Reservations and the Media

This is my first article on this forum called Chowk. I am here because I think this is one of the most democratic things to happen today.

I say so in the light of the fact that the conventional media, both print and electronic, has failed to evolve into a mature organism and this is perhaps due to the fact that more businessmen than journalists and more professionals have entered this profession for the sake of moolah rather than for any genuine commitment for the society.

Today, I begin with an issue which is close to my heart and whose coverage by the media has shocked the wits out of me i.e. the raging issue or rather a non-issue called OBC reservations.

OBCs which have around 60 percent of the population in this country called Bharat consist of various castes particularly the working classes-Barbers, Boatmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, washermen, oil-millers and numerous others.
Historically and in reality, this section of the society comprises of the section called Shudras, in fact all those sections of the society which were not the Brahmins, Rajputs and Banias were Shudras.

And, mind you the present day SC/ STs were not even included in the Varna system imposed by the Brahmin-Rajput nexus for centuries in this country. Nowhere in the world was such a devious system imposed on the 80 percent population of the country to keep themselves out of the loop of life. Untold, miseries were imposed upon these people in the name of Varnas, they could neither read nor write, they could not migrate from one village to another.

There were separate quarters for them to live, the people could not intermarry, and they would not climb up the social ladder, there was no equality before law and these people were like slaves. The domination of upper-castes was so pernicious that it would allow these people to breathe in open air let alone live.

It was only after the arrival of British and after the independence that the SC/STs and OBCs could at least think of being free.
Although the constitution had given them equality before law, but it could not ensure equality in society. For these low castes were still the scum of the society, the laggards, who were a burden on the nation. The government still was controlled by the high-born, the politics in their hands, business was theirs and so was the entire power.

However, due to some minor or major changes there was a change for the good also. Due to his sheer obduracy, Ambedkar managed to beat the class conscious Congress into submission and won for his brethren some concessions. These were yielded but grudgingly, but the major change was effected by VP Singh, the Mandal messiah, worshipped by some and castigated by others.

His gambit of giving the 27 percent reservations perhaps changed the entire political spectrum of India.In one stroke he had empowered the OBCs, the pushovers, who had been lost in the development debate. People, who had numbers but no political will suddenly emerged from the shadows and boondocks of Bihar and UP and numerous other areas and decided enough was enough.

This also led to the emergence of Lalus, Rabris, Mulayams and score of other leaders, ready to take on the caste politics till date being played with ease by the upper caste congress and Jansangh.This and perhaps the later developments are too known to discuss here.

However, one thing must be said that the upper castes, who have never considered the OBCs as their brothers have never taken kindly to this revolution by their standards of the low caste lohars, chamars, telis and their ilk. In the present case also, while Arjun Singh, he might want some votes, has tried to provide some succour to the OBCs through reservations in IITs and IIMs and other institutes of higher learning but this has been opposed by the rich and powerful upper castes.

Perhaps they forget that for four thousand years the Brahmins had simply reserved education for themselves, no one could learn Vedas, none could recite holy mantras, and no one could learn any skill which was not sanctioned by his caste. This was perpetuated with such conviction that even now the upper castes believe that India should revert to old system of Varnas, where they enjoyed all the power and pelf, no questions asked.

And guess which section of the society is upholding this notion? The much enlightened Indian Media.

In his edit page in The Indian Express Shekhar Gupta writes, "Arjun Singh is more direct, first pushing for reservations in private institutions and now slicing away half of the IITs and IIMs for reserved quotas. But his desperate bid to re-invent himself as V.P. Singh Mark II will not benefit his party. It will damage it as much as V.P. Singh Mark I did. Given today’s messy politics nobody wants to vote against any idea of increasing reservations. But he will only succeed in destroying these great institutions by politicising them. To that extent he will be more successful than his predecessor, Murli Manohar Joshi. And just as Joshi did, he will also turn away the middle-class, upwardly mobile, even small-town and aspirational voter in disgust. Further, it will not impress the OBCs."

Shubojit Mehta writes in Indian Express, “The first voice of protest against Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh’s decision to impose 49.5 per cent quota in IITs, IIMs and Central universities has come from the high-profile National Knowledge Commission (NKC), which reports directly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and whose mandate is to sharpen the country’s “knowledge edge”.

The above examples are not exceptions but the norm. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that ninety-nine percent of the Indian media is controlled by the upper caste and class conscious intelligentsia. Most of the journalists writing and producing stories might have their own constraints and the interests of their own to take care of.

However, in the interest of justice and journalism itself, it is important that they report events and news taking into account the versions of both sides and make the story more balanced.