The Sub-Quota Fix

Minority versus majority has been a gaping fault line of Indian politics for long. Every few years, a trivial issue or controversial decision manages to return Indian politicians to the precipice of this religious identity schism.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court's recent judgment quashing the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for religious minorities under the OBC category for government jobs and in educational institutions– and terming it 'unconstitutional' – has once again underlined the apparent abuse of the reservation system by the political class. Incidentally, this is the fourth time that the court has struck down a minority quota for government posts. The court's reasoning is simple – there can be no distinction made or preference given only on religious grounds for a distinct quota within the OBCs. Any sub-quota granted should necessarily be on the basis of more backwardness than the rest. UPA bosses had announced the sub-quota last December, ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

President of the AP Backward Classes Welfare Association R Krishnaiah, who had filed the petition in the court challenging the sub-quota asserts that the Center put its weight behind minority reservation only to cash in on the then upcoming assembly polls in five states.“But reservations are not a poverty alleviation program or a vote bank generating ploy. They are meant for removing social inequality and backwardness,” he asserts. Unfortunately for the Congress, Muslims voters in Uttar Pradesh remained largely unaffected by the sub quota lollipop evident in the party's eventual debacle in the polls. Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid now says that the Center will approach the Supreme Court with a special petition against the High Court's decision.

Whatever the end result of the sub-quota quagmire, the talk of minority reservation has opened a hornet's nest once again – with various political parties and organisations pitted against each another. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman believes that the "government is misleading the nation, specially minorities" as religion based reservation is not sustainable. But the government's argument is that the sub quota for minorities was provided on the basis of backwardness and not religion.

Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, former OSD with the Sachar Committee says that there is every ground for Muslim reservation (given their backwardness as outlined by the Sachar Committee Report). He believes that the Andhra court struck down the minority quota because the Center's attempt at carving a sub-quota was half-hearted in the first place. “They carved the sub-quota hurriedly on the eve of elections, which is why the AP high court could strike it down so easily. The normal process should have been to create a draft, circulate it among intellectuals, take feedback and then formulate a policy. But the purpose was not the betterment of Muslims, but petty vote bank politics,” he points out.

Mahmood adds that even the 4.5 per cent sub quota is not enough to bridge the socio-economic divide. Notably, the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission Report had recommended the implementation of 10 per cent reservation for Muslims and 5 per cent for other minorities based on social and economic backwardness criteria. Fact is that despite existing OBC quotas, Muslims are unable to land government jobs or education opportunities. As per the Sachar Committee Report, Muslims comprise just 3 per cent of the Indian Administrative Services, 1.8 per cent of the Indian Foreign Service, and barely 4 per cent of the Police Force. But is minority reservation – on religious lines – the answer?
Prof Rakesh Sinha, Hon Director, India Policy Foundation does not think so. “Those Muslims who are equivalent to Hindu castes such as Dhobi, Lalbegi, Julaha, et al, were given benefit of reservation under the Mandal Commission but the new demand is to bracket 4.5 per cent for Muslim backwards; accepting and legitimising such demand would encourage identity based politics for Muslim sub nationalism,” he counters.
There's no denying that quotas - if extended indefinitely - tend to discourage merit and competence. And while reservations for minorities may give politicians some immediate political gains, the long term solution clearly lies in affirmative action to enable minorities to compete better – with better education facilities, and social infrastructure at their behest. That perhaps is the only way for lasting equality in India's multi-ethnic society. But politicians, in their blinkered vision, are moving in the opposite direction. Religion and politics are volatile individually, and the explosion they can cause if combined is already a legend for India’s checkered communal history.