Syndromic Promotions

The recent SC judgement on sub-categorisation is against the constitutional mandate

- YS Alone

THE recent judgement of the Supreme Court of India on sub-categorisation in the reservation category of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes is beyond comprehension. The Constitution of India does not recognise "a caste" but the group of castes, and hence, the judgement is against the constitutional mandate. Besides, the idea of representation gets completely demolished under such bifurcations as its methodology is deeply problematic in the light of diversity. The assumption about over- and under-representation has no empirical data, consequently, everything is based on imagined ideas and presuppositions. As has been pointed out by many that the communities who gave up their traditional caste occupation and opted for education are the ones who are employed in government services.

In the recent Parliament session, Member of Parliament Chandrashekhar Azad submitted that only two per cent jobs are in the government sector and the rest are in the private sector. This shows that the government sector provides only a small pool of jobs whereas the large pool of employment is in the private sector, which has no reservations. However, such a glaring reality does not become an issue; and the concept of reservation in private sector employment is neither demanded or even thought about.

The worst part is, similar such bifurcation on the basis of underor over-representation is not considered in the claimed open as well as the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. The open category too should go under such methodological deliberations as for the fact that how every time subversions are created constantly would become a reality in the public domain.