Twin mythologies : Merit & Citizenship

In my last post, I had pointed out that OBCs are not (cannot be) the dominant castes in the countryside, and most of them cannot be 'oppressors' of the dalits because they lack both the economic clout and the social rank (a function of their traditional, caste-assigned occupations mostly) necessary. But the chief argument Dr.Gupta put forth against reservations for OBCs was that : it goes against what he calls the 'larger democratic principle of citizenship'. He explains, in the same article : 'Reservations for OBCs are objectionable not because they would lower merit, that comes much later, but rather because they take away from the democratic, secular content of what it is to be Indian. Do we want India to become a country where people think of caste first or of citizenship? Are we to decide on our civic life on grounds of reservations and quotas or on the basis of universal principles?'

So it was the perverting of 'citizenship' that reservations would entail, in his view, that Dr.Gupta objected to..Given his principled objection, why did he feel the need to discuss the merits of the claim of the OBCs at all? And spice it up with gratuitous, unsubstantiated, information on the 'ruthlessness' of the OBCs? Is it because everyone who's someone in the media, industry, academia has declared an open season on reservations, and by extension - OBCs, and the good professor felt obliged to add his bit?

I had linked to the article in my post, and I am surprised no one took up this issue of 'citizenship', in the comments on the post.. (I've learnt now that most visitors here jump to the comments section without bothering to read the post they're commenting on .. like I said, open season and all..).

Anyway, the Mandal report sets the record straight on the inclusivity of Indian citizenship - you can also look at these post-Mandal figures on OBCs in the Central Government (Human Development Report - Caste, Ethnicity and Exclusion in South Asia : The Role of Affirmative Action Policies in Building Inclusive Societies, prepared by D.L.Sheth for the UNDP - page 72). Judging from these reports, you can hardly be blamed for thinking 'citizenship' in India is akin to membership in a very exclusive club. So what does citizenship mean for most OBCs? It has shrunk to the size of voting rights and little else.

The professor is also concerned about merit, albeit in a roundabout fashion. His views have gained common currency now - folks on the street and on television chant his views, without knowing who formulated these ideas. Karan Thapar used them on P.Chidambaram a few days ago - to enlighten him on how reservations had actually lowered educational standards in the South. Nanopolitan (a.k.a. Abinandanan), who's been conducting a very diligent exploration of the idea of reservations in the past few weeks, has recently published on his blog, a very readable 'article' on the mythology of merit. I suggest that everyone who's concerned about merit should read it.