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From: rajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: In defense of caste-based reservation
Message-ID: <403@sftri.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 14-Apr-85 13:19:00 EST
Article-I.D.: sftri.403
Posted: Sun Apr 14 13:19:00 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Apr-85 01:12:16 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Summit N.J.
Lines: 72


The recent debate about this has prompted me to point out a few things
that I feel justify caste-based reservation schemes.

First of all, I think there are two questions to be answered:
a) Should there be caste-based reservation?
b) If so, how much should it be?

From the responses I have seen, most people feel that the answer
to a) is "no". I disagree. On b) I admit I have no real feeling
for what would be fair to all parties. 50% reservation is almost
certainly too high.

One of the major criticisms has run along the following lines: "Why
should a poor high-caste person be denied the opportunities that a
rich low-caste person is given?" This is really a non-issue, I think,
because as far as I know, there are income limits that apply in most
cases, especially the backward castes (as opposed to SC/ST). So it
really benefits the lower-income lower-caste person.

Another issue is that of merit. On the face of it, it seems most fair
to insist that merit be the only criterion. But what does "merit" mean,
say, in the context of professional college admissions? Grades in an
entrance examination, most likely. But these examinations are heavily
biased in favor of middle-class, urban students. An example is the
disproportionately large numbers of students entering the IITs from the
major cities, not because they are intrinsically brighter, but because they
had access to coaching that made them able to score better in the entrance
exam. (This phenomenon happens in the US as well, where cramming academies
turn out students expert at beating the SAT's.) Similarly, I claim that a
Harijan doctor who will go back to help his/her community is more "worthy"
of a medical college seat than a high-caste urban student who has every
intention of emigrating as soon as possible. "Merit" is
somewhat harder to measure than scores in standard admission tests.

There are also good historical reasons for extending special concessions to
backward castes: nobody will deny that the Harijan's life is still pretty
miserable -- the age-old problems continue to exist. Compared to that, the
very occasional cases of "reverse discrimination" are trivial in the larger
context, however painful they are to the individuals concerned. Besides,
the establishment is still full of the old-boy networks of upper-caste
people, and there is surely considerable covert discrimination. The
troubles that Harijans face are not because they are incapable: those who
have converted to Islam and Christian sects and thus escaped the oppression
have often made good. I think reservation should exits as long as certain
sections of society are demonstrably getting less than their share of the
pie.

The really negative aspect of caste-based reservation, I recognize, is that
it perpetuates caste-based politics, social interaction, etc. But then so
does the use of caste-based surnames (e.g., Iyer, Reddy). But nobody has
suggested that people should switch to context-free names. And as we change
into a more urban, industrialized society, there will, one hopes, be less
caste-consciousness. People will make class-based distinctions rather than
caste-based distinctions.

As regards a "fair" quota system, it's hard to generalize, but I think
20-30% might not be too unreasonable, with the proviso that if there are
not sufficient numbers of backward-caste candidates, the extra openings
will be added to the general pool.

Finally, I have often heard that giving an underqualified Harijan a medical
college seat is akin to giving him/her "a licence to kill". But remember, a
large number of upper-caste doctors finished bottom of their classes, and
some of them are surely using the above licence :-)

To flamers: if you feel the urge to flame, please remember that I am not on
trial, only my opinions are :-)
-- 
...ihnp4!attunix!rajeev   -- usenet
ihnp4!attunix!rajeev@BERKELEY   -- arpanet
Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.