Should the government give reservations on the basis of caste? Or should it not?

 Caste reservation is one of the most controversial issues that has been going on in the country since years

Should the government give reservations on the basis of caste? Or should it not?

The question is quite simple, but when you try answering it, a lot of complexities get involved

We will try answering this question in the today

I am saying "we" because this video is in collaboration 

 this topic is so complex and detailed that when we got down to researching for it, then we decided

that it would not be enough to summarize 

We have split this video into two parts- in the first part, we will talk about the history of the caste system

and also the history of caste based reservation

Historically, what was the need that caused out leaders to bring in caste based reservation?

In the second part, we will talk about the impact of the caste based reservation

What will be the future of caste based reservation? Should it be continued or not?

So, let us begin with part 1

The topic of caste based reservation would remain incomplete if we do not mention caste based discrimination

How much discrimination on the basis of caste do you think is prevalent even today?

Is untouchability practiced even today? For those of us living in cities, we might presume that this is only limited to bookish information

is not practiced in today's times

You'd be surprised to know. Take a look at this map - it shows the percentage of households that practice untouchability

in different districts even today

In districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, this ratio is more than 50%

If you do not believe the data, you can hear it straight from the people. This is a ground report made by Quint after the Hathras incident

to find out how much of untouchability is practiced there

In 2016, SARI- Social Attitude Research India conducted a phone survey

in Delhi , Mumbai, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to ask how many of them saw discrimination take place in their homes

or how many of them practiced discrimination themselves

39% of the Non Dalit Hindu women admitted that someone in their household practiced untouchability

21% of the Non Dalit Hindu women admitted that they themselves practiced untouchability

60% Non Dalits in Rajasthan believe that inter caste marriages should be abolished

In the same survey, 43% of respondents from Delhi said that they opposed reservation and argued that seats should be allotted on the basis of merit

and not on the basis of caste

So the argument of those who support caste based reservation is that caste based discrimination exists even today

and so caste based reservation should continue

Those against it argue that seats should be allotted on the basis of merit and that caste based reservation undoes the equality in society

There are several theories behind the origin of the caste system

According to a theory found in the Rig veda, the first humans in our Universe

destroyed themselves to create our society

People of different categories that is, "varna" came out of their different body parts

From the head came out the Brahmans- the intelligent and knowledgeable ones and it is believed that they are responsible for our education

From their arms came out the Kshatriyas that were powerful and strong and hence considered as warrior

From their thighs came out the Vaishyas- the traders

From their feet came out the Shudras that do menial jobs in our society

One category is missing from this entire system- that of the Dalits

because they are not even present in this classification. This is why they are also called "avarnas"

that is, people who do not have any varna and they are given the task of cleansing

Another theory states that your caste depends on the deeds of your past life

So, if you did good deeds in your past life, you would be born as a Brahman in this life

and if you did not do good deeds in your past life then you would be born as a Dalit in this life

According to this theory, if a lower caste person wants to be re born into an upper caste in his next life,

then they should work dutifully within their own caste

Some people say that it isn't the caste that decides our occupation, rather it is the other way round

Since the Brahmans were more Knowledgeable, they became the teachers of our society

But it isn't only the Brahmans that can become teachers. Other people can also seek knowledge and become Brahmans

and the Brahman women could also marry a Kshatriya or a Vaishya man

but it was almost impossible for them to marry a Dalit or a Shudra

According to this theory, our caste system was a little fluid and anyone could become a Brahman by gaining knowledge

But we know that with the passage of time, this caste system became more rigid

and caste rules are everywhere to be seen

What work you do, who you marry, what temples do you go to and whom do you eat with-

all of this is dependent on caste

And people could not even shun their caste identities which is why, several lower caste people became Buddhists in the 6th century

Gautam Buddha, who was himself born as a Kshatriya, was against the caste system

And this conversion to Buddhism was not seen only in the 6th century,

In 1956, B R Ambedkar was a part of a mass conversion in which around 5 lakh lower caste Hindus converted to Buddhism

The caste system described by Mohak was theoretically very orderly

but no so in practice. But after the coming of the British,

this entire system changed and became even more discriminatory and rigid

It was discriminatory even before but after the coming of the British, it became even more so

The reason behind this is simple- the British wanted to make the task of administering India more simple

For the British, the entire system was extremely complex and so they wanted to simplify it

Henry Waterfield, who was employed at the Statistics and Commerce Department, India Office wrote in detail

the difficulties he faced when he tried to classify the caste system

You will get the sources of all this in the description below if you wish to read in detail

James Princep was a British scholar who was conducting the census of 1834

He found out that even in the Brahmans of Benaras, there were more than 107 distinct castes

For the 1872 census, Waterfield thought that it would be easier to classify Indians along the four varna system

Everyone today knows about the four varna system- it is that popular. But W R Cornish who was responsible for the census of Madras,

in 1871, gave a very famous statement- it is doubtful that there was any period during which the Hindus

were composed of the four castes only

He believed that historically, no such period existed when Hindus were divided only into four categories

and that even more divisions existed

So the British popularized the four varna system in which the Brahmans were classified at the top as the privileged class

With whose help were the British able to do so? With the help of the Brahmans themselves

Warren Hastings took the initiative in 1772 to formulate the Hindu Muslim law

For this, he hired 11 Brahman Pandits, who took advantage of the situation and applied Vedic laws even more widely

This is called "Brahmanism" or "Brahmanwaad" that was forced upon the Hindus because until then,

the Vedic system of four castes was not so widely practiced and nor did every Hindu practice it

It was forcefully imposed. And this is how the British raj increased the divide between the upper and the lower castes

M.N. Srinivas- an Indian sociologist describes how the British Raj made social mobility even more difficult

The intermingling of people from different castes became even more difficult after the advent of the British

Earlier, it was possible for people belonging to castes other than Brahmans to gain political power, but the British made this even more difficult

For example, Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy of India in 1910s, decided all the seats in public services would be filled up

by an open competition exam, which would be conducted in English

This was a huge advantage for the Brahmans of the Madras Presidency

because they were the sole ones who had the privileged access of learning this language

Due to this, Brahmans in Madras (who comprised only 3% of the population there) occupied more than 80% of the posts

So, in the princely state of Mysore, the Tamil Brahmans monopolized all the jobs

There were a lot of people in the 19th and the 20th century who took concrete measures against our caste system

Now, we cannot discuss about all of them , but there were three mentionworthy people- Shahuji Maharaj, Jyotirao Phule and B R Ambedkar

Shahuji Maharaj was the first person in India to implement reservations in his Kolhapur reign

Jyotirao Phule, who was born in the Shudra caste, was very inspired by the struggle of the slaves in America

In 1873, he established the "Satyashodhak Samaj" for the upliftment of the lower castes

He refused the sacrosanctness of the Vedas and refused to believe that only the Brahmans should have control over the Hindu religion

The biggest contribution in the 20th century against caste system has arguably been that of B R Ambedkar

He has written popular books like "Annihilation of caste" and "The emancipation of the untouchables"

He demnding separate representation for the lower castes that he also referred to as "oppressed" or "depressed" class

Separate representation not just against the British, but also against the Brahmans

He organized a Depressed Classes Congress in 1930 in Nagpur

an declared that for the safety of the depressed classes, they needed independence from both the British as well as the Congress

In August 1932, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald accepted the demands of Dr. Ambedka

and decided to allot separate electorates for the depressed classes

under which all the minorities namely, Mohammadians, Parsis, Anglo- Indians and depressed classes were being granted a separate electorate

A separate electorate would mean that only Dalits could vote in that particular constituency- which was the demand of Dr. Ambedkar

A joint reserved electorate on the other hand, would mean that all could vote but only Dalits could contest the elections

When Gandhiji got to know that the British had granted separate electorate to the Dalits, he announced a fast unto death

because he believed that this policy was creating a chasm between Harijans and the rest of the Hindus

But Dr Ambedkar remained unmoved- he believed a separate representation was the way to upliftment of the depressed classes

"We think that if you have a common electorate, we would be submerged

you see?

And the nominees of the Scheduled caste who would be elected, would be the slaves of the Hindus

and not independent people

But when Gandhiji's health began to deteriorate, Dr. Ambedkar had no other option

He had to negotiate in what came to be known as "Poona Pact"

And Gandhiji reassured him that instead of separate electorates, more reservations could be provided for the depressed classes in the joint electorates

So, the 78 seats reserved for them were increased to 148 after the Poona Pact

A lot of people believe that had Dalits been granted a separate electorate, then their situation would have been much different today

But all of this is guess work and we do not know what the actual situation would have been

because we neither have evidence, nor research

Post independence, the depressed classes were given reservation and political representation

in both education as well as public employment

for political representation, the system of join electorates continued. This is why out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats,

84 seats have been reserved for the Scheduled Castes

and 47 have been reserved for the Scheduled Tribes

Apart from this, when the Constitution was being drafted in 1950, Article 15 and 16 were added in it

which allow for special provisions being granted to uplift the socially and educationally backward classes

in terms of education and public employment

In proportion to population, 15% of the seats are reserved for Scheduled castes and 7.5% of seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes today

Before 1993, reservation only existed for the Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes but post 1993,

reservations were extended for the other backward classes as well after the Mandal Commission report

As per this report, 27% reservations were granted to the OBCs in government jobs and later educational institutions as well

which brought the percentage of reserved seats under the central government to total 49.5%

As for the state governments, they were given the power to extend the reservations for the rest of the communities

This is why you can see that today, the Maharashtra government talks about reservations for the MarathasRajasthan government talks about reservations for the Gujjars

The Haryana government talks about reservation for the Jats

In 2019, this reservation went one step ahead and granted a 10% reservation to economically weaker sections

belonging to the general category in the higher educational institutes

which brought the total share of reservations to almost 60%

"The youths of the economically backward sections in the general category

would get 10% reservation in education and government services

which would boost the morale of the New India"

This was the history of the caste system and the caste reservations

In the we will talk about the impact of the caste based reservations

Did it actually socially uplift the lower caste people?

Is this the ideal way to uplift them or could there be other suggestions to improve this system?

Should there be caste based reservations in the future or should they be removed?

What does the research on it say? We will get to know all of this in part 2 of the video

 Thank you!