Political science

TAMIL NADU NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL

( A STATE UNIVERSITY ESTABLISHED BY ACT NO.9 OF 2012 )

Navalur Kuttapattu, Srirangam (TK), Tiruchirapalli 620009, Tamil Nadu

PROJECT ON

POLITICS OF RESERVATION

SUBMITTED TO
Dr.SUBBA RAO M.A.B.L.,Ph.D.,
(Assistant Professor in Political Science)
BY
M.MANOJ
I year B.COM.LL.B (Hons)
(Reg No.BC0150013)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the outset, I take this opportunity to thank my Professor Dr.SUBBA RAO from the bottom of
my heart who has been of immense help during moments of anxiety and torpidity while the
project was taking its crucial shape.
Secondly, I convey my deepest regards to the Vice Chancellor Arun Roy and the
administrative staff of TNNLS who held the project in high esteem by providing reliable
information in the form of library infrastructure and database connections in times of need.
Thirdly, the contribution made by my parents and friends by foregoing their precious time
is unforgettable and highly solicited. Their valuable advice and timely supervision paved the
way for the successful completion of this project.
Finally, I thank the Almighty who gave me the courage and stamina to confront all
hurdles during the making of this project.

Words arent sufficient to acknowledge the

tremendous contributions of various people involved in this project, as I know Words are Poor
Comforters. I once again wholeheartedly and earnestly thank all the people who were involved
directly or indirectly during this project making which helped me to come out with flying
colours.

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DECLARATION

I, M.MANOJ(Reg No:- BC0150013) do hereby declare that the project entitled

POLITICS OF RESERVATION submitted to Tamil Nadu National law school in partial
fulfillment of requirement of award of degree in undergraduate in law is a record of original
work done by me under the supervision and guidance of Professor Dr.SUBBA RAO,
Department of Political science , Tamil Nadu National law school and has not formed basis for
award of any degree or diploma or fellowship or any other title to any other candidate of any
university.

M.MANOJ
1ST YEAR B.COM L.L.B. (HON)
ROLL NO :- BC0150013

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The project is made up of secondary data collected from various sources like newspaper,
journals, magazine and website. From this project I came to know the different types of
reservation system in India and how they influence the politics of India. It also helps me to
understand the different group of castesand their quotas in different section like education,
employment in the government jobs. It also help me to understand the true shades about the
politics and reservation system in India.

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INDEX

CONTENTS

PG.NO.

INTRODUCTION

MEANING OF RESERVATION

HISTORY OF CASTE BASED RESERVATION

MANDAL COMMISSION

10

DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESERVATION IN INDIA

13

WHAT CONSTITUTION IS GRANTED?

15

JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION

17

VOTE BANK POLITICS

19

RENEWED DEMANDS FOR RESERVATION IN

RECENT
TIMES
CAN MERIT REPLACE RESERVATION?

21

CONCLUSION

23

BIBLIOGRAPHY

24

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INTRODUCTION
India is a wide country with huge population of about 1.2 billion people living in it. It
compromise people from the different religious and ethnicity. There is also a rigid caste
system prevailing in the country1. We live in a free country and this freedom is a gift of
democracy to us. Our constitution gives us the right to freedom and most to exercise this
freedom in an equitable manner. At the same time it is incumbent on the part of the state to
ensure that equality prevails in all section of the society.
However in todays chance one of the real barricades to this uniformity is the
RESERVATION SYSTEM.
India being a developing nation it currently facing many problems and the reservation
system is being one of them. The biggest question that lies in front of us is whether
implementing this reservation system has really helped the downtrodden? The current
situation has clearly shows that the lower castes are still discriminated in the daily lives. To
evacuate the casteism from the country it is important that we fight the reservation system
which alone will lead us to the development, competency, equality and unity2.

The main aim of the Indian reservation system is to increase the opportunities for social and
educational status of the unprivileged communities and take them in the right place of
Indian society.

1 I report.cnn.com
2 Slideshare.net
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MEANING OF RESERVATION
According to the dictionary meaning of reservation is the stated qualification by a nation
that describes the part of a standardization agreement that it will not implement or will
implement only with limitations. But reservation in India means different that the
reservation in India is a form of affirmative action designed to improve the wellbeing of
perceived backward and under represented communities defined primarily by their caste is
a phenomenon that commenced with into force of the Indian constitution3.
WHAT IS CASTE
In general caste means each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by
relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status.
In India caste has its own different meaning that the caste is the term used to describe the
complex system of social division that pervades life in India. Caste is an ancient hereditary
system that developed alongside and become intertwined with Hinduism. Caste determines
whom a person can marry, specifies what kind of work he can do, and even control what he
can eat or touch.Since the majority of Indian is Hindu, the caste system has played an
enormous role in the history of india, and it continues to exert tremendous influence on
modern Indian culture and politics.
The reservation system find its origin in the age-old caste system of india. The caste system
as its birth we are mean to divide the people on the basis of occupation like teaching and
preaching (Brahmin), kingship and war (kshatriya) and lastly business (vaish) etc, but soon
it came as an instrument to sive the socity on caste-basis, creating various wall between
different section of the society. Today we stand widely into Hindu, Muslim, SC, ST& OBC
with newer reservation coming up for other different section of the society like Christian,
Kashmiris, Jats, Patels, Tribalsetc4.

3 Oxforddictionries.com
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HISTORY OF CASTE BASED

RESERVATION IN INDIA
The idea of caste based reservation was first coined by the Willam Hunter and Jyotiraophule
in various forms in 1882.

HUNTER COMMISION
The Hunter commission was implemented by the maharaja of Kolhapur in
maharastra, ChatrapatiSahujiMaharaj in 1902. He introduces reservation in the support of
the backward classes to wipe out the poor quality of their life by providing them opportunity
in the state government. He is the first king in India to implement reservation policy.
In 1909, reservation was introduced in favourof a number of caste and communities that had
little share in administration by the British.
In 1933 British government comes out with communal award5.
COMMUNAL AWARD
In 1931, British government introduced the communal award by the British Prime Minister
Ramsay MacDonald. Mahatma Gandhi fasted in protest against it. The award was supported
many minority communities, and by leader like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. This award granting
separate electorates in BritishIndia for the forward caste, lower caste, Muslims, Buddhists,
Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indian, Europeans and untouchable etc.
Later, Gandhi and Ambedkar reached an agreement called Poona Pact6.
4 Psychology.wika.com
5 Everyspec.com
6 Militaryfactory.com
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POONA PACT
It refer an agreement between Dr. Ambedkar and mahatma Gandhi signed on 24 september
1932 at Pune, India. This agreement is all about to have a single hindhu electorate, with dalit
having seat reserved within it. Electorate for other region like muslim and sikh remained
separate.
In 1990 Mandal commission recommendations were implemented by viswanathpratapsingh
that a fixed quato of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for the historically disadvantage
classes of the society7.

MANDAL COMMISSION

7 Memidex.com
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The Mandal commission was established in India in 1979 by the janata party government
under the Prime Minister Morarjidesai with the mandate to identify the socially or
educationally backward classes. This commission was headed by the Indian parliamentarian
B.P Mandal to consider the question of seat reservation and quotes for people to redress
caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to
determine backwardness. In 1980, the commissions report affirmed the affirmative action
practice under Indian law whereby members of lower castes were given exclusive access to
a certain portion of government job and slot in public universities, and recommended
change to these quotas, increasing them by 27% to 50%.

SETTING

UP

OF

MANDAL

COMMISSION
The plan to set up to another commission was taken by the Morarjidesai government in
1978 as per the mandate of the under article 340 for the purpose of article like 15 and 16.
The decision was made official by the president on 1 January 1979. The commission is
popularly known as the Mandal commission with its chairman being B.P. Mandal.

OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

The commission estimated that 54% of the total population, belonging to 3,743 different
caste and communities, were backward. In 2006 as per the result of National Commission
for Backward Classes the number of backward caste in the central list of OBC is increased
to 5,013.

Assuming that a child from an advanced class family and that of a backward class
family had the same intelligence at the time of their birth, it is obvious that owing to

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vast differences in social, cultural and environmental factors, the former will beat the
latter by lengths in any competitive field. Even if an advanced class child's intelligence
quotient was much lower compared to the child of backward class, chances are that the
former will still beat the latter in any competition where selection is made on the basis
of 'merit'.

In fact, what we call 'merit' in an elitist society is an amalgam of native endowments

and environmental privileges. A child from an advanced class family and that of a
backward class family are not 'equals' in any fair sense of the term and it will be unfair
to judge them by the same yard-stick. The conscience of a civilized society and the
dictates of social justice demand that 'merit' and 'equality' are not turned into a fetish and
the element of privilege is duly recognized and discounted for when 'unequal' are made
to run the same race8.

To place the amalgams of open caste conflicts in proper historical context, the study
done by Tata institute of Social Sciences Bombay observes. The British rulers
produced many structural disturbances in the Hindu caste structure, and these were
contradictory in nature and impact . Thus, the various impacts of the British rule on
the Hindu caste system, viz., near monopolization of jobs, education and professions by
the literati castes, the Western concepts of equality and justice undermining the Hindu
hierarchical dispensation, the phenomenon of Sanskritization, genteel reform movement
from above and militant reform movements from below, emergence of the caste
associations with a new role set the stage for the caste conflicts in modern India. Two
more ingredients which were very weak in the British period, viz., politicization of the
masses and universal adult franchise, became powerful moving forces after the
Independence.

In

1990

Mandal

commission

recommendation

were

implemented

by

vishwanathpratapsingh that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector were reserved
for the historically disadvantage classes of the society. It provoked nationwide public
8En. Wikipedia.com
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wrath in 1990. At present we have a reservation system with a with a percentage
distribution of
Scheduled castes 15%
Scheduled tribes 7.5%
Other backward classes 27%
Total reservation 49.5%
General 50.5%9

DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESERVATION

IN INDIA
Based on caste, religion, gender, domicile status and other categories.
9 Quora.com
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GENDR BASED:
1/3 rd reservation provided for woman at panchayat level, in some educational
institution, jobs etc.

However, womans bill to extend reservation to parliament and state assembly is pending
from many year.
RELIGION BASED:
Some states extended religion based reservation. For example,
Andhra Pradesh extended 4% reservation for Muslims.
DOMICILE BASED:
In certain sates, jobs are reserved for those who are domiciled within the jurisdiction of that
state.
OTHER CATEGORIES:

Terrorist victims from Kashmir, e.g in Punjab.

Single girl child (in Punjab).
Migrant from the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Son/daughter/grandson/granddaughter/ of freedom fighter.
Physically handicapped.
Sport personalities.
NRIs have a small percentage of reserved seats in some educational institutions.
Candidates sponsored by the various organizations.
Those who have served in the armed forces.
Dependent of armed force personnel-in-action.
Repatriates.
Reservation in special school of government undertaking/PSUs, for the children of

their own employees (e.g. Army school, PSU schools, etc.)

Paid pathway reservation in place of worship ( e.g. Tirumala Venkateswara Temple)

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Seat reservation for senior citizens and physically handicapped in public bus
transport10.

WHAT
CONSTITUTION
GRANTED?

IS

Preamble:
India is a socialist democratic republic where justice (social, economic, and political) and
equality (of status and of opportunity) are secure to its citizens.

10 Youtube.com
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Fundamental Right:
As per right to equality, discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of
birth is prohibited, however, state can discriminated positively for the benefit of the weaker
section.
Directive principles of state policy:
These direct the state to work for social order, achieve social and economic justice, welfare
of workers, promotion of education and economic interest of SCs, STs and other weaker
section etc.

Part XVI Article 330 to 342 special provision relating to certain classes:

Reservation for seat SCs and STs in the house of people (article 330),

representation of Anglo Indian community in the house of people (Article 331).

Reservation of seat for SCs and STs in the legislative assemblies of the state
(article 332), representation of Anglo Indian community in the legislative assembly

of state (article 333).

Reservation of seat and special representation to cease after seventy year (article

334).
Claim of SCs and STs to service and post (article 335), special provision for Anglo

Indian community in education grants for their benefit (article 336&337).

National commission for SCs (article 338), national commission for STs (338A),

appointment of a commission to investigate the condition of backward (article340).

Control of union over the administrative of schedule area and the welfare of STs

(article 339)
Specify schedule caste (article 341), Specify schedule tribe (article 342).

In 1982, the constitution specified 15% and 7.5% of vacancies in public sector and
government-aided education institution as a reserved quota for the SCs and STs
respectively for the period of five years, after which the quota system would be reviewed.
This period was routinely extended by the succeeding government.
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Indias constitution guarantees equal right.

Article 14 says that The state shall not deny to any person quality before law or the equal
protection of the law within the territory of India.
Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on ground of religion, race, caste,
sex, place of birth, etc.
Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, etc.
At the same time, the constitution provide for a reservation system.
Article 46 says The state shall provide with special care the education and economic
interest of the weaker section of the people, and, in particular of the scheduled caste and the
schedule tribe, and shall protect them from social injustice and all from of exploitation.
Indias reservation system contradict it s own constitutions promise of equal right11.

JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION
Whereas it is true that 60 years ago almost all the families of certain communities were
backward but presently backwardness and poverty are not restricted to the communities.
Mandate provided by express word of constitution through Article 16, 46 and 335 has been
ignored. There were many suits filed because of this policy some of them were

11 The constitution of India

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In a fee disparity case D.P.Joshi Vs State of Madhya Bharat ( AIR 1955 SC334), No
capitation fee was collected for bonafide resident of M.B student and all other student who
were not having domicile of Madhya bharat were charged capitation fee which was Rs. 1300
for nominees and Rs.1500 for other state student. This rule was violation of Art. 14 and 15.
S.C held that this rule was not discriminatory.
Article 15(4) of our constitution empowers the government to make special provision for
advancement of backward classes. Similarly Article 16 provide for equality of opportunity
in matter of employment or appointment to any post under the state.
Clause 2 of article 16 lays down that no citizen on ground of religious, race, caste, sex,
decent, place of birth, residence or any of them be discriminated in respect of any
employment or office under the state
However clause 4 of the article provides for an exception by conferring a certain kind of
power on the government.
It empower the state to make special provision for the reservation of appointment of post in
the opinion of the state are not adequately represented in the service
Thus two conditions have to be satisfied:

The class of citizen is backward.

The said class is not adequately represented12.

In a case Balaji v/s State of Mysore (AIR 1963 SC 649) it was held that caste of person
cannot be the sole criteria for ascertaining whether a particular caste is backward or not.
Determinant such as property, occupation, place of habitation may all be relevant factors to
taken into consideration. The court further held it does not mean that it if once a caste
considered to be backward it doesnt means that it considered to be backward for the whole
time. The government should review the test and if a class reach the state of progress where
reservation is not necessary it should delete that class from the list of backward classes.

12Slideshare.in
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What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is reservation-friendly constitution but
nowhere in the constitution is the term backward class defined. What actually constitution a
backward class? What are determining of backward class? This question remains
unanswered and it is only the judicial pronouncement that they have been given some
meaning. Question arises how can reservation be made for something that has not been
defined?.

VOTE BANK POLITICS

According to the article 334 of the constitution lays down that the provision of the
constitution relating to the reservation of seat of schedule caste and the schedule tribe and
the presentation of the Anglo Indian community by nomination in the house of people and
the legislative assemblies of the state shall cease to effect on the expiration of the period of

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sixty years from the commencement of the constitution. In other words, this provision will
cease to have effect on the 25th January 2010, if not extended further.
The Ninety fifth amendment of the constitution of India, officially known as The
Constitution Act, 2009, extended the period of reservation of seat for the schedule caste and
schedule tribe and the representation of reservation of the Anglo- Indian in the Lok Sabha
and state legislative assemblies for another ten years, i.e. up to January 2020. Article 334 of
the constitution has originally required of seat to cease in 1960, but this extended to 1980,
1990, 2000 and 2010 by the 23 rd, 45th, 62nd and 79th amendment respectively. The 95th
amendment extended the period of reservation to 2020.
The politician is not ready to enforce the article strictly as it may result in the loss of vote
bank for them. The political laloos and ba
bus think of reservation policy mainly most of upper caste do not take real interest in the
political process of voting. In view of this either some one else misuse their votes or
voting right is simply wasted. Thus the votes depend on the middle class and lower class.
No political party is ready to stop this system. In simple word, this mean that reservation is a
bait to lure the consolidated votes of backward classes whose number are too big to be
ignored.
Our preamble of the constitution says that India is sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic,
republic, then how can the caste system prevail and consequently reservation? Today, the
evil system persists and play a vital role in the society as the major weapon for vote bank
politics. The whole prospective of mandal commission regarding reservation are gradually
being extended and expanded to the section of people, demanding reservation within
reservation. The initial condition of reservation was acceptable since at the time of
independence these SC/ST communities were weaker and exploited, but after so many years
of independence the same criterion of caste does not make sense. This has been used as
political puppet. It is purely for political mileage.
I am not against the low caste/tribe individual taking good profession but as professional
education, only right candidate should move up. If one really evaluates the requirements, the
mark in exam reflects in the student girt and determination in doing his work/career. If
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admission are to done for the low mark, because of the caste certificate, if the system turn
over the better dedicated doctors. Even in IITs, there are many candidates who leave the
curriculum in the middle since they could not withstand the arduous learning process. In
such a case why waste the opportunity of those who are really eligible for professional
studies13.

RENEWED DEMANDS FOR

RESERVATION IN RECENT TIMES
CASTE AND RESERVATION POLITIS IN INDIA
The hierarchy of caste and its role in politics and access to power and resource has created a
society of patron client relationship along caste lines.

13 Wikipedia.in
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Practice of vote banking is prevalent, where voters often back only candidates who belong
to their caste.

DEMAND OF CERTAIN CASTE TO BE INCLUDED IN OBC/SC/ST etc:

GUJJARS DEMAND FOR ST STATUS:
Gujarrs in Rajasthan have been demanding a ST status, instead of their current OBC status,
many were killed in the protest in 2008.
PATEL DEMAND FOR RESERVATION AS OBC:
Patel in Gujarat formed PatidarAnamatAndolanSamiti (PAAS) headed by hardikpatel. In
2015, the patidars, held public demonstration across the state seeking OBC status.
KAPUS DEMAND FOR RESERVATION AS OBC:
Kapu agitators protested seeking OBC status and set fire to Ratnachal express train in
Andhra Pradesh.
THE JATS DEMAND FOR RESERVATION AS OBC:
The present burning issue where army is called in to control the agitating mobs in Haryana
is the demand of jats for reservation.

CAN MERIT REPLACE CASTE?

When we think about a different option for the position based reservation system, merit
appears in our brain. Todaywhen an understudy applies for an affirmation in any college, the
confirmation structures are loaded with inquiries such as 'Are you SC/ST or OBC or General
Category?' How does it make a difference which classification does he fit in with, what
makes a difference is his legitimacy. A class can't choose whether he is qualified for
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confirmation or not. There numerous monetarily more awful off kids fitting in with the
forward classes however they can't get the products of such reservation simply by
temperance of having a place with the "general" classification. Once in a while these kids
having a place with the regressive classes don't merit and still possessthe important
legitimacy as against a kid who concentrated hard for a considerable length of time to get a
seat, in this way grabbing without end that seat since he originates from a specific religion
or standing for which our administration gives reservation. Numerous understudies
don'tmake it to the foundations as a result of the monetary reasons and the individuals who
don't fall in the reservation criteria donnot get a reasonable open door as well. Yet, for a man
to accomplish merit he should be instructed properly.But the vast majority of the classes
don't have the money related guide to get taught legitimately. The young men and young
ladies who achieve the top have not becomebrilliant overnight; the establishment of the
legend force of these remarkable splendid understudies would have been laid right from the
elementary school stage.Years of managed exertion could alone raise them to the apexes of
perfection. Can the administration give such sort of training right from underneath for each
resident the SCs, STs in reverse classes, other in reverse classes and heft of the
pooramong the purported 'forward groups'? At that point there will be no requirement for
any reservation.
In this way rank ought to be supplanted by the budgetary status of the general population
and not by merit.

CONCLUSION
In any way the reservation is not solution for the problem faced by the schedule caste and
schedule tribe or the backward classes. For what reservation, reservation is mainly for the
development of the education and economic status of the backward classes it can achieved
by the merit system and not only by the reservation. Reservation is a disease in our country
to wipe it out government first wants to destroy the caste system and slowly reservation
system. But it is possible only theoretically not practically in sense no political party in our
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country is not ready even talk about the reservation system because they afraid about their
vote losses due to such activity the vote from there caste was not came to them.
Politicians should stop using reservation system as a gimmick to have a permanent vote
bank. Education should not be a part of politics. Instead nurture the saplings right from
childhood for their bright future and then there wont be any need of so called reservation
system in India.
Reservation system it should be depend on the financial status of the family.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTERNET SOURCES
www.slideshare.net
www.quora.com
http://www.shareyouressays.com/
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/
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http://edition.cnn.com

BOOK SOURCE
THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

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