RESERVATION

RESERVATION

It is a well known fact that the Government of India ‘reserves’ seats for those sections of people it considers backward in the fields of education and government services. Talks of reservation in the private sector haven’t really taken off as yet.

I, an S.T from Mizoram, am in the reserved category myself and find every need for such a reservation. Unlike a confident Mizo civil service aspirant I ran into who told me that she felt she had no need for reservation, I genuinely feel that the Government hasn’t erred in this department. (By the way, Miss.confident could not make the cut for the prelims we appeared together for).

Here, I would like to clear the air about the meaning of ‘S.T’s. It stands for ‘Scheduled Tribe’. Any group of people that the Government of India, chooses to club in this category are known as ‘Scheduled Tribes’. The President of India then issues this in writing in the Gazette of India and henceforth that particular community is known as a ‘Scheduled Tribe’. No particular reasons have been given for clubbing any particular group under this category, but, most of these groups lag behind in terms of development.

As anyone can tell you, the ratio of S.T civil servants is abysmally low for the All India Services – around 2%. Only the I.A.S, the I.P.S and the I.F.S (Forest) constitute the All India Services. And most of the S.Ts in India come not from the Northeast, but from central India – predominantly M.P. The Northeast S.Ts in fact account only for a small percentage of the overall S.T population in India. As for Mizos, in our entire 60 odd years of existence, we have produced only 3 I.A.S women to date :

Pi. Boichhinpuii of the 1970 something batch. After a 30 year hiatus!
Dr. Christina Zothanpari Chawngthu of the 2000 batch
Ms.Saidingpuii Chhakchhuak of the 2007 batch, after a 7 year gap.

That would be an average of 1 lady I.A.S officer every 30 years! Translation- An entire state in all its existence has produced only 3 lady I.A.S officers to date. That’s pathetic at best.

Why then, do people protest so much against reservation?
When the very Government that has been freely and fairly elected by the people of India chooses in all its wisdom to aid those societies that lag behind in development, why do the very people who elect them protest?!

The amount of neglect that the S.Ts have suffered for decades, translated into underdeveloped societies and conditions of living, is unfair by any standards. For instance, my mother never tired of telling me and anyone she came across about how my father never even knew what classes his children were in even, though he is educated. This would be unthinkable to an average mainstream Indian, since most of them are fifth (or so) generation educated. Realising this, the Government has decided to aid such communities by encouraging their participation in the decision making process of the country, by giving them reservations.

It is a well known fact that the Britishers who ruled India for 200 years deliberately kept the tribal areas isolated because of their explosive potential in a national movement -Dr.S.D.Sharma. This was amply proved by the tribal revolts such as the Santhal revolt or the Munda rebellions. While these revolts were ruthlessly crushed by the British, they taught the country about guts and about the very possibility of a revolt against the biggest world power of the time – the British empire. The tribals showed heart wrenching bravery and unity in the face of the most modern weapons of war that were ruthlessly used against them, never knowing when they were defeated and won the admiration of even the very people they revolted against - the British.

Reservation by the way, for instance, in the Central Services is no cake walk. You still need to make it on your own and get good marks on your own. While it is not yet known for certain, the cut offs only in the Civil.Service.Mains exams are said to be reduced by a few marks for S.T candidates. Frankly, at that stage it hardly matters; in the sense that the amount to be studied is so voluminous that the amount you have to study to get 10 marks more or less hardly makes a difference.

Why do people with no reservation grudge us this small respite? As the Supreme Court has ruled - living is not just about being alive. The right to live “with dignity” is as important as the right to live; for a life lived without dignity has no meaning at all. Thus when our right to reservation is mocked at or begrudged, a part of the essence of reservation is lost. On the other hand, this very reaction justifies the act of reservation. Here, I would like to state loudly and clearly that reservation is not something I’m begging for, it’s my Right. So stop treating it as a dole out or as some kind of charity that you are handing out to us. Because it’s not. It’s my legal and dignified Right. I’m not begging you for it and I don’t need your permission for it.





November 2010