Assessing the Need for Reservations - Maratha Case
iasparliament
July 10, 2019
What is the issue?
The Bombay High Court (HC) recently upheld the Maharashtra government’s law on reservation for Marathas. Click here to know more.
This makes a case for assessing the real rationale behind reservations and reflecting upon the idea of backwardness.
What is the present case?
The demand for being classified as “backward” by Marathas has been ongoing since the 1990s.
The Marathas are now included into the Socially and Educationally Backward Communities (SEBC).
With this, the Maharashtra government has once again yielded to the demands of this powerful caste group.
This would be the third attempt in the last 5 years to grant this quota, which has been repeatedly struck down by the courts.
What do the quota demands imply?
Some of the mostly rich, landowning, politically influential communities have been demanding quotas in jobs and higher education.
E.g. Marathas in Maharashtra, Patidars in Gujarat, Jats in Haryana, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh
In a way, this indicates that the economic growth in the last two decades did not contribute much to the fortunes of a large proportion of these communities.
It is also an indication that their traditional sources of livelihoods had become more fragile due to a widespread and multifaceted agrarian crisis.
Given these, the desire for good jobs and stable sources of livelihood gives way for the increasing quota demands.
However, public sector jobs have become much more competitive given the limited numbers.
So, there should be a rational criteria to determine the validity of the demand for quotas.
Is the “backward” argument justifiable?
Marathas, similar to Jats and Patels, are more likely to own or cultivate land than all other social groups in their respective States.
Marathas have a lower per capita consumption expenditure than Maharashtra Brahmins.
But, it stands at the same level as other forward castes and OBCs, and significantly higher than SC/STs.
Marathas, on an average, are as ‘poor’ as Brahmins and other forward castes, but less poor than OBCs and SC-STs.
In terms of access to electricity, access to a flush toilet, average years of education, Marathas are better off than the OBCs and SC-STs.
So, in most of the crucial socio-economic indicators, the Marathas are second only to Brahmins in the State, and are significantly better off than all other social groups.
The main bone of contention and the main motivation for quotas now is access to government jobs.
However, the access of Marathas to government jobs is already similar to that of Brahmins, and higher than that for other forward castes, OBCs, and SC-STs.
What contributes to the Maratha unrest then?
There is some evidence of a decline in the probability of owning or cultivating land, which could be the reason for the heightened anxiety.
The Marathas are a predominantly agricultural community that benefited from the Green and White Revolutions.
But, these groups are increasingly feeling vulnerable due to the structural transformation of the Indian economy caused by -
the declining importance of agriculture
growth of corporatised agriculture
water shortages affecting productivity
Overall, there is discontent among powerful farming communities.
This is due to the perception that real economic power lies in the hands of the big corporations, and the state, directly or indirectly, acts in their interest.
In all, the deteriorating power and the unpreparedness to shift towards urban, formal sector livelihood opportunities make these communities feel vulnerable.
The IHDS (India Human Development Survey) also shows that forward castes were about 30% more likely to feel that they were worse off in 2011-12 than in 2004-05.
This sense of deprivation fuels the quota demand.
What is the way forward?
The economic changes that give rise to widespread anxieties definitely need to be understood.
Genuine grievances, including those that might come from forward castes dealing with agrarian transformations, need to be addressed.
However, it is highly debatable if reservation should be the answer for this.
Given increasing privatisation, the base, i.e. total jobs that are eligible for reservations, is already shrinking.
Moreover, the existing OBCs and SC-STs are further lagging behind upper castes on a range of material indicators.
In this context, extending quotas to relatively richer and powerful groups would dilute the very ideal of socio-educational justice behind reservations.
