By X P Mao
It may not be an exaggeration to say that B R Ambedkar was one of the great men of modern India. He shaped the destiny of the scheduled caste and tribes of India. Ambedkar was soaked in the liberal political and social ideas of his time. Being a Dalit he suffered the brunt of a rotten caste system. A highly educated man who studied in some of the best universities in the west was put to humiliation by many including his own peon would not give him a glass of water to drink on the grounds that he was an untouchable. But Ambedkar is regarded as one of the important architects of the Indian Constitution.
It is true that MK Gandhi the father of the Indian nation spoke vehemently against the practices of untouchability in India. Gandhi could not see the drafting of the Indian Constitution or the practice of untouchability as a cognizable offence. It was only through the intense effort of Ambedkar that untouchability in all forms was treated as a cognizable offence. Hence Ambedkar can be regarded as one of the greatest men of contemporary India. Whatever may be the basis or origin of caste system in due course of time it was regarded as a very powerful weapon of discrimination and exploitation. The Hindu scriptures particularly Bhagavad-Gita treats caste system as a kind of division of labor. According to the author of Bhagavad-Gita, it is the competence or capacity of a person that should constitute the fountainhead of caste system. Guna(competence) and karma(action) constitute the twin pillars of caste system. But it may be pointed out in this connection that the author of Bhagavad-Gita fails to distinguish fact and value relating to caste system It is necessary that ordering of society should be based on competence and capacity of an individual. But historically speaking, the basis of ideal ordering degenerated into an ordering of society based on birth. Somebody is Brahmin only if he is born of Brahmin parents. This shift from competence to birth not only degenerated into a caste system based on division of labor to hierarchical ordering of society based on birth.
It is necessary to mention that nowhere in the world does caste operates in such a rigid system except in India. Interestingly, Ambedkar was not in favor of reservations of jobs for SC and ST indefinitely. As a matter of fact he suggested that such a reservation should be for a fixed period of 10 years only. Accordingly the 10 year limit was inscribed in the Constitution for reservation. But now things are different. After Constitutional amendment for jobs and employment for SC and ST the reservation policy is for all practical purposes extended indefinitely. The benefits of reservations given to SC and ST have inspired other caste groups to demand for the same. The Mandal Commission report and its aftermath are glaring testimony to the above point. Even in Tamilnadu Brahmins are demanding some kind of reservation for them because they are a minority. This informs that the reservation policy is not an effective method of fighting age old social injustices. The confusion gets worst confounded when demand is made to create clear cut reservation quota even in multi-specialty hospitals. To demand reservation in certain kinds of jobs and in certain institutions is intelligible but to demand reservation in multispecialty hospitals is absolutely unintelligible.
Reservation policy has exhibited the inner contradictions and absurdities. The contradiction is inherent in the reservation policy itself if it is beyond certain limits. Had Ambedkar been alive today he would have been aghast at the policy of reservation followed at present in India. By this I do not mean to argue that reservation is an absurd idea, instead, I would suggest that equal opportunity should be extended to all irrespective of caste, sex, creed and religion. An effective and meaningful way to eliminate the age old tyranny of exploitation and oppression in the name of caste, creed, sex and religion is through legislation in parliament. The policy of reservation may be a stop gap measure but it cannot be treated as a permanent panacea for centuries old exploitation, oppression and discrimination. It is a fact that even after scientific and technological revolution oppression, exploitation and discrimination continue to be there throughout the world in some form or the other. In the Indian context after independence, wealth has increased manifold. To borrow a jargon from economics GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is on the increase. But it is surprising that poverty and misery are also on the increase. Some people soak in luxury and wealth while a large number of people get impoverished day by day. There is no need to collect any data or statistics to prove this point; one has to simply go to a crowded railway station in cities and towns to see this. Slums are increasing and children of slums become street kids which also suggests that we have failed to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and misery from Indian society.
What is wrong? Where does the shoe pinch? The answer to these questions is that in India some privileged sections of the society have created socio-economic order where money and wealth get accumulated in the hands of few. This excessive wealth is used at the time of election and these people are in turn protected for all their ill gotten money by the elected politicians. This is how the vicious circle continues. Unless we check and change the process of wealth being accumulated in the hands of few, we cannot eliminate poverty and misery. Perhaps the idea of party-less democracy suggested by late Jai Prakash Narain in the late sixties is partly the solution. Further, austere life in the higher echelons of society is bound to percolate to the masses. Instead our day to day life clearly shows that privileges, benefits and other perks are added to the pay package of persons belonging to the higher status in the government. Unless this practice stops, poverty and misery cannot be eliminated. It is a fact that caste in due course of time has done extensive damage to the Indian psyche. Perhaps because of this reason caste was not taken into account at a particular stage in census enumeration .Surprisingly government of India has taken a decision to reintroduce caste in the last census operation. It may be suggested that while taking important decisions for a large number of people for long term measures utmost care must be taken because in the social ordering of human society, there is no one absolute and eternal method.
Laws and rules are necessary for managing and running a state but what is most necessary and primary is the change in psyche of humankind. It may not be an exaggeration to say that Indian Constitution is one of the best constitutions in the world. Further, the legal provisions in this country are superb but at it is also true that Indians are most degenerate. Rape, theft, murder and embezzlement of public fund is a day to day affair in India. Crimes of all types are on the rise. Historically speaking, any great people including saints and prophets are born in India. But one is shocked by the concrete facts of life. Perhaps, it appears more than true that our religion and culture have no impact on our lives. In fact there is a yawning gap between text and context. What can be done to save the situation? It is necessary to make comprehensive and effective laws. But what is most necessary is to bring about attitudinal changes. It is one thing to frame laws and rules and another to implement it them. We have succeeded in framing good and effective laws but failed miserably in implementing them. This is the lacuna in the Indian state as it has been suggested earlier. All out efforts should be made to save the situation. People at the helm of affairs should take a vow to lead an austere and moral life. Discrimination primarily is of psychic origin, so discrimination, exploitation and oppression can be eliminated only through a thorough psychic revolution. Ambedkar was aware of it, he took bold initiatives in this direction. Perhaps he was aware of what was going to happen in India in succeeding years. Abolition of discrimination, exploitation and oppression resulting in caste system is an imperative. Today, in India to prevent rape cases there are suggestions that the rapist be awarded a death sentence but no steps are taken to change the existing social and economic order and other conditions that in a way inspire an individual not to commit rape.
To conclude, human and social problems are very complex and complicated and require comprehensive methods and techniques. To do this, we should offer the right type of ovation to the founding fathers of our Constitution particularly the chief architect Dr B R Ambedkar.
(The author is HoD, Department of Philosophy, NEHU, Shillong and can be reached at ([email protected]),