As happens with most things in India, the social structures penetrate into politics and make themselves visible in terms of economic demands. Reservations and quotas are the economic manifestations of this complex process.
IT is indeed ironical. The job reservation policies, especially in the government and public sector jobs, has worked so well that the erstwhile powerful castes, including the upper ones and traditionally well-to-do ‘other backward classes’ that are not a part of the quota system, feel threatened. They have fear this would affect their jobs, incomes, lifestyles and future of their children. Apart from the deep economic impact, they have concerns about the slow, but sure, erosion of their political and social powers. The power cycle, which kept the lower and backward castes out of the system, stands disbanded and is in disarray.
This summarizes the contemporary beginnings of the Jat agitation in Haryana, and its continuance today. The Jats want ‘reserved’ State government jobs, a demand which was granted by the State government last year although the decision was stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Now, they also want a quota in the central government. In effect, they want a higher say in the government per se, and in governance, or more political power. Those who are opposed to it contend that the Jats already occupy “prestigious” and “prominent” posts in the State government. The result, a chakka jam, or a face-off.
For decades, reservations in employment and education were debated in several nations, including India and the US. They were the attackers and defenders, vociferous supporters and aggressive status quoists. Economics and politics, social transformation and disorders, materialistic aspirations and ambitions, and prestige and honour entangled together to create a ‘quota chaos’. While demands were made to extend quotas to the private sector, critics said that the era of quotas was over as it had empowered several castes in the past seven decades.
Dynamics of ‘State’ jobs
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