Minorities-Whose Revile Became Shelter

Indian constitution is the largest written constitution of any country on earth. Reservation is a system of affirmative action in India that provides historically disadvantaged groups representation in education, employment and in politics. Based on provisions in the Indian constitution it allows the Indian government to set reserved quotas or seats which lower the qualification needed in exam, job openings and so on for “Socially and economically backward citizens”.

The constitution which was adopted by the constituent assembly of India in November 1949 and came into force on 26 January 1950 with no reservation of seats in legislative bodies and public services for religious minorities as originally planned. In fact, reservation was only allowed for socially and economically backward classes. Nevertheless it turned out to be a caste-based reservation instead of class-based reservation, entirely making Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes economically backwards. Initially, the reservation was intended for SC and ST communities only for a period of 10 years (1951- 1961). However, it got extended ever since. How can one predict others’ economical condition by knowing their caste? Ones’ caste should never become a factor to judge their economic condition. What does caste have to do with the economic condition of theirs?  Not even a single person should be treated by just having some hatred towards the caste he/she belong.

The reservation quota for Minorities SCs and STs into IITs and IIMs. Even with a low score in respected exams, they can be qualified or there are certain number of seats reserved for them in such universities in advance. In such case assume two students from entirely different castes, say one from a backward caste but economically rich, who did not perform that well in an entrance exam. The other student from the general caste but economically poor even with a good score could not make it through the admissions exam. Who is actually being exploited here? Here the future of the Indian students should be questioned, not the welfare of any caste. There are so many students, job seekers out there who are not getting the right opportunity just because they do not belong to a backward caste. Earlier it was considered as a curse to be brought into the world as a minor. But it turned out to be a boon in disguise through which all the dirty work is done in the name of the social upliftment of minor castes.

 

Here comes another section of the article.

The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. Most of the people from backward castes use the Atrocities Act to reduce their work burden in doing any activity that might benefit them. This is very unfair and rude to be done. For example, threatening a public servant with accusing him/her of casteism in case if their work was delayed. Even my family experienced such false accusation by our very next neighbors who do belong to SC category. They were midway in the construction of their house. Consequently some of our house property was vandalized. When pointed out, we were threatened with filing a false accusation of cateism. We had nothing to do but just walk away, even though the damage was done to our property. This is how Atrocity Act is being useful to some of the guilty ones. Discarding the salt of the earth, there are many people who misuse it up to date.

“Innocent citizens are termed accused, which is not intended by the legislature. The legislature never intended to use the Atrocities Act as an instrument to blackmail or to wreck personal vengeance”. In addition to that, “SC/STs Atrocities Act being misused”, said The Supreme Court of India.

Some of these problems can be resolved by eliminating caste-based reservation quotas and by introducing class-based reservation quotas in education, employment and political sectors. I hope this article shall help the people in comprehending the gravity of the circumstance.

JAI HIND!

SAVE DHARMA, DHARMA SAVES YOU.

 

By Hemesh Patil.