Arguments on affirmative action By Tavleen Singh and Aditi Naryanai Paswan

Recently, a debate has been starting on the issue of reservations, as renowned columnist Tavleen Singh wrote (IE, December10, 2023) a column “time to end reservations." She mentioned that Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar suggested the reservation only for ten years. But she did not make it clear that the suggestion was for the only political reservation, not all reservations, i.e., universities, colleges, and jobs. There is a need to analyze her arguments with objectivity, not emotionally.

         Firstly, she argued that reservations have failed to bring social equality and social justice for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Her argued was challenged by Aditi Naryanai Paswan (IE, December 15, 2023), where Pashwan mentioned the story of the Dalits of Bodoland, how they reached in higher education with the help of reservation and they were able to breakdown the trauma of caste, which has been responsible for their inferiority complex.  If the reservations did not exist, they were not gotten confidence and dignity.

        Secondly her (Singh) argument was that other backward castes did not need it. She mentioned that anyone who knows rural India slightly knows that these backward castes are not backward at all. In the Hindi Heartland, they have been at the top. Therefore, she is speaking right, but OBC did not get the reservations on the ground of backwardness. Instead, they got reservations on the grounds of less representation in all spheres of public institutions. And their claim for reservation was evolved by the Supreme Court of India, which makes it more and more acceptable. She mentioned that our honourable Prime Minister himself admits proudly to being OBC. But she used these remarks not in positive sense even she had been trying to make PM’s caste identity, while recently, Prime Minster spoke that for him only the four biggest castes are poor, youth, women, and farmers. which shows that he does not believe in the caste identity, and he is firstly the Prime Minister of Indians, not a bunch of castes.

         Thirdly, she has been relating the demand for a caste-based census to reservations. How has she been claiming that caste-based censuses affect the reservation policy? The census is a political agenda of political parties, not the agenda of government, and if it does, then it would be beneficial for policymakers to make policies for the marginalised sections of society, and data would never create disharmony.

           Fourthly, she (Singh) argued that youth are very angry about the reservation. Again, I agree with her argument but I also agree with the answer of Paswan (IE,15 December, 2023) that youth are also angry at why all the ragpickers and sanitation workers invariably belong to one caste and why the judiciary belongs to descendants of a few castes or families.

               Lastly, she (Singh) argued that the government should scrap all reservations before so-called upper castes demand reservations for their own rights, but we should understand that now the economically weaker section also has gotten ten percent reservation by the constitutional amendment of 103. These economically weaker section covers the so-called upper castes, and their criteria for reservation is economic backwardness, which is also checked by our SC.

              Before going to leave these arguments among the intellectuals, I would be appreciating the courage of the Singh and Paswan, who took this risk to speak about a very controversial issue of reservation, I agree that reservation has also become a tool of agenda for political parties and caste-based organisations. But I want to mention here Karl Marx as he wrote in “Communist Manifesto” that we all know about the problem but the matter is that who would be resolve it and how? The same thing has been applying on the issues of casteism and reservation.