The Right to Compete

THE SUPREME COURT recently gave a verdict in which it permitted the state government to make a provision for sub-classification in the reservation of Scheduled Castes. This verdict was given by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court in the Davinder Singh vs the State of Punjab case, ruled by a 6:1 majority. The Supreme Court also suggested to the state that there should be a rigorous and data-based identification of the disadvantaged communities among the Scheduled Castes, and then it may sub-classify them for reservation.

This verdict created sharp debate in Indian society and politics. While on the one hand, political parties like Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) led by Chirag Paswan and others, who have the caste base of dominant Scheduled Caste communities like Jatavs and Dusadhs, opposed this verdict, on the other, various leaders of national parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress supported theverdict. Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustani Awam Morcha, for instance, who hails from the Mahadalit caste of Musahars in Bihar, strongly supported the verdict. However, political analysts, journalists and academics remain divided on it.

I am of the view that this verdict contains transformative content for making better the future of the most marginal communities in India.  I am an academic who has been researching on these communities for decades, and constantly arguing for the equal distribution of democratic opportunities and state-sponsored developmental resources among the marginal communities of India. During my research, I observed that among these marginal communities, most of the castes are almost invisible. Yet their community—political leaders, intellectuals, journalists, educated section and middle class—can enthuse political and social values. I wrote a book on it, Fractured Tells: Invisibles in Indian Democracy, published in 2016, in which I have argued that a large section of these invisible, most marginal communities, lacks the capacity to aspire for a better life due to the unavailability of certain basic minimum economic and social conditions available to it. It is noteworthy that many marginal communities, like Musahars in Uttar Pradesh, realising their historical incapacity to compete with comparatively developed sections of the Scheduled Castes, such asChamars and Pasis, are now demanding to move out of the Scheduled Caste category and settle into the Schedule Tribe category in Uttar Pradesh. By observing such cases, one may realise the helplessness of most marginal communities, even in the Scheduled Caste category.

It is interesting to note that in every state, a few communities, such as—Jatavs, Pasis, Dhobis, and Korees in Uttar Pradesh; Paswan (Dusadh) and cobbler (Chamar) in Bihar; Mala and Madiga in Andhra Pradesh; Mahar and Matanga in Maharashtra; Chamar and Valmiki in Punjab—have acquired visibility and got a share in development further to opportunities afforded through reservations. They have developed the capacity to acquire, which reflects in their constant assertion in the form of the politics of representation. Even among them, the second largest communities, such as Valmiki in the context of Chamar in Punjab, Matanga in the context of Mahars in Maharashtra, Madiga in the context of Mala in Andhra Pradesh, realise comparative deprivation in the context of getting benefit of reservations in the various government jobs in the states. A section of these visible Schedule Caste communities, in fact, creates capillary holes and sucks most of its benefit.

It is true that this verdict may not make available this social justice opportunity to most marginal communities in a few months, or even years. It is also not going to transform these mostly uneducated and voiceless communities and provide them the capacity to aspire and acquire in a few days, but it will certainly make these communities socially, economically and politically mobile towards democratic and developmental opportunities provided by the state. It may generate hope for the future within them.

This verdict is certainly transformative and may help in dissemination of democratic opportunities to the margins, but it needs to be supplemented by various supportive developmental policies which may strengthen these communities and provide them capacities to take benefit of the opportunities of reservation. The benefits of the verdict may be quick to reach the second and third largest but comparatively deprived communities, such as Valmiki, Madiga and Matanga, but it will take long to benefit invisible communities like Musahars, Badiya, Hari, and almost 50 Dalit castes in Uttar Pradesh; Mang, Chambhar and around 40 communities in Maharashtra; and similarly, in other states too. Owing to the various state-sponsored opportunities, only few castes of the Scheduled Caste list acquired aspirational capacities, visibilities and participation, but most of them still needs to evolve capacities to compete so as to take benefits from these opportunities. A rigorous, data-based and sensitive identification of such communities among the Schedule Castes may certainly help us to make this verdict beneficial and transformative. In spite of all debate around it, It is widely perceived by social analysts in the country that this verdict may help us evolve an equal society.

Chamars Pasismarginal communitiesSchedule castesSupreme Court