Opinion - News Analysis

Quota and the Tamil Nadu experience

S. Neelakantan

The reservation policy has produced visible improvements in the conditions of the deprived sections. However, the time is ripe for a reconsideration of the exclusively caste-based criteria.

TAMIL NADU has a long record of enforcement of the reservation policy to redress the problem of group injustice. The late S. Guhan has provided the best justification for reservation ( The Hindu , December 11, 1990). To my knowledge, no study establishes that Tamil Nadu has become relatively inefficient because of its reservation policies. On the contrary, data show that the level of competitiveness of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Other Backward Classes, as revealed by the cut-off level of marks scored for their admissions to professional courses, is continuously increasing and progressively nearing the cut-off marks of those selected in open competition. To quote Guhan, "This only shows that, given time and patience, `merit' ceases to be the monopoly of the forward communities and the so-called backward classes tend to catch up fast."

The reservation policy is unfair when individual cases are considered in isolation of the group context. Since the seats in educational institutions are limited, reservation would necessarily reduce the number available for open competition. The competing groups diverge in competitive strength. Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy (in K.C.V. Kumar V. Karnataka 1985 SCR 394) refers to a backward class child "who has no books and magazines to read at home, no radio to listen, no TV to watch, no one to help him with his homework, whose parents are either illiterate or so ignorant and ill informed that he cannot even hope to seek their advice on any matter of importance." He goes on to ask: "Has not this child got merit if he with all his disadvantages is able to secure the qualifying 40 per cent or 50 per cent of the marks at a competitive examination where the children of the upper-classes who go to St. Paul's High School and St. Stephen's College, and who have perhaps been specially coached for the examination may secure 70, 80 or even 90 per cent of the marks? ... surely a child who has been able to jump so many hurdles may be expected to do better and better as he progresses in life."

In the past in Tamil Nadu, elitist schools in Chennai and the hill stations catering to the rich used to corner the top ranks in SSLC and matriculation examinations. Now the top rankers come from schools in relatively small towns serving all classes of society. In the 1950s, top rankers belonged mostly to forward castes. Now it is no longer true. These again reinforce Guhan's conclusion quoted above.

Nearly 80 years of practice of the reservation policy in Tamil Nadu have produced some visible improvements in the conditions of the deprived sections. But to achieve social justice in full measure, Guhan's conclusion that it has to be continued for three or four more generations is still valid.

However, Guhan's partial defence of reservation for the `creamy layer' on the ground that the "elites fulfil a useful function in groups that have remained backward for generations" is no longer valid. First, the media now perform that function well. Secondly, the mushroom growth of capitation-fee levying professional colleges has helped the `creamy layer' to capture a sizable portion of seats. There are higher secondary schools where rich children are tutored, coached, and drilled to pass the entrance tests.

A. Vaidyanathan ( The Hindu , May 18, 2006) has proposed a simple and workable solution to exclude the creamy layer: "limit eligibility to students from families that are not liable to income tax." However, it might penalise the honest income tax payer and reward the dishonest tax dodger! So other proxy indicators such as property ownership, size of business or trade, level of parents' education, and permanent employment may be necessary to supplement it.

The time is ripe for a reconsideration of the exclusively caste-based criteria for reservation. India is probably the only country where there is a clamour to get labelled backward/most backward! Once a caste group manages to enter the reservation list, now there is practically no possibility (given our electoral politics) of it being excluded later.

I agree with Prof. Vaidyanathan's suggestion that there must be a public provision for facilities for children from all castes who perform commendably in the SSLC examination but who are unable to meet the expenses of pursuing further studies. They must all be given economic support to pursue further studies and must be given the best coaching that is now available only to the affluent. There can be differentiation in the performance standards for eligibility according to SC-ST-OBC categories. Caste would still be a valid, but not the sole, criterion for eligibility. In fixing such standards, the special and preferential treatment to SC-ST candidates should continue. The scheme should be so structured that there is some correspondence to the shares obtained by the different groups to their population share. Loan finance for higher education on easy terms should be assured for all who secure admission for courses in university or professional education.

More important still is his complaint about the "basic problem of inadequate and poor quality of teaching and facilities and equipment of the public school system." The public schools cater to the deprived sections of students who do not have any other choice.

Right from the primary level, there is a vast dissimilarity in the type and quality of education imparted between private and public schools. The students from the two streams differ in many ways, especially in their communication skills, confidence levels, and body language. The set of opportunities open to public school students is constrained. This makes them losers in the race for `merit'. There is a crying need for a reform of the system. If this is done, we may find that the differences in the cut-off level marks between different caste groups might disappear altogether!

The current agitation to push back reservation is misguided. Instead, a concerted effort by the media and the enlightened public to force Parliament to have a fresh look at the methods, justification, and desirability of redressing historically accumulated inequalities could be more fruitful.

(The writer is a former Director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies.)

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[ZESTCaste] Quota and the Tamil Nadu experience (Opinion)

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