Why is it in the news?
1.While campaigning in the election for the 18th Lok Sabha in Bihar, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, said that “had B.R. Ambedkar not been there , the former Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru would not have implemented the quota for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.”
2.The Prime Minister was referring to a letter written by Nehru ji in 1961 to the chief ministers where he said that continued reservation could affect meritocracy.
What was the stand of Nehru ji on the reservation to SC, ST and Backward classes ?
1.Nehru ji presented the objective resolution before the constituent assembly on 13th December, 1946 whereby, he gave the vision and philosophy of the constitution of India. Later on, this objective resolution became the foundation of the Preamble of the constitution. In the objective resolution, Nehru Ji said that special measures should be taken in favour of minorities, backward and tribal areas, depressed and other backward classes. He was the first politician who used the term other backward classes (OBCs) in the constituent assembly. The preamble of our constitution talks about social economic and political justice which means that the constitution wants to create a society without discrimination on any grounds like caste, creed, sex, religion.
2.On the advice of constitutional advisor, B.N. Rau, the Directive Principles of State Policy was borrowed from Ireland and was included in our constitution under part IV between articles 36 to 51. According to article 46, the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular, of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.
3.Article 330 of the Indian constitution provides for the reservation of seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the House of the people and Article 332 provides for reservation of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes in state legislative assemblies. Thus, 84 seats are reserved for scheduled castes and 47 seats for scheduled tribes in the Lok Sabha. Similarly, state assemblies have reserved seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
4.According to Article 335, the claims of the members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the union or of a state. It was on the basis of this article, the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case (1992) put a cap of 50% reservation in government jobs so that the efficiency of the administration is not compromised. Now, the provision for reservation in government jobs for scheduled castes is 15%, for scheduled tribes 7.5%, for socially and educationally backward classes 27% and economically weaker sections 10%. In total 59.5% government jobs are reserved in India.
5.According to article 340, the President of India may by order appoint a commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fits to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendation as to the steps that should be taken by the union or any state to remove such difficulties and improve their condition. It was because of these provisions that the government of India appointed the Kaka Kalekar committee in 1952 to investigate the condition of backward classes. But because of the opposition of the then Home Minister,G.B. Pant, the Kalekar committee report was not tabled before the Parliament for discussion. The Home Minister objected to the recommendation of the committee because it was based upon the condition of different castes of backward classes.
6.In the case of state of Madras vs Champakam Dorai Rajan (1951), the Supreme Court affirmed the judgement of the Madras High Court. It struck down the order issued by the Madras Government that provided for the proportionate reservation of seats in the government medical and engineering colleges for different communities with the object of promoting the educational interest of the backward classes under article 46. The court held that the reservation was based upon religion, race and caste and therefore, it violated articles 15 and 29 (2) of our constitution. The Supreme Court also held that the Directive Principles cannot in any way override or abridge fundamental rights. Rather Directives Principles of State Policy should act as subsidiary to fundamental rights. That judgement led to the insertion of clause 4 in article 15 which said that 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 of or for the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes. Similarly, clause 4 in article 16 was added which said that nothing in this article shall prevent the state from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the state, was not adequately represented in the services under the state.
7.Later on, by the 93rd amendment act, 2005, the Congress government inserted clause 5 in article 15 by making special provision for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and backward classes with regard to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the state, other than the minority educational institution referred to in clause 1 of article 30.
8.Nehru ji wanted reservation on the basis of economic criteria. He was of the view that reservation to backward groups should be based upon the economic status of the backward classes. He believed that education was the primary tool for empowering backward classes. He wanted to give elementary free education and scholarships to all students pursuing literary subjects and technical and scientific education. He said that if reservations were given on a communal or caste basis, the bright and able persons would be sidelined and our country would come under the danger of becoming a second rate or third rate state.
9. To conclude - Nehru ji was ideologically opposed to any kind of reservation on the basis of caste but he was also conscious of the fact that scheduled caste and scheduled tribes were to be given reservation in Parliament and state legislature and government job and that’s why, he brought first amendment act in 1951 whereby, he inserted clause 4 in article 15 and clause 4 in article 16 of constitution for the advancement of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and socially and educationally backward classes in our country.
Reservation to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and socially and educationally backward classes in government jobs was meant to correct the historical wrongs in the caste ridden society of India. It has also been observed that most of the benefits of the reservation have been cornered by the advanced groups among these weaker sections of the society. The dominant castes or tribes have been the major beneficiaries of the reservation policy of the government of India and state governments. The rest of the weaker sections did not get much benefits from the reservation policy. Hence, it is incumbent upon the government to give all kinds of economic assistance like scholarship, free lodging and fooding, lowering the criteria for selection, and awakening among weaker sections of the society by instilling in them that it is the education that brings changes in the social status of a person and so maximum efforts should be made to enhance the level of literacy among SCs, STs and OBCs, in addition to the present status of reservation to weaker sections of our society.
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