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Can quota laws be put in 9th Schedule?
[ 1 Nov, 2006 0115hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


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NEW DELHI: Anguished over the indiscriminate use of the constitutional provision to insulate laws from judicial scrutiny, Supreme Court on Tuesday posed the crucial question can laws providing for quota, even if they appear to violate fundamental rights, be put in the Ninth Schedule?

The question assumes importance as the court's decision on the complex but important issue will determine the fate of the Tamil Nadu Reservation Act providing for 69% reservation to backward classes, which is in excess of the 50% ceiling mandated by the apex court.

Moreover, it will also have a significant bearing on the course of action of Parliament and legislatures, which are thinking of inserting laws providing for reservation to OBCs in central educational institutions as well as the anti-sealing law in the Ninth Schedule.

The poser from the nine-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal was both to the government, represented by Solicitor General G E Vahanvati, and the petitioners challenging the Article 31B procedure to put any law in the schedule to give it immunity from the danger of being struck down as illegal by courts.

Winding up his arguments, leading lawyer Fali S Nariman appealed to the apex court to interpret the width and play of Article 31B of the Constitution in a manner so as to prohibit its indiscriminate use to insert laws, perceived to be violative of fundamental rights, in the Ninth Schedule and shield it from judicial scrutiny.

The Bench, also comprising Justices Ashok Bhan, Arijit Pasayat, B P Singh, S H Kapadia, C K Thakker, P K Balasubramanyan, Altamas Kabir and D K Jain, said the original intent of Article 31 was to save lengthy and multi-layer litigations over agrarian laws across the country.

That phase is over, it said and sought response to the question: "Can the legislature say that as the education and reservation laws are inviting a lot of litigation, they be also put in the Ninth Schedule?"

That precisely is the point, Nariman continued and said: "Enough damage has already been done to the constitutional scheme of things by putting all and sundry into Ninth Schedule and the court must interpret the provisions to stop further damage to the Constitution."

Senior advocate Harish Salve, while agreeing with Nariman, went a step further and took a radical stand that "Article 31B is not a laundry bag into which all laws, which have a spot on them, be tucked in endlessly".

He said after the declaration by the apex court in 1973 that Parliament's power to amend the Constitution does not allow it to tinker with its 'basic structure', there is no scope for the Ninth Schedule route for laws which are per se violative of the fundamental rights.

The arguments will continue on Wednesday.

Creamy layer in OBC quotas to stay: SC

November 24, 2006 12:50 IST

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking exemption of the operation of the 'creamy layer' rule within the Other Backward Classes for persons engaged in hereditary occupations

100% support from me. I am against any Mandal-ism. In my opinion, it was one of the worst things that has happened to the country.

yes indeed. it is something to be ashamed of!

Supreme Court seeks education quotas' report in six weeks
New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday granted the government six weeks time to place before it the report of a parliamentary panel examining legislation to reserve 27 percent seats in higher education institutions for other backward classes (OBCs).

A bench of judges Arijit Pasayat and S.H. Kapadia granted time after Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam informed it that the committee's report was tabled in parliament only on Dec 1 and that he needed some time to place it before the court.


Subramaniam had Oct 16 undertaken to submit the report and the matter was listed for hearing Monday.


Subramanian had stated that a bill had been introduced in parliament Aug 24 and had been referred to a select committee, whose report was awaited. He said the reservations would not be enforced till a law was put in place.


The bench, while granting six weeks time, had also asked the government to file its reply to a petition questioning the validity of the 93rd constitution amendment empowering the central and state governments to enact laws to ensure continuance of quotas.


In its response to a petition filed by Ashok Kumar Thakur challenging the 27 percent quota for OBCs, the government said: 'A policy allowing for reservation based on religion would violate the fundamental right to equality enshrined in the constitution. As a result, reservations for Muslims alone would be squarely discriminatory.


'The existing, and any proposed reservation policy, therefore, envisage reservation for all castes/classes that are socially and educationally backward, regardless of religious of religious faith,' the centre maintained.


Apart from the 27 percent quota, the central government said it would 'take all measures to increase the capacity of the various institutions of higher education to increase enrolment and access to higher education, which is at present low compared to several other developing countries.


'The objective of the government is to protect the interests of all sections of the society,' the government added.

Quota Bill: AIIMS docs on hunger strike

December 15, 2006 09:42 IST
Last Updated: December 15, 2006 13:00 IST

Fifteen resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences are on an indefinite hunger strike to protest the passage in Lok Sabha of the Bill providing 27 per cent reservation to Other Backward Classes in government-aided educational institutions.

"Fifteen doctors have gone on an indefinite hunger strike since Thursday night to protest the passage of the quota bill," AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association spokesman Anil Sharma said.

However, he said the doctors will continue to attend duty and services at the AIIMS will not be affected.

"The Bill did not take into account the Veerappa Moily Committee report that had suggested the implementation of reservation in a phased manner," Sharma said.


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Quota bill gets Parliament nod

December 18, 2006 19:04 IST

Parliament on Monday approved the controversial bill providing 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in Centrally-aided educational institutions with the Rajya Sabha passing the measure by a voice vote.

The House went in for a division on an amendment moved by Bharatiya Janata Party, which was defeated by 91 votes against and 24 in favour.

Replying to the marathon debate on the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said that a separate bill on providing reservations for OBCs in unaided institutions was ready and will be brought before Parliament later

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OBCs major landowners in the country: Survey
Mahendra Kumar Singh
[ 19 Dec, 2006 0130hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


NEW DELHI: In what could be a confirmation of their growing political and social clout, a recent study has found OBCs to be the major land-owning group in the country, with their share of land owned by different groups in rural areas coming to 44%.

The latest survey by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) shows that share of land owned by different social groups was 11.2% for STs, 9% for SCs, 43.5% for OBCs and 36% for others in rural areas. The per household land owned by OBCs, at 0.758 hectare, was higher than the national average of 0.725 hectare.

According to the survey, land owned per household was 0.767 hectare for STs, 0.304 hectare for SCs, 0.758 hectare for OBCs and 1.003 hectare for others.

The figures of the survey are drawn from a nation-wide sample and could reflect a trend on well-to-do OBCs purchasing land in rural areas even though there are no comparisons with the previous years. In urban areas, OBCs control over 36.8% of the land. The percentage of land owned by STs was 3.3%, SCs was 4.8% and others controlled 55.2%. The per household land ownership was about 0.145 hectare for STs, 0.041 hectare for SCs, 0.139 hectare for OBCs and 0.151 hectare for other groups, while it was 0.130 hectare for all households in urban areas.

Despite the emphasis on land reforms, the survey found that about 10% of rural households were landless — owning either no land or less than 0.002 hectare. The corresponding urban figure is 49%. This would indicate that high rates of migration are creating an increasing number of people who do not own their dwellings. The percentage of landless households as estimated by the latest survey (2003) was not very different from 1971-72, which was 9.6%.

When it comes to maximum number of landless households in rural areas, the percentage in the rural sector was Sikkim (31%), followed by Arunachal Pradesh (22%), Maharashtra (18%), Tamil Nadu (17%) and Himachal Pradesh (15%). This would show that a large state like Maharashtra still has a significant number of landless persons, perhaps reflecting poverty figures of deprived areas of Vidarbha and Marathwada.

The estimated total area owned by households in rural sector during 2003 was 107.23 million hectare. The corresponding area in the urban sector was 7.21 million hectare. The per household average land owned in the rural sector in 2003 came to 0.725 hectare, about 27% less than the corresponding figure in 1992 which could suggest fragmentation as well as creeping urbanisation in some cases.

The average land owned per household in the rural sector was highest in Rajasthan (2.077 hectare) and lowest in Kerala (0.234 hectare).

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Are Brahmins the Dalits of today?




At a time when the Congress government wants to raise the quota for Other Backward Classes to 49.5 per cent in private and public sectors, nobody talks about the plight of the upper castes. The public image of the Brahmins, for instance, is that of an affluent, pampered class. But is it so today?

Doctors in arms

There are 50 Sulabh Shauchalayas (public toilets) in Delhi; all of them are cleaned and looked after by Brahmins (this very welcome public institution was started by a Brahmin). A far cry from the elitist image that Brahmins have!

There are five to six Brahmins manning each Shauchalaya. They came to Delhi eight to ten years back looking for a source of income, as they were a minority in most of their villages, where Dalits are in majority (60 per cent to 65 per cent). In most villages in UP and Bihar, Dalits have a union which helps them secure jobs in villages.

At Ground Zero of the quota protests

Did you know that you also stumble upon a number of Brahmins working as coolies at Delhi's railway stations? One of them, Kripa Shankar Sharma, says while his daughter is doing her Bachelors in Science he is not sure if she will secure a job.

"Dalits often have five to six kids, but they are confident of placing them easily and well," he says. As a result, the Dalit population is increasing in villages. He adds: "Dalits are provided with housing, even their pigs have spaces; whereas there is no provision for gaushalas (cowsheds) for the cows of the Brahmins."

The middle class deserves what it is getting

You also find Brahmin rickshaw pullers in Delhi. 50 per cent of Patel Nagar's rickshaw pullers are Brahmins who like their brethren have moved to the city looking for jobs for lack of employment opportunities and poor education in their villages.

Even after toiling the whole day, Vijay Pratap and Sidharth Tiwari, two Brahmin rickshaw pullers, say they are hardly able to make ends meet. These men make about Rs 100 to Rs 150 on an average every day from which they pay a daily rent of Rs 25 for their rickshaws and Rs 500 to Rs 600 towards the rent of their rooms which is shared by 3 to 4 people or their families.

Did you also know that most rickshaw pullers in Banaras are Brahmins?

Do our institutes connect with the real India?

This reverse discrimination is also found in bureaucracy and politics. Most of the intellectual Brahmin Tamil class has emigrated outside Tamil Nadu. Only 5 seats out of 600 in the combined UP and Bihar assembly are held by Brahmins -- the rest are in the hands of the Yadavs.

400,000 Brahmins of the Kashmir valley, the once respected Kashmiri Pandits, now live as refugees in their own country, sometimes in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi in appalling conditions. But who gives a damn about them? Their vote bank is negligible.

And this is not limited to the North alone. 75 per cent of domestic help and cooks in Andhra Pradesh are Brahmins. A study of the Brahmin community in a district in Andhra Pradesh (Brahmins of India by J Radhakrishna, published by Chugh Publications) reveals that today all purohits live below the poverty line.

Eighty per cent of those surveyed stated that their poverty and traditional style of dress and hair (tuft) had made them the butt of ridicule. Financial constraints coupled with the existing system of reservations for the 'backward classes' prevented them from providing secular education to their children.

Who are the real Dalits of India?

In fact, according to this study there has been an overall decline in the number of Brahmin students. With the average income of Brahmins being less than that of non-Brahmins, a high percentage of Brahmin students drop out at the intermediate level. In the 5 to 18 year age group, 44 per cent Brahmin students stopped education at the primary level and 36 per cent at the pre-matriculation level.

The study also found that 55 per cent of all Brahmins lived below the poverty line -- below a per capita income of Rs 650 a month. Since 45 per cent of the total population of India is officially stated to be below the poverty line it follows that the percentage of destitute Brahmins is 10 per cent higher than the all-India figure.

There is no reason to believe that the condition of Brahmins in other parts of the country is different. In this connection it would be revealing to quote the per capita income of various communities as stated by the Karnataka finance minister in the state assembly: Christians Rs 1,562, Vokkaligas Rs 914, Muslims Rs 794, Scheduled castes Rs 680, Scheduled Tribes Rs 577 and Brahmins Rs 537.

Appalling poverty compels many Brahmins to migrate to towns leading to spatial dispersal and consequent decline in their local influence and institutions. Brahmins initially turned to government jobs and modern occupations such as law and medicine. But preferential policies for the non-Brahmins have forced Brahmins to retreat in these spheres as well.

Caste shouldn't overwrite merit

According to the Andhra Pradesh study, the largest percentage of Brahmins today are employed as domestic servants. The unemployment rate among them is as high as 75 per cent. Seventy percent of Brahmins are still relying on their hereditary vocation. There are hundreds of families that are surviving on just Rs 500 per month as priests in various temples (Department of Endowments statistics).

Priests are under tremendous difficulty today, sometimes even forced to beg for alms for survival. There are innumerable instances in which Brahmin priests who spent a lifetime studying Vedas are being ridiculed and disrespected.

At Tamil Nadu's Ranganathaswamy Temple, a priest's monthly salary is Rs 300 (Census Department studies) and a daily allowance of one measure of rice. The government staff at the same temple receive Rs 2,500 plus per month. But these facts have not modified the priests' reputation as 'haves' and as 'exploiters.' The destitution of Hindu priests has moved none, not even the parties known for Hindu sympathy.

The tragedy of modern India is that the combined votes of Dalits/OBC and Muslims are enough for any government to be elected. The Congress quickly cashed in on it after Independence, but probably no other government than Sonia Gandhi's has gone so far in shamelessly dividing Indian society for garnering votes.

From the Indian Express: 'These measures will not achieve social justice'

The Indian government gives Rs 1,000 crores (Rs 10 billion) for salaries of imams in mosques and Rs 200 crores (Rs 2 billion) as Haj subsidies. But no such help is available to Brahmins and upper castes. As a result, not only the Brahmins, but also some of the other upper castes in the lower middle class are suffering in silence today, seeing the minorities slowly taking control of their majority.

How reservations fracture Hindu society

Anti-Brahminism originated in, and still prospers in anti-Hindu circles. It is particularly welcome among Marxists, missionaries, Muslims, separatists and Christian-backed Dalit movements of different hues. When they attack Brahmins, their target is unmistakably Hinduism.

So the question has to be asked: are the Brahmins (and other upper castes) of yesterday becoming the Dalits of today?

Francois Gautier

Great article Swar! I have read other articles by Francois Gautier too. It's ironical that a phirang could see what our government conveniently chooses not to see....political myopia I guess 🤢