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| Both Gandhi Ji and Pandit Nehru Ji were against reservations | | | Nikhil Gupta | 5/25/2015 12:14:02 AM |
| Communal award of Aug. 4, 1932 was made by the
British government on the failure of the Indian parties
to agree to the allotted seats in various legislatures of India to the different communities in Indian society. Mahatma Gandhi objected to the provision of separate electorates for the Scheduled (formerly "untouchable") Castes, which in his view separated them from the whole Hindu community. The Communal Award was announced by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, in August 1932. This was yet another expression of British policy of divide and rule. The muslims, sikhs and christians had already been recognized as minorities. This Communal Award declared the depressed classes or the lowest castes also to be minorities and entitled them to separate electorates. The effort to separate the depressed classes from the rest of the Hindus by treating them as separate political entities was vehemently opposed by all the nationalists. Gandhi ji saw the Communal Award as an attack on Indian unity and nationalism. He thought it was harmful to both Hinduism and to the depressed classes since it provided no answer to the socially degraded position of the depressed classes. Once the depressed classes were treated as a separate political entity, he argued, the question of abolishing untouchability would get undermined, while separate electorates would ensure that the untouchables remained untouchables in perpetuity. He said that what was required was not protection of the so-called interests of the depressed classes but root and branch eradication of untouchability. The five-fold division of Hindu society got further sub-divided into numerous castes (jatis) and sub-castes due to racial admixture, geographical expansion and diversification of crafts which gave rise to new vocations. According to this concept the caste of a person determined the status and relative purity of different sections of population. Caste determined who could get education or ownership of landed property, the kind of profession one should pursue, whom one could dine with or marry, etc. In general, the caste of a person decided his/ her social loyalties . The dress, food, place of residence, sources of water for drinking and irrigation, entry into temples all these were regulated by the caste coefficient. The worst-hit by the discriminatory institution of caste were the untouchables or the scheduled castes, as they came to be called later on. They were treated at much below level than even the worker castes or the shudras . The disabilities imposed on them were humiliating, inhuman and based on the anti-democratic principle of inequality by birth . The concept of untouchability was related with concept of pollution . At some places even the shadow of the lowest castes or the untouchables was said to cause pollution to the so called upper castes . Many organisations tried to reform Indian society at that time . Gandhi Ji also did a lot of work for the lowest castes and even called them as Harijans . Gandhi ji always had in mind the objective of eradicating untouchability by root and branch. His ideas were based on the grounds of humanism and reason. He argued that the Hindu scriptures did not sanction untouchability and even if they did, they should be ignored since truth cannot be confined within the covers of a book. In 1932, he founded the All India Harijan Sangh. The Congress governments in various provinces after 1937 did some useful work for the upliftment of the depressed classes; for instance, free education for Harijans (untouchables) was introduced in some provinces. The titular leaders of states like Travancore, Indore and Devas themselves took the initiative in opening all state temples by proclamation .The temples were closed for these lowest castes and brahmins and pujaries of these temples saw to it that no lowest caste person or untouchable could enter into the temples . The social reform movements also strove to undermine caste-based exploitation. From the mid-19th century onwards, numerous organisations and groups worked to spread education among the untouchables and remove restrictions imposed on them from entering temples or using ponds, tanks, etc. The social reformers attacked the rigid hereditary basis of caste distinctions and the law of karma which formed the basis of the religion-philosophic defence of the caste institution . Previously the lowest castes or the schedule castes were not even allowed to do meditation which is clear by the way a dalit caste person named Sambuka was said to be killed by God Ram in the story of Ramayana . Thus Gandhi Ji wanted to end untouchability for the dalits or the schedule castes and did not want them to remain untouchables for ever . To press for his demands he went on an indefinite fast on September 20, 1932 . B R Ambedkar ji who was leader of dalits or schedule castes felt that his group's special interests might be advanced by the government's system and so resisted concessions until Gandhi ji was near death . The result was the Poona Pact . Even though the constitution has abolished untouchability still there are various reports that signify this . Sometime back there was a report in the media that a temple was washed by the pujaries after a schedule caste chief minister Jeetan Manjhi visited that temple. Manjhi, who belongs to schedule caste, said that his colleague told him, how the deity and temple were cleaned soon after he visited the temple. So instead of giving more and more reservations to SC/ST/OBC castes or even to the religious minorities like muslims, Indian society should try to totally end untouchability and give equal opportunities to all castes including the upper castes or the castes that dont have any reservation in entrance exams and employment. Pandit Nehru Ji was also opposed to the concept of reservations. Addressing the Constitutent Assembly, Nehru had said that he and the others were opposed to reservations, particularly on caste and religions considerations, but had "reluctantly" agreed to "carry on with some measure of reservation" for the Scheduled Castes, given the history of discrimination that they faced and the expectation that the reservation would be limited to just 10 years. What started off as a temporary provision for just Scheduled Castes has over time extended to cover Other Backward Classes, and is being sought to be extended to religions minorities as well. And successive governments have over the years been pushing to extend the provision to promotions as well. It was a theme Pandita Nehru Ji would return to over the years, with a sense of growing alarm and despondency. In June 1961, in a letter to Chief Ministers, Pandita Nehru wrote: "It is true that we are tied up with certain rules and conventions about helping the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. They deserve help, but even so I dislike any kind of reservation… I react strongly against anything which leads to inefficiency and second-rate standards." Thus he did not want second rate standards in the jobs because he knew that this will end efficiency in the governmental system. No organisation can succeed if merit is ignored in that organisation. Consider an imaginary scenario just like some bollywood movie where a schedule caste person gets promotions due to his SC status and reaches officer class position and then he creates havoc by issuing illegal and unconstitutional orders. He starts marking his merit oriented subordinate officer as absent even when there are glaring evidences that his subordinate officer had not only come to office but completed his assigned duties and signed on the files and the schedule caste officer has also signed on the same files on same dates . Further consider that there is a kashmiri pandit woman officer who influences the schedule caste officer so much that he marks letters pertaining to her section to other officer who has nothing to do with that letter. Consider further that the same schedule caste officer claims to be expert in tenders and then leaves big big shortcomings in the tender. Consider further that the same officer belonging to SC category issues air permission for lifting of equipment on his own and without sanction of competent authority .
Consider further that even the boss of the schedule caste officer belonging to panjabi business caste of khullar, sood, ahuja etc listens only to the viewpoint of the said schedule caste officer. Can such an organisation succeed?
The organisations succeed when the officers have merit. It is a fact that merit is not dependent on the caste of a person. There are many schedule caste officers who have merit and they can easily compete in the open category also and there are many general caste officers who have very low merit. Therefore in my humble view merit should not be harassed but harnessed.
The content has no bearing on any person or any organization and the author is guided by the motto " THE ROYALE GUPTA WARRIORS NEVER FIGHT FOR THEMSELVES BUT FIGHT FOR A BIGGER CAUSE " . Vande Matram and Jai Hind. |
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