Dr. B.R. Ambedkar & Caste Reservation In Jobs

 

Dr. B.R.  Ambedkar  &  Caste Reservation  in Jobs

14^th April –That day  this year was  the 130^th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B. R. 

Ambedkar who was popularly  Known as  Babasaheb ; It will not be out of 

place here to write a few lines in  respect  of  him who was  one of the 

greatest  personalities  of India in   our near past ;  He has contributed to the 

Indian Society to a large  extent in  many ways among which the most 

important were  as follows (in brief) –

 

 As a  Social Reformer –

  During his time (and still  existing to a large extent) Hindu society was 

 divided into various  castes with full of inter-caste hatred, mainly 

  exhibited by the dominant upper caste people  towards  the ‘Shudra’s   

  or various other working classes ;

  Dr. Ambedkar tried  to bring in  harmony  &  welfare  for all ;  He 

   understood that  without solving the caste questions the Social Justice,  

 Social  Harmony  &  Welfare  for all could not be brought in ; His 

experience  with  Casteism  & Unapproachability  opened another course 

in the social change & development  of Indian society ;

 He founded  the organizations like ‘Bahiskrt  Hitkarni Sabha’,  ‘Konkan  

Prant  Shetkari Sangh’ through  which he  fought for Social equality &  

Social justice from the  viewpoint of  the  oppressed  people belonging to the  

‘lower strata’  of the  society, mainly  the Dalits ;

 

A Role as a Builder of Indian Constitution  -

Just after independence Ambedkar, with his highly educational background  

was appointed as  the Chairman of the Constitution  Drafting Committee on 

29^th August, 1947 ;   In drafting  the  Constitution he had deeply studied  the 

Constitutions of  almost all  the famous countries of  the world,  especially  

of  England  &  also of  France  from  where he had introduced  the concept 

of Liberty, Equality  &  Fraternity  in the Draft Constitution ;

 

 He believed that the hatred between the upper & lower classes of our society 

must be wiped  out otherwise it will be very difficult to maintain the unity  & 

integrity  of  our country ;  As he himself  fought  for  the whole of his life to 

bring in  Religious, Caste  &  Gender Equality,  his  unique vision of  Equality,  

Prohibition  of  Untouchability  & Caste Discrimination in all forms were well 

 reflected  in  the newly drafted  Constitution of India ;

Therefore,  we observe  that , Dr. B.R. Ambedkar introduced,  for  the first 

time in our country  ‘The Cast Based  Reservation  System’  or ‘Quota System’

for the Scheduled Castes  & Scheduled Tribes etc.  to  create a Social  Balance   

as much  as possible in respect  of  Job  Distribution   mainly   in Public Sectors ;

        

 Recent  Criticism  of   the  Quota System

 The recent criticism  as  heard  mainly  in the urban sector intellectuals  of 

 the  upper caste  Hindus  are  as follows  (The  Author’s  independent 

 views,  along   with his own  remarks)  –

 

a)       Was the introduction of  ‘Quota System’ in  getting jobs  was 

        justified ?  For getting  the jobs  the selection should be on the 

        strict Merit Basis,  isn’t  it ? 

         Remarks – The  introduction  of the ‘Quota System’  in getting  

                the jobs  favoring the Students / Applicants  belonging  to the 

               SC/ST /OBC (now)  as  implemented by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar  

               in our Constitution was  a  small  attempt  of him  to   solve the  

               vast social  imbalance   &  social inequalities  remaining in our 

               society for many centuries ;

 

                Once, I had a discussion regarding this  with a very 

                 knowledgeable  senior  fellow of the upper caste (Brahmin) ;  

                He  had opened my eyes  by saying that “ Mr. Ghosh,   you 

                come from an upper caste,   it  is true,  as you have said that 

                for quota system  Some competent  persons of  the  upper caste 

                people are  deprived  of their jobs  whereas  Some  incompetent  

                persons from the reserved category  are getting advantage ;  But  

                you just think that  had  there been no  ‘Quota’ ,   No   competent 

                person from the SC/ST   group  would be  able  to secure his /her 

                job,  such was  the reality  in our  society   and that situation 

                would  have been  much   more unjustified ;

 

b)      If the introduction of Quota System was right  then what is the 

       justification  behind  it’s  continuation still now ?  Even after 70 

       years  of getting  our  Independence ?

          Remarks -  Because only of the facts  that firstly,  education 

                  could  not still  be spread  to a vast portion of the rural 

                  population  &  secondly,  cast-hatred is still  persisting  

                  among a large  portion of our both   rural  & urban society ;

 

c)      All right, once an  applicant from the  SC/ST group of people gets 

       a job  through the ‘Quota System’  he may be taken for granted to 

       be accepted as  belonging to  the privileged  class, then  what is 

       the justification behind getting him  again protected by the Quota 

        System  throughout  his  future service life  also,  i.e. in respect of 

        his/her future service benefits  like Promotion etc. ?

 

Remarks :  The same answer  as above, i.e.  he/she still needs be 

            protected  from the caste based Social Stigma  which may 

           be existing in respect of getting promotion   also ; 

 

There had been many other prominent contributions of  Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

towards  our society,  such as,  his role in the  oppressed  peasant Movement,

his role as an Educationist etc.   They may be due for a  future  course of  

discussion ;