. States which have already introduced reservation for OBC exceeding 27 per cent will not be affected by this recommendation. With this general recommendation the commission proposed the following over-all scheme of reservation for OBC:

1. Candidates belonging to OBC recruited on the basis of merit in an open competition should not be adjusted against their reservation quota of 27 per cent.
2. The above reservation should also be made applicable to promotion quota at all levels.
3. Reserved quota remaining unfilled should be carried forward for a period of three years and de-reserved thereafter.
4. Relaxation in the upper age limit for direct recruitment should be extended to the candidates of OBC in the same manner as done in the case of SCs and STs.
5. A roster system for each category of posts should be adopted by the concerned authorities in the same manner as presently done in respect of SC and ST candidates.

These recommendations in total are applicable to all recruitment to public sector undertakings both under the central and state governments, as also to nationalised banks. All private sector undertakings which have received financial assistance from the government in one form or other should also be obliged to recruit personnel on the aforesaid basis. All universities and affiliated colleges should also be covered by the above scheme of reservation. Although education is considered an important factor to bring a desired social change, "educational reform" was not within the terms of reference of this commission. To promote literacy the following measures were suggested:

1. An intensive time-bound programme for adult education should be launched in selected pockets with high concentration of OBC population;
2. Residential schools should be set up in these areas for backward class students to provide a climate specially conducive to serious studies. All facilities in these schools including board and lodging should be provided free of cost to attract students from poor and backward homes;
3. Separate hostels for OBC students with above facilities will have to be provided;
4. Vocational training was considered imperative.
5. It was recommended that seats should be reserved for OBC students in all scientific, technical and professional institutions run by the central as well as state governments. The quantum of reservation should be the same as in the government services, i e, 27 per cent.

Protest

Modern Impacts

Due to the reservation policy, there has been an increase in the number of so called Forward Caste
people leaving India to countries with equal oppurtunities.

Debate

Arguments in favor

• Reservations are all about representation. A group or groups deserve reservation if their representation in the mainstream - in education and jobs - is disproportionately less than its population. Positive discrimination gets moral justification if this lack of representation is due to historical reasons of caste stratification.
• Govt should open Kendriya Vidyalaya / Navodaya Vidyalaya quality school all over India to create a level playing field, till the it should continue with reservation policy.
• Govt should stop private Medical colleges from imparting PG courses.
• Govt should introduce reservation in jobs for Muslims as their candidature is rejected at resume shortlisting/interview level and only brilliant Muslims (like President APJ Abdul Kalam, Azim Premji etc) are able to clear this invisible hurdle (there are Muslims in corporate world as well but one can notice that they are equally competent)
• Govt should introduce reservation in private sector for Dalits/MBC's as well otherwise their candidature is rejected at interview.
• If not formal reservation in private sector for Dalits/MBC/Muslims then govt should extend incentives like reduced taxes to private sector.
• Govt should notice that private sector only puts dilution of quality of high tech jobs but there are ample unskilled/semiskilled jobs as well but even those have inadequate Dalit/Muslim/MBC representation.
• Govt should create a law to do away with near 100% Brahmin reservation in post of Temple Pujari, post of Sankaracharya (which is not a law, however, but observed due to religious bias).

Supporters of the Mandal Commission argue that national unity should be on the basis of justice for all castes, and that both traditional varnashram and post-independence Congress Raj had worked only to the benefit of brahmins and other privileged minorities. They also argue that reservations are essential to the uplift and empowerment of people from less privileged castes.

Here it must be kept in mind that, Reservation as we see it today, was not what the dalits of India wanted. The Simon Commission had agreed to the "Separate Electorate" demand of Dr. Ambedkar. Mahatma Gandhi in protest decided to fast unto death because he was of the view, that this will create further divisions between the untouchables and upper cast Hindus.

Reservation was agreed upon by Dr. Ambedkar in the Poona Pact. However Dr. Ambedkar felt that reservations should exist only for a fixed period of time, namely 10 years after independence.

Opposition

• . . .that allocating quotas on the basis of caste is a form of racial discrimination which is contrary to the right to equality.
• . . . that as a consequence, legislation for providing reservation for Christians and Muslim religious minorities in all government education institutions will be introduced Quota for Tamil Nadu religious minorities, which is contrary to the ideas of secularism, and is a form of discrimination on the basis of religion.
• . . .that most often, only the economically sound people (and rather rich) from the so-called lower castes will make use of most of the reserved the seats, thus making the aim a total failure. Political parties know reservations are no way to improve the lot of the poor and the backward. They support them because of self-interest of the “creamy layer”, who use the reservations to further their own family interests, and as a political flag of ‘achievement’ during election campaigns. In fact, several studies show that the OBC class is quite comparable with the general caste in terms of annual per capita consumption expenditure, and the top strata of OBC is ahead in a host of consumption areas.
• . . .that the quality of these elite institutes may go down, because merit is severely being compromised by reserving seats for certain caste-based communities.
• . . .that there are no efforts made to give proper primary education to really deprived classes, so there is no need to reserve seats for higher studies. The government schools in India have absolutely no comparison to the public schools in the developed countries, and only about 65% of the Indian polupation is literate, the functional literacy being estimated to be even as low as only 34% of the population. The critics argue that "reservation" only in higher institutions and jobs, without improving primary and secondary education, cannot solve this problem.
• . . .that the government is dividing people on the basis of castes for political advantages.
• . . .that this can also lead to prolonged reservation system indefinitely.
• . . .that, the caste system is kept alive through these measures. Instead of coming up with alternative innovative ideas which make sure equal representation at the same time making the caste system irrelevant, the decision is only fortifying the caste system.
• . . .that the autonomy of the educational institutes are lost.
• . . .that not everyone from the so-called upper class are rich, and not all from so called lower classes are poor.
• ...that this policy of the Congress will create a huge unrest in the Indian society. Providing quotas on the basis of caste and not on the basis of merit will deter the determination of many educated and deserving students of India.
• ...that this policy of the government will also increase the phenomenon of Brain Drain from India and the under graduates and graduates will start moving to foreign universities for higher education.This will be in such a case a great set back and will have the most devastating affects on Indian education and economy.
• ...that multi-national companies will be deterred by this action of the government,and foreign investment in India may dry down, hurting the growth of the Indian economy. Doubtless, urgent actions to improve the lot of the majority, which has not benefited from development — not achieved after 55 years of reservations for scheduled castes — are essential. But this must not hazard improving the economy’s competitiveness in a very competitive world.
• ... there are already talks of reservations in the private sector. If even after providing so many facilities to reserved categories during education, if there is no adequate representation of those people in the work force, there must be some problems with the education system. Unfortunately, in India government never seems to address real issues involved.

Critics of the Mandal Commission argue that it is unfair to accord people special privileges on the basis of caste, even in order to redress traditional caste discrimination. They argue that those that deserve the seat through merit will be at a disadvantage. They reflect on the repercussions of unqualified candidates assuming critical positions in society such as that of Doctors, engineers etc. As the debate on OBC reservaions spreads, a few interesting facts which raise pertinent question today. To begin with, do we have a clear idea what porportion of our population is OBC? According to the Mandal Commission (1980) it is 52 percent. According to 2001 census, out of India's population of 1,028,737,436 the Scheduled castes comprises 166,635,700 and Scheduled Tribe 84,326,240, that is 16.2% and 8.2% respectively. There is no data on OBCs in the census. However, according to National Sample Survey's 1999-2000 round around 36 per cent of the country's population is defined as belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The proportion falls to 32 per cent on excluding Muslim OBCs. A survey conducted in 1998 by National Family Health Statistics (NFHS) puts the proportion of non-Muslim OBCs as 29.8 per cent. The NSSO data also shows that already 23.5 per cent of college seats are occupied by OBCs. That's just 8.6 per cent short of their share of population according to the same survey. Other arguments include that entrenching the separate legal status of OBCs and SC/STs will perpetuate caste differentiation and encourage competition among communities at the expense of national unity. They believe that only a small new élite of educated Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs benefit from reservations, and that such measures do nothing to lift the mass of people out of backwardness and poverty.

Notes