The History of Caste System and the Concept of Reservation !
Before
pondering over this subject seriously, it shall be pertinent if we delve a bit
deep into the realms of history of caste system so as to know and understand it
better as to why the need for reservation was felt after independence and how
did it ultimately come into existence? On shuffling over the pages of history,
it is observed that its origin goes back to the times of an ancient saint called
Manu, who initially divided the society into four clear-cut segments or castes
known as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaish and Shudras. He made these divisions not
based on the personality traits or the intelligence of people to work in some
field or areas desired by them or be pursued by them accordingly to his or her
choice, but on the basis of cleverness or shrewdness of a section of society to
exploit others who are neither men of physical nor monetary power nor political
power. Thus, this so called great scholar not only divided the society on wrong
footings, but he also demarcated works / professions to them arbitrarily i.e.
Brahmins to get quality education and maintain / control all religious places,
perform all religious ceremonies and rites etc., right from the birth of a man
till his death; Kshatriyas to distinguish themselves in all types of weapons and
warfares and protect the people from any sort of aggression and rule over
others; Vaish to do all types of trading and business etc.; and lastly, giving
least importance to them, he gave Shudras the duty to serve all other people of
society falling in the previous three categories. In this way, the upper caste
people very clandestinely and mischievously grabbed all major professions and
jobs to be performed in society and the Shudras were very conspicuously denied
all kinds of rights (including right to education), so that they are not allowed
to rise in life and make some discernible progress in any field or profession.
Rather, they were made subservient to the first three castes, selfishly /
cleverly said to be superior in society. If any of Shudras ever tried to get
educated by hook or crook and read the books of knowledge or religion, he was
looked upon disdainfully and even punished very severely by the upper caste
people for violating the prevalent social norms or rules, which were designed
totally contrary to their interest and welfare.
2.
Remember, the story of a Shudra called Shambuka, who by the virtue of his
strenuous efforts, got educated by some means and when once he tried to read
Vedas, he was got killed by Shri Ram Chandra. Then Eklavya, a famous character
of Mahabharta (son of Hiranyadhanus, a tribal king of Nishad), he was denied
education in archery by guru Dronacharya, because he belonged to a low caste
community called Bheel. And when he himself did very hard work and perfected
himself in the field of his interest viz. archery, guru Dronacharya very
selfishly and cleverly told him to donate the thumb of his right hand in
Gurudakshina; so that he might not be in a position to challenge or supersede
his favourite Kshatriya disciple - Arjun. Who can forget Karan, another famous
and brave character of Mahabharta, he was not allowed to challenge Arjun (in
Kaurav Sabha) as he was a son of a charioteer (Saarthi, a sort of servant) of
the Kauravas. (Karan was a son of Dharitrashtra’s charioteer, Adhirath and
Radha. He was named Radhey in his childhood). He also had a younger brother
named Shon). Later on, Duryojana gave him some land and made him the King of Ang
(now called Karnal, which is in Haryana) because he knew that Karan is the only
person who is brave and competent enough to pose a formidable challenge to
Arjun. Had he been not so brave and master of archery, no body could have
allowed him even to enter the Kaurav Sabha. And remember, these are not a few
isolated cases of discrimination, suppression and exploitation of talent; lakhs
of low caste people were denied their rights of every kind even before the times
of Mahabharta. If any body tried to read the books of wisdom and knowledge,
molten lead was poured into his ears so that he could not even hear some words
of wisdom and intelligence. These type of treacherous acts were done under a
well thought of conspiracy aimed at exploitation and denial of rights to the low
caste people and thereby making them servile, subservient / insignificant folks,
which continued for continued for centuries together. It is highly regrettable
that the plight of most of these untouchables remained so horrible and terrible
that they continued to be victimised under of the yoke of exploitative caste
system for centuries together.
3. Thus, the seeds of the downfall of the Shudras were
sown by this so-called great scholar (Manu Maharaj) of Hindu society, who
instead of asking the people to choose their profession by the virtue of their
capabilities, calibre and prowess, and prosper in life, based the professions
solely on the irrational and exploitative caste system. It was really a well
thought of historic conspiracy and injustice done against all those people who
formed the lower strata of society at that time. This is how the victimisation,
exploitation, suppression and oppression of all the people belonging to low
castes goes on unabated since the times immemorial, and these oppressed sections
of society were taken for granted by all, in the upper castes. Pandits & Pandas
fleeced the society in the name of religion by entangling the people in
innumerable strange and unbelievable superstitions from the times immemorial.
They earned their living by such cunning and deceptive means and coerced people
for making donations. Not only this, the stigma of untouchability was also
attached to them and all other people were warned of severe consequences in case
anybody tried to mingle and mix-up with them. I vividly remember that even great
scholars and brave men belonging to the Shudras were not given their due share
of respect & dignity in society and were instead, looked upon very sarcastically
and disdainfully. Story of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar need not much elaboration, as every
body is aware that all sorts of odds and hurdles were put in his way to stop him
from acquiring great education at every level and rise in life. Not only that,
when he gained very education and qualification by the virtue of getting
scholarship from Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda Province, one day he decided to
visit Jagannath Temple in Orissa in 1935, but he was not allowed to enter the
temple due to his low caste birth.
4. By the virtue of his mass following amongst the weaker sections and
down-trodden of society and great respect and regard bestowed on him by these
people, before independence, the British rulers of British India had recognized
Dr. Ambedkar as their great leader and often valued his speeches / ideology and
views on various subjects concerning majority of people. Moreover, during
various sessions of round table conferences, Dr. Ambedkar had also emphasized
before the then government that, since the caste Hindus who are out and out
orthodox in their mindset and approach towards the Dalits and often regarded
them as servile and subordinate to them, we no longer feel that the future of
our people can remain safe in their governance, after India attains freedom. It
is thus, very important and pertinent for us to have a separate state of our own
so that the Dalits could have political freedom, economic independence, social
security and our own means and methods of livelihood - where they can flourish
and make progress unhindered by the castist barriers & impediments. We are
seriously no longer willing to live with them who are the major culprits of
their present plight imposed and inflicted upon them by the centuries old
oppression, depressions and series of social and economic injustices by the
virtue or vice of their hegemony. So we want a separate nation of our own and
that our areas should be given to us on the basis of our population ratio. But
the Congress Party under the overall leadership of Mahatma Gandhi opposed it
vehemently, though the Britishers were in line with Dr. Ambedkar thinking about
the treatment being meted out to low caste people in India. Finding that Dr.
Ambedkar does not budge even an inch from his already declared clear-cut demand
for a separate nation for his people, Mahatma Gandhi sat on fast unto death and
also declared that he would not break his fast till Dr. Ambedkar abandons his
demand aimed at dividing India. Then after 4/5 days, Jawahar Lal Nehru and
Sardar Patel went to Kasturba Gandhi and requested her to visit Dr. Ambedkar and
try her level best to persuade him not to press for his demand, and Congress
party assured him that they shall all try to find some alternative solution to
their problems. Dr. Ambedkar listened to her patiently and bought some time from
her so that he could discuss the matter with his core-committee members. The
whole scenario was discussed thread-bare and it was also realised that if
anything wrong happens to Mahatma Gandhi, chaos shall prevail and communal
disturbances are bound to erupt. And in that situation, all lower caste people
shall be the biggest losers as they are actually the people with little means
and least political and economic powers.
And this
is how and why, that ultimately (after a series of discussions and persuasions
made by many Congress leaders headed by Mahatma Gandhi with Dr. Ambedkar and his
team members) some via-media was devised to mitigate the sufferings of the
oppressed, suppressed and victimised classes of the society by giving them some
leverage in a variety of areas like – (a) Political freedom i.e. right to
franchise and earmarking separate seats for Lok Sabha and various State
Assemblies etc. wherever these people are in majority, (b) Right to education in
all government institutes by giving them the benefit of reservation, (c) Benefit
of reservation in all government jobs and promotions as well up to a reasonable
level, (d) democratization of all institutions by giving the depressed classes
all civic right and equality of opportunities for them rather than denial of
various rights which are otherwise available to all higher caste people, and
lastly, (e) declare the practice of untouchability, calling a low caste person
by the name of his or her caste or anything suggestive like that, a crime
punishable under the law with a punishment of jail term up to six months.
5. Unfazed by the continuous impediments put in his
way, and striving hard with single minded devotion and tireless efforts, Dr.
Ambedkar continued making some glorious strides in his scholastic pursuits /
mission and he not only became one of the seven most learned scholars of India
of that time; but by the virtue of his scholastic qualities, he also became
father of the Constitution when India attained independence. He was quite aware
that his fellow low caste people were in fact, that section of society who had
very meagre means, no business, no big property, agricultural lands, and hardly
any thing else great by the virtue of which they could prosper in life.
Therefore, very judiciously, imparting social justice to them, he made special
provisions for reservation in the Constitution for the SC / ST people, so that
they are able to (i) get quality education at par with other people, (ii) rise
in life and make progress so that they don’t remain subservient to any other
section of society, and be an active partners in the development of society, and
lastly, (iii) Stand on their own feet and contribute their might in nation
building, in what-so-ever sphere of profession they may like to go, according to
their sweet will.
6. Not to speak of the exploitation and excesses to
the low caste people and denial of rights to them centuries ago, even such type
of denial of rights did not end in the independent India as well. With the dawn
of freedom, a great emphasis was laid down on imparting good quality education
for all sections of society and thousands of new schools were opened, throughout
India. As a result of it, thousands of public and convent schools were given
lands at the throw-away prices with the condition that they shall also give
admission to the children of low caste people to extent of 25 % and shall charge
concessional fee from them. No doubt, these schools and colleges availed of
various concessions from Govt. in the name of opening of educational institutes,
including getting land on concessional rates; but they did not pass-on the
benefit of cheaper education to the reserved category students. Many a time, the
issue of charging the same fees even from the SC / ST students by the public /
convent schools was raised; but nobody listened to the grievances of the poor
and downtrodden and sought for the redressal of the same. Thus, these English
medium schools not only cheated government on this point, but they also deprived
the poor of their fundamental rights to education at concessional fees. Thus,
the victimisation and harassment at the hands of the upper caste people
continued even in the independent India. Had the school authorities done their
duty sincerely by honouring their commitment to the lower strata of society, the
aim and purpose of upliftment of the poor would have been fulfilled to a great
extent. As such, it can be observed that as and when the question of the Dalits
is sought for by law or otherwise, the upper caste vultures have quite
conveniently trampled over their interests. Even today, they do not feel
apologetic about what their forefathers have done to the Dalits. Violence,
injustice, humiliation and denial of rights to the Dalits have been their forte
and it was quite rampant in society. On the top of it, they are not willing to
discuss this matter and the Dalits have now started destroying their citadel and
7,500 years old hegemony in society. Moreover, why the protagonists of merit
don’t talk about the seats they buy (10 to 15 % management quota seats in every
college / university) by the vice of their money and muscle power. Why they are
keeping a studied silence over that ?? The moot question still cries for answer
and nobody seems interested to reply ……
Not only that, big and wealthy businessmen who wanted
to set-up hospital / nursing home projects are also given land for doing so at
concessional rates and they have to give an undertaking that they shall provide
free medical facility to the SCs / STs and other poorer section of society for
their 30% patients, but again this conditional is rarely given practical shape
and poor people are often denied this free medical treatment as they cannot
afford costly treatment by the hospital managements.
7. In December, 2005, four Dalits
women were beaten-up by the upper caste village panchayat and the head priest of
Jagannath temple in village Keraragard, (District Kendrapara of Orissa), for
making an entry into that temple. The high-handedness and outright
discriminatory attitude of the priest, Shri Niranjan Panda and the upper caste
people in the panchayat, did not end there. Later on, they also issued an order
to recover Rs. 1,001/- from them for purification of the temple. Then, more than
20 houses of Dalits were set ablaze by the high caste people of Village Gohana
in Distt. Sonipat, Haryana on the 31st Aug., 2005 and no action was taken
against the culprits. So many times, why only small huts of the poor people get
fire in many parts of the big cities; why does no bungalow of some rich and
powerful man catch fire ? Have you any clue ……??
8. Secondly, even after more than 65 years of
independence, it is observed that, due to various reasons, only a few people
belonging to the reserved category have been able to make some progress;
whereas, the rest are still languishing, listless and suffering from all sorts
of wants and deprivations. Only a few of them have been able to get jobs, mainly
class IV, Class III and junior officers’ jobs. Big jobs of Class I and Class II
gazetted posts, big businesses and agricultural lands are still under the
control of the rich high caste people and by the power of that, they are ruling
the society. SC / ST people don’t get suitable jobs, and as such, a lot of
tension and frustration is brewing-up in the minds of even educated younger
generation and sometimes, the society finds the outlet of their suppressed
emotions in some sort of anti-social activities. Therefore, the concept of
reservation of seats even in private educational institutes becomes all the more
imperative. It is simply foolishness to expect a student of down-trodden family
to compete with the students of other higher castes - who have every imaginable
comfort and facility at their beck and call.
9. Thirdly, all the educational institutes like
schools, colleges or other professional institutes like engineering and medical
colleges are allotted land at the concessional rates, with the condition that
they shall impart education to the SC / ST students also, at the concessional
fees and by keeping seats reserved for them, as per provisions laid down (15%
and 7.5% respectively) in the Constitution of India. Then, there is no scope for
any sort of ambiguity or reasonableness to keep seats reserved for them. I also
don’t agree with the point that quality of education will suffer in case the
Educational Institutes keep seats reserved for them. Does the quality of
education not suffer when college managements offer some seats after engulfing
huge donations under the garb of management quota. Once a student gets admission
in the seat reserved for him, he too works hard to accomplish his study and
make-up his deficiencies and get a decent job after completion of his study. One
more thing that I would like to make it clear - is that the competition of the
reserved category of students is amongst themselves only; they certainly don’t
encroach upon the seats of others. Rather, many instances have come to light
where seats of the reserved category have been de-reserved on one pretext or the
other; thereby depriving the benefit due to the SCs & STs. Moreover, it was the
same upper caste people who made the low castes people suffer and languish for
the centuries together, and now the same high caste people will have to
compensate them for their long term benefits and for the interest of the country
as a whole.
10. In view of the above, I would strongly emphasize
that - (a) all public / convent schools and private educational institutes meant
for higher / professional courses and degrees should be advised to earmark 22.5%
seats for the SCs / STs and thereby honour their commitment and responsibility
for them, and (b) if they do not honour their social & constitutional
commitment, heavy financial penalty should be imposed on them. These private
educational institutes should also realise that by doing so, they shall not only
be discharging their constitutional obligations towards this weaker sections of
society, in a fairly balanced manner, but administering the long due justice to
them also. Not only that, all State Governments and the Central Government and
Union Territories should also honour their commitment by recruiting SCs and STs
candidates as per the constitutional provisions and also give the benefit of
reservation policy in their promotions as well. I am very clear on this matter
that, to achieve all round development, progress and prosperity, the SCs and STs
should not be deprived of their due share of sunshine. It is certainly in the
national interest also, to enable India to achieve competitive edge over other
developing / developed nations around the globe. It should also be borne in mind
that no country worth its salt can make some discernible progress and prosperity
in all spheres of life by denials of due share of rights to a section of its
society.
11. Some people amongst the upper castes often debate
about merit and we hear about Sharmas, Vermas, Trivedis, Chaturvedis, Chopras,
Malhotras, Guptas, Goels, Sanghvis and Chawlas etc. and say that they form a
“meritorious” society. One does not know what do they mean by meritorious
society. Let us start to unravel some historical facts of merit. As Dr. Ambedkar
once wittingly said that these so called high Hindus failed to write even their
three great epics such as - Mahabharata and two Ramayanas. We all know that
these epics were written by sage Vyasa, Maharishi Valmiki and Tulsi Dass. The
fourth major epic, the Constitution of Modern India was also written by Dr.
Ambedkar himself. All three happened to be Dalits. Where was the merits of upper
castes at that time. And the greatest of Yoga Guru of these days who improved
the health of crores of Indians by popularizing Yoga on a national scale - Swami
Ram Dev, is also a Dalit. And the religious guru from south - Amrita Anadamayi
also hails from the fishermen caste and has the followers even from the upper
castes.
12. Not only that, when on the 13th April,
1699, Guru Gobind Singh decided to establish an army of the fearless soldiers
who could be ever ready to make sacrifices of the highest order (while fighting
with the oppressive Mughal forces), and called upon thousands of his followers /
congregation assembled at Anandpur Sahib on that Baisakhi Day, to come forward
and offer their heads / services for the sake and welfare of their community,
nobody from amongst the so called upper caste people could dare to muster
courage and offer himself. Then Guru Gobind Singh then repeated his demand for
that purpose and again emphasized the need for such valiant soldiers. Ultimately
those presented themselves before Guru ji were – Daya Ram, Dharam Dass, Bhai
Mohkam Chand, Sahib Chand and Bhai Himat Mal. Please note that all these five
brave men were from the low-caste families who were later on, designated as Panj
Piyaras by Guru Gobind Singh and their names were suffixed with the word “Singh”
and the female members of their families were suffixed with the word “Kaur”.
This is how Khalsa Panth came into existence.
13. And lastly, to give a more crystal
clear and logical image to the concept of reservation, the Government should
refix the percentages of reservation of seats based on the percentage of their
population during the last census i.e. census taken during 2011, but also ensure
that if any office, department, company or an educational institute does not
respect the sanctity of this concept of reservation and violates these
constitutional provisions, heavy financial penalty should be imposed on him he
should also be termed as a cheater of society.
Not only that, all the private companies spread across
the length and breadth of India should also be advised to honour the reservation
policy of the Government of India and implement it in true sense of the letter
and spirit by providing jobs to the SC and ST category candidates in the same
manner and ration as it is prevailing in public sector; so that the pace of
providing social, economic and constitutional justice to them could be
expedited.
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R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”
Dated :
18th March, 2005