The fracas over quota in promotions underscores a perennial reality – politicians hardly understand reservation in its true sense; and misuse it towards their political ends
Over the years, the issue of quota in government jobs and educational institutions (meant to bring marginalised sections to the mainstream) has only become more contentious and politically polarising with every passing day.
Contrary to its original idea, reservation has catered more to caste-based politics and politicians; helping secure their vote banks. For years together, politicians have used reservation as a bait to invoke emotions pertaining to communal or caste-based divisions & translate them into votes.
The government’s latest proposal seeks to implement reservations in promotion for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in government jobs with retrospective effect from June 1995. The bitter political battle over the Constitution Bill, 2012 (One Hundred Seventeenth Amendment), which provides for reservation to SCs/STs in job promotions, also saw a deeply divided Parliament. Cornered from all sides over the ‘Coalgate’ issue, the Congress had shown great intent to get the bill passed in Parliament. “We do want to pass the Bill. We also issued a whip to our members. We will try for the passage of the Bill again tomorrow. We are listing it again,” said Parliamentary Affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on September 5. The government’s hurry to push the Bill through in the monsoon session was also demonstrated when the Department of Personnel & Training prepared a note on September 3 for the cabinet meeting scheduled for the next day, and the Bill was introduced the day after. However, some interesting revelations cast a shadow of doubt on the party’s earnestness. Sources close to the development reveal that on September 21, the government referred the quota promotion bill to a parliamentary standing committee. This move, sources say, gives the Congress an opportunity to extend the ambit of the proposed move to include Other Backward Classes (OBCs) among the beneficiaries of the quota in promotions. There are two interesting points to note. First, OBCs comprise of the SP’s core vote bank and second, the decision to refer the bill to a standing committee came just hours after SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav pledged his support to the UPA government in order to keep ‘communal forces’ out of power!
Ironically, Mulayam’s SP had led the opposition to the Bill when it was introduced in Rajya Sabha. Just after Minister of State for Social Welfare V Narayansamy introduced the Bill, Naresh Aggarwal from the SP and Avtar Singh Karampuri from the BSP almost came to blows as they pushed each other. Mulayam had gone to great lengths to describe the bill as ‘unconstitutional’, and even vowed to continue opposition to it. “Juniors will become seniors. Is it some kind of a joke? Running the government has become a joke,” Mulayam said, adding that the move would create chaos in administration. Going by the current developments, one can only wonder what his next stand would be.
“There was indeed a cynical design behind the hastiness with which the UPA government introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill... The Congress sought to position itself as the champion of the rights of SCs and STs; apart from putting the BJP in the dock in a context where the principal opposition party was bent upon disrupting Parliament over the coal block allocation,” says political observer V. Krishna Ananth.
Over the years, the issue of quota in government jobs and educational institutions (meant to bring marginalised sections to the mainstream) has only become more contentious and politically polarising with every passing day.
Contrary to its original idea, reservation has catered more to caste-based politics and politicians; helping secure their vote banks. For years together, politicians have used reservation as a bait to invoke emotions pertaining to communal or caste-based divisions & translate them into votes.
The government’s latest proposal seeks to implement reservations in promotion for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in government jobs with retrospective effect from June 1995. The bitter political battle over the Constitution Bill, 2012 (One Hundred Seventeenth Amendment), which provides for reservation to SCs/STs in job promotions, also saw a deeply divided Parliament. Cornered from all sides over the ‘Coalgate’ issue, the Congress had shown great intent to get the bill passed in Parliament. “We do want to pass the Bill. We also issued a whip to our members. We will try for the passage of the Bill again tomorrow. We are listing it again,” said Parliamentary Affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on September 5. The government’s hurry to push the Bill through in the monsoon session was also demonstrated when the Department of Personnel & Training prepared a note on September 3 for the cabinet meeting scheduled for the next day, and the Bill was introduced the day after. However, some interesting revelations cast a shadow of doubt on the party’s earnestness. Sources close to the development reveal that on September 21, the government referred the quota promotion bill to a parliamentary standing committee. This move, sources say, gives the Congress an opportunity to extend the ambit of the proposed move to include Other Backward Classes (OBCs) among the beneficiaries of the quota in promotions. There are two interesting points to note. First, OBCs comprise of the SP’s core vote bank and second, the decision to refer the bill to a standing committee came just hours after SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav pledged his support to the UPA government in order to keep ‘communal forces’ out of power!
Ironically, Mulayam’s SP had led the opposition to the Bill when it was introduced in Rajya Sabha. Just after Minister of State for Social Welfare V Narayansamy introduced the Bill, Naresh Aggarwal from the SP and Avtar Singh Karampuri from the BSP almost came to blows as they pushed each other. Mulayam had gone to great lengths to describe the bill as ‘unconstitutional’, and even vowed to continue opposition to it. “Juniors will become seniors. Is it some kind of a joke? Running the government has become a joke,” Mulayam said, adding that the move would create chaos in administration. Going by the current developments, one can only wonder what his next stand would be.
“There was indeed a cynical design behind the hastiness with which the UPA government introduced the Constitution Amendment Bill... The Congress sought to position itself as the champion of the rights of SCs and STs; apart from putting the BJP in the dock in a context where the principal opposition party was bent upon disrupting Parliament over the coal block allocation,” says political observer V. Krishna Ananth.
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