THE WHOLE NATION is demonstrating against or in favor of the issues related to the latest amendment in the quota policy. The policy mainly aims at reservation of seats in private sector and central universities for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

 

A point still remains in the minds of some persons that the government is still not sincere in its approach towards the policy. The article 335 of the Indian constitution says, ‘The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, constantly with the maintenance of the efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State.’

 

But, there is no such law to take any punitive measure if a person under the SC/ST category is denied a job in any government organisation. No warning is ever given if any government institution does not comply with the given provision. If this happens in the case of a government job then what will happen in the private sector? One good thing about the reservations for jobs in the private sector is that the provision is for all Dalits, including the minorities.

 

The corporate world is totally against the quota policy for jobs in the private sector. But, the companies like Tata, Bata and others actually have taken away the jobs of the people from the Dalit community. The chamars used to make shoes, but now Bata is doing that. These corporates argue that they will only take efficient people. But there are some cases where in reality the chamars do the actual shoemaking, and what Bata does is that it just provides a logo.

 

The main problem lies in the way our politicians deal with national and international issues and there is definitely politics behind this reservation issue. The actual difficulty is that the corrupt bureaucrats run our country and it takes a lot of time to pass any bill in legislative bodies.

 

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes is not against the reservation of seats for the OBCs, but its main concern is that in the midst of all this politics and protests people from the Scheduled Castes should not suffer. The total reservation cannot be more than 50 per cent according to a Supreme Court order. The reservation allotted to SC/ST is 22.5 per cent and if the reservation for the OBCs is kept at 27 per cent then altogether the reservation goes up to 49.5 per cent. Their point of raising their voices is that the SC/ST community people should get a proper representation in consideration of their population in the country.

 

The Indian constitution states that India is a secular country. Then, why does the Indian army have regiments like the Maratha, Jat, Sikh, etc.? Why can there not be regiments named A, B, C, etc. ? If we stick to the former ones then why there is no proper regiment for the Scheduled Castes. Earlier, there were regiments like the Chamar Regiment and the Mahar Regiment,but now the Chamar Regiment does not exist any more, though the Mahar Regiment still exists. When a candidate from the Scheduled Castes wants to apply for a soldier’s post in the Indian army he is not entertained on strange grounds, like ‘Today is the day for the recruitment for the Maratha Regiment or the Jat Regiment, so you are not qualified to apply.’ But, if he wants to join the army as a sweeper he is taken right away.

 

No body knows when our applications will be accepted. The demand for reservation for the SC and ST candidates in the private sector is only a small step towards claiming some space in the job market.