The Jat uprising over reservations for sections of the backward class has left 10 people dead and about 150 injured. Trains have been disrupted and normal life has come to a standstill. There is also Hardik Patel who is on a fast unto death demanding reservations for the Patel community. The question is when will these demands end and how will things pan out in the long run if every section wants to get on the ‘backward’ bandwagon. Perhaps a time has come to review the Reservation Policy and to conduct an intensive study to find out whether it has actually helped to lift the most depressed sections of the SC/ST/OBC and other backward classes or whether it is benefitting the creamy layer of those reserved categories, thereby creating an elite class among them. Several suggestions have been proposed to government from time to time to make economics and not tribe, caste and class the determining factor for reservation. A classic case pointed out by Prof Ashish Nandy is that of Madhu Koda former chief minister of Jharkhand and a tribal to boot, who has amassed wealth from granting mining rights for coal and other minerals to various companies in his state. He is alleged to be worth almost Rs 6000 crore which is invested in foreign shores. Prof Nandy was castigated for making that remark at a Litfest at Jaipur because pointing out the bitter truth in these intolerant times has become dangerous. In fact an FIR was filed against Prof Nandy for defaming all tribals.
Coming to Meghalaya, if we scan the background of state civil service officers, barring an exceptional few, most of them come from families of politicians, bureaucrats or rich business families. This has created an elite tribal society that does not know what poverty is. Yet these same people are tasked to execute schemes for addressing rural poverty. This tribal elite is able to afford the best education, many of them outside the state and country (especially the children of politicians and bureaucrats). The Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) itself is mired in persistent controversies about how money plays a crucial role. In the last MPS selection tests, it was brought to the notice of the MPSC Chairman and other Members how majority of the candidates were allowed access to mobile phones in the examination halls to get their answers from the internet. The answer scripts of the candidates were shown to the MPSC Chairperson with proof of URL from where the candidates copied the answers from the net. It was a fit case for scrapping the exam and handing over the case for CBI investigation. But nothing happened. The MPSC went ahead and conducted interviews and declared the results. On examining the background of majority of the selected candidates it was found that they are children of powerful politicians, business families and serving police officers. That perhaps was the reason why MPSC didn’t cancel the MPS examination despite producing evidence of mass copying in the examination hall.
Hence the fruits of democracy and government jobs are cornered by the children of tribal elite families and creating tribal elitism. It is high time for the state to adopt a more nuanced reservation policy which addresses those who are economically weak and who are otherwise falling between the cracks and dipping further and further below the poverty line. This should be done while people’s anger has not yet taken a turn for the worse as has happened in Haryana where the agrarian crisis has brought untold sufferings on many.