THERE ARE SEVERAL complexities within the Scheduled Castes (SCs) themselves. As per the Article 16(4) of the constitution of India a provision for reservation in government jobs has been made for the socially and educationally backward citizens of the country, who are inadequately represented in these sectors. But, there is no reference for sub-categories within the reserved ones anywhere.

 

From the very beginning of the implementation of this policy one community in each state has become politically dominant, which gained bureaucratic and economic benefits. Thus, the benefits of reservation for the people of the SC category were enjoyed by only three per cent of the total SC population. This three per cent comprises the creamy layer of this population. If we go through the following data we can get a clear picture about the SC category.

 

According to a report released by Justice Gurnam Singh in 1990, the number of Class I Scheduled Castes officers in the government jobs in Haryana was 147. About 121 of them were from the chamar category. There were 398 Scheduled Caste people under the Class II level of officers, out of which about 368 were chamars. It was the same story in Class III. Out of 18,834 Scheduled Caste members, the number of chamars was 16,432. The chamars were even found to be predominant in the Haryana Legislative Assembly. According to this report, there were 15 chamars out of a total of 17 Scheduled Caste legislators in 1987. This fact clearly demonstrates that only one segment of the community has progressed till now. The above data does not only reflect the terrible condition of the SCs in Haryana but also in other states. Though the statistics may differ, the situation remains the same in other states.

 

It is well understood that this kind of lopsided progress is harmful for the overall advancement of the SCs. In order to stop this, the Punjab government introduced a concept of reservations within reservations in 1975 for making government jobs available to the left-out castes. Likewise in 1994, the Haryana government introduced reservations within reservations for direct government jobs. It categorised the community members in two segments: SC-A and SC-B. The SC-A category comprises of 36 castes, like valmiki, dhamak, bazigar and others. The SC-B section includes chamars, jatiyas, ravidasis, ramdasis, etc.

 

As per a report of the Economic Survey Organisation of Haryana the number of people from the SC-A category has gone up in government jobs with time. According to the report, on 31 March 2003 the number of people from the SC-A category in Class I, Class II and Class III were 51, 172 and 2,573 respectively. In comparison, the report of Justice Singh put the corresponding figures at 26, 31 and 2,402 respectively. The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Rajnath Singh introduced this categorisation for the SCs in 1998. But when Mayawati, who belongs to the chamar community, came to the power she abolished it.

 

In Andhra Pradesh too the categorisation, which was introduced in 1997, was effective. But, even there it was abolished in November 2004. Haryana and Punjab still continue with the reservations within reservations system.

 

It is a bitter fact that the creamy layer within the SCs, which largely includes chamars, avail all the benefits of the reservation policy. In 1963 Jawaharlal Nehru stated that chamars had taken a major share of government jobs and other posts. In 1965 the Lokur Committee stated that the benefits of the reservation should percolate among the most backward castes in the country. So, according to me, the concept of creamy layer, which is applicable to the Other Backward Castes, must be applicable to the Scheduled Castes as well.