mazum@iitcs.UUCP (Pinaki Mazumder) (05/16/85)
CASTEISM & RESERVATION: TWO POINTS
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POINT #1:
Caste issue has evoked a strong debate in the net and
very unwisely many readers who are not well versed with the
Hindu religion can be misled to conclude that the "casteism
by birth" is a theory propounded by the religion and the
nascent concept of "reservation" is to undo the "injustice"
meted out to the underprivileges (lower castes) over the
centuries by the religious high priests (higher castes).
The concept of "casteism" can be definitely traced into the
holy scripts of Hindu religion like the Gita (slokas 4/13),
the Manu Samhita, the Ayteraya Purana (1/16), the Mahavarata
(215/190), etc., and these references have strongly advo-
cated the "chaturvarna" (inappropriately identified as
"casteism") theory. Very frequently, many crusaders of
"casteism" accuse the Hindu religion by alluding the above
sources. But it may be clarified that the concept of "cha-
turvarna" was proposed by the sages in the olden days as a
theory of allocation of the social work and it was developed
as a strategy of best exploitation of human faculty. The
sages of the past partitioned the whole domain of human
activities into four generic classes and they identified the
three attributes (known as Satto, Rajo and Tamo) in the
human nature as the criteria for assignment of these classes
of tasks. The restriction of the policy was to exercise
one's faculty within the scope of one's assigned class. In
the olden days, this assignment of task was done strictly on
the basis of the ability of a man and not on his lineage.
The concept of "casteism" or "work assignment by birth" is a
degenerated practice of "chaturvarna" owing to the fact that
on the average the faculty of a man is the manifestation of
his acquisition from the environment around him. The famous
Indologist Maxmuller corroborates the above arguement in his
work:
If then with all documents before us, we ask the
question, does caste as we find at present day, form
part of the most ancient religious teaching of the
Vedas? We can answer with a decided NO.
Chips from a German Workshop
POINT #2:
Now that it is established that the "casteism" is not a
religious sanction and it was a corrupt manoeuevre to
exploit the people, like any other policy designed by the
economically priveleged people to aggrandize their economic
goal, is "reservation" a well-thought solution to reduce the
social inequity? A certain percentage of "reservation"
might be necessary to provide more inducement to the age old
underpriveleges. But a high percentage of "reservation" is
bound to cause discontent, malpractice and errosion of stan-
dard. Malpractices by the social hawks who usurp the
"reservation" quotas under the cloak of SC/ST by changing
their surname are rampant in India. Uncouth administrative
officers (IAS, IPS) holding "reservation" tags do bungle and
spawn incompetence. I do not think "reservation" can be the
panacea which will revitalize the ailing socio-economy.
"Reservation" in the government jobs and in the colleges may
help a few to be with the Jonses. But a large number (the
seething mass of millions) who dwell in the villages and
those who are in the rock bottom of the economy will remain
status quo ante. I feel that a better policy to uplift the
underpriveleges is to reformulate our national economic pol-
icies. "Reservation" is only a means of allocation within
the bounds of the existing policy and thereby it is a myopic
scheme to achieve a broad spectrum social upliftment. In my
view, our present policy is a little lop-sided with heavy
accent on urban development and lesser objectives on rural
economy. We are spending on millions of Rupees on Atomic
Energy while a very little has been done to harness the
rivers to yield hydro-electricity and irrigation. Many pub-
lic sectors and government agencies hog the national revenue
pampering only a few urbanites, while the farmers in the
country outback strive harder and harder with age old imple-
ments. If the government steps forward to augment these
facilities and pump in more money to modernize the villages,
it will help to employ and benefit the underprivileges. May
be the more government participation in the rural economy
will justify the government to exercise a better control
over the farmed goods and it will arrest the sporadic farm-
ers unrest and the syndroms of present Punjab stalemate.
May 15, 1985 Pinaki Mazumder
Department of Computer Science
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, Illinois 60616