| BEYOND STATE STRUCTURE  | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | CASTE CONFLAGRATION
Rajiv Goswami's fiery protest in 1990 | | In several states-Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, to name a few apart from Bihar-appointments to the lower judiciary are already based on a quota system. In states such as Tamil Nadu, where formally there is no quota system, by convention governments allocate posts in the lower judiciary among different castes. Nor is the impact of thisractice limited to what we call the "lower judiciary". The years a person has spent at that level become an important consideration while selecting judges for the higher levels. The case of one high functionary became quite notorious as he just would not let some appointments to the highest court get through till a particular person from a particular caste group was included among them. The mal-effects go beyond, far beyond mere selection of personnel. The whole universe of litigation gets darkened as litigants begin to look upon one set of judges as "our men" and another set as "their men". As for reservations not having been extended to members of religions that repudiate caste-Islam, Christianity, Sikhism-again, that is but make-believe. The Chairman of the Minorities Commission, my friend Tarlochan Singh, sends me a list of fifty-eight castes and of fourteen tribal groups Muslim members of which have been given reservations. Even those who convert to one of these religions, continue to remain entitled to reservation. The rule in Tamil Nadu is that if the name of the father falls in the lists of Backward Castes/Most Backward Castes/Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, then, even if the person has converted to another religion, he remains entitled to reservations. In Gujarat, members of Backward Castes continue to avail not just reservations but even of advantages under the Roster System after conversion-137 castes and sub-castes have been listed as socially and educationally backward in the state; of these, 28 belong to the Muslim community. In Karnataka, "caste at birth" is the norm. In Uttar Pradesh, several Muslim castes are included in the reservation lists-Lalbegi, Mazhabis, Ansaris. The position is no different in Madhya Pradesh, in West Bengal. It is more than reasonable to forecast that before the next elections, as a run-up to them, the present coalition will introduce a Bill to extend reservations to the private sector as a whole. The Law and Social Welfare Ministries are reported to have already taken the position that reservation can be extended to cover the private sector by changing Article 19(l)(g), passing a law mandating it and putting the law in the Ninth Schedule-thus putting it, like the Tamil Nadu law decreeing 69 per cent reservations, beyond judicial scrutiny. When the matter comes up for vote, every political party will issue three-line whips to make sure everyone notices that it is as committed to reservations as the ruling coalition... INEXORABLE TThere is an inexorability about such a juggernaut, an ineluctable inner logic: Introduced as an exception, the measure swallows the rule; Given as a concession to one, perhaps deserving group, it is grabbed by one group after another, by one progressively more undeserving group after another-recognition of Jats as a backward caste has set the stage for complete Mandalisation of Rajasthan, a conscientious civil servant reports; Gujars have begun demanding, "If such a strong community as Jats are backward, why not us?"; Introduced in one sphere, it spreads to others, exactly as a cancer cell taking root in one organ multiplies and invades others; In its application to the original group, as well as in its appropriation by others, in its application to the original sphere as well as in its extension to others, the measure suffers progressive, rapid debasement; ... The floor, the minimum which everyone takes to be a right becomes the base from which one should wrest more; ...At first efforts are made to arrest the rotting, to ensure that the measure adheres to the purposes for which it was meant, to pare away the manifest excesses; some brave souls even attempt to introduce an element or two of reform; the juggernaut crushes the attempt, and soon even the effort at reform is abandoned, even the pretense that what is being done has some nexus with the objective for which the exception was originally made is shed; Guardians, such as the courts, who are meant to ensure that the exception shall subserve the end for which it was meant, instead take to rationalising the advance of he juggernaut; What was meant to be a temporary exception thus becomes a permanent millstone... "27 PER CENT OF ONE PER CENT" "Arun, why are you so upset? Central government employment is only one per cent of total employment. Giving 27 per cent of one per cent is not going to bring down the heavens". It was one of the best persons we have had in public life, the then Finance Minister, Mr Madhu Dandavate, as we ran into each other at a Rashtrapati Bhavan reception at the height of the agitations against the decision of the V.P. Singh Government to ram Mandal down everyone's throat. I was deeply saddened. Not only because he prefaced this with the remark, "Not all of us can have your courage"-even though I knew of course that he was just mocking me, and not saying anything about himself or his colleagues. Not only because he of all persons surely knew that the effect of packing half the jobs in the structure of governance was to introduce a new virus-and in a massive dose-that will incapacitate the entire body. But because the argument actually proved the opposite. After all, how was 52 per cent of the country's population going to be materially helped by being given 27 per cent of one per cent of jobs? And that is exactly the argument that has gained currency since then-so that today the political class is on the verge of decreeing reservations in the private sector also. | 
