- Prelims:Parliament-Structure, organization and functioning, article 340, tribes, 73rd and 74th amendment etc
- Mains GS Paper II:Parliament- structure, functioning and conduct of Business etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- The socio-political movement that led to this phenomenon known as “Mandal” has dramatically changed the demographic diversity of people’s representatives.
- Book:The Age of Kali: by William Dalrymple
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Mandal Commission:
- Article 340: The President appointed a backward class commission in December 1978 under the chairmanship of B. P. Mandal.
- Socially and educationally backward classes: It was formed to determine the criteria for defining India’s “socially and educationally backward classes” and to recommend steps to be taken for the advancement of those classes.
- Reservation: The Mandal Commission concluded that India’s population consisted of approximately 52 percent OBCs, therefore 27% government jobs should be reserved for them.
- Indicators for backwardness: The commission has developed eleven indicators of social, educational, and economic backwardness.
- Backward classes among non-Hindus:Apart from identifying backward classes among Hindus, the Commission has also identified backward classes among non-Hindus (e.g., Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists.
The social justice revolutionaries of modern India:
- Jyotiba Phule
- Savitribai Phule
- Sahuji Maharaj
- Periyar
After independence:
- R. Ambedkar
The depressed classes(Dalits) and tribals(Adivasis):
- Listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by 1935.
- The benefits of reservation in education and employment: In proportion to their population were adopted by the Constitution.
Evolution of Backward class reservations:
- Article 340 of the Constitution resulted in two Backward Classes commissions:
- Kalelkar Commission (1953-1955)(did not yield anything)
- Mandal Commission (1978-80)(led to mandal movement)
- The announcement of implementation of mandal provisions: 27%reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the central services in 1990.
- The 73rd and 74th Amendments: It furthered the idea of social justice by extending reservation benefits to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs.
- Higher education: In 2006, reservations were extended to OBC candidates in institutions of higher learning.
Negative impact of Mandal Commission:
- Mandal parties: They installed communal mobilisations and hate mongering by the right wing.
- Government in Uttar Pradesh: It ordered the police to fire at kar sevaks assembled in Ayodhya near the Babri Masjid.
How to Preserve secularism?
- Fraternity: Secularism needs to be situated within the perspective of “Fraternity” as enshrined in the ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution.
- Instilling confidence: In the minority communities.
Way Forward
- No religious barrier: Mandal” has been the identifying of socially and educationally backward castes and communities by not letting religion become a barrier.
- Homogeneous monolith: The consciousness generated by Mandal demolished a perception about Indian Muslims being a homogenous monolith.
- Emergence of Pasmanda: The churning around Mandal also led to the emergence of a pasmanda (backward in Persian) movement among backward Muslims demanding democratization and representation.
- The Mandal report fairly recognised: large section of Muslims and Christians who converted from Hinduism, but with a majority of them continuing with their earlier caste-based occupations.
- Aspirations of lower caste:more accommodative towards the aspirations of the lower castes such as the economically backward classes or most backward classes
- Political inclusion: forging alliances with parties championing Dalit and Adivasi agendas
- Quota within quota: In the women’s reservation Bill which is still pending.
- Fielding more women candidates from the marginalised communities.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
- Whether the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) can enforce the implementation of constitutional reservation for the Scheduled Castes in the religious minority institutions? Examine.(UPSC 2018)
(200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)