Backward Class Benefits and Social Class in India, 1920-1970

Author(s): Lelah Dushkin

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 14, No. 14 (Apr. 7, 1979), pp. 661-667
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 SPECIALARTICLES

Backward Class Benefits and Social Class

in India, 1920-1970
Lelah Dushkin

India has had more experience than any other country with systems of preferential treatment for
ascriptivelydefined,groups. Beginning with the Briti9h and some princes long before Independence and
continuing to the present day, such treatment has been the principal means of addressing the problems
of the lowest ranking castes and the tribal populations.
Today its suitabilit_and effectivenessin addressing these last problemsare thiesubject of both street
violence and constitutionaldebate. "Who really benefits?" it is asked. "What price is paid, and who
pays it?" "Is there any better.way of addressingthe problems?" These are only some of the questions
being argued and to which I wouild like to contribute some observationsin this paper.
In making my observations,I till be drawing on two bodies of material: the history of the Non-
Brahminmovement and Backward Class provisions in the former Princely State of Mysore during the
three decades before Independence, and the present-day provisionsfor the Scheduled Castes in India
as a whole.
INDIA has had m.ore experience than which feels threatened by or otherwise Girijans), about 43 million; and the
any other country with systems of prefe- opposed to the system, and those in Other Backward Classes, a catch-all
rential treatment for ascriptively defined power who grant the benefits for their category whose size is probably about
groups. Govenments have coped with own reasons and have their own priori. the same as that of the Scheduled
grievances and resolved problems of ties for distributing tliem. In addres- Tribes.' They are eligible only for
their own many times in this maanner. sing the question, "Who benefits?", educational benefits and, in a few
For example, the British used this we can assume that those in power see cases, economic ones.
mode, not only to meet Muslim fears some political advantage to the system After doing a good deal of work on
of Hindu domination but in a classic or they would not have adopted it. the Scheduled Castes some years ago,
application of Divide and Rule, when Thus we will discuss the issue with I turned to the Non-Brahmins in
they granted separate electorates in respect to the category of beneficiaries, Mysore.3 In the course of studying the
1906. Some Princely States in the but will return to this point at the- end. Backward Class provisions there I
South used it, when they found their In making my observations, I will developed some notions which I would
administrations overwhelmingly staffed be drawing on two like to apply to the present day
bodies of material:
by Brahmins, to get more appoint- the history of the Scheduled Caste! provisions. ITe es-
Non-Brahmin move-
ments for Non-Brahmins and thereby ment and sential idea is that if we are to answer
Backward Class provisions in
to strengthen support for themselves the former the question, "Who benefits from a
Princely State of Mysore
among the great majority of their sub- during the three system like this?" we have to ask, first,
decades before In-
jects. Beginning with the British and "from what kind of provisions?" There
dependence, and the present-day provi-
some princes long before Independence sions for the is a dimension of social class within
Scheduled Castes in
and continuing to the present day, it India as a the ascriptive category of beneficiaries
whole. For those unfamiliar
has also been the principal means of with these terms, that has to be taken into account.
let me sort them out.
addressing the problems of the lowest "Backward Classes" are Sometimes this is completely ignored
ascriptive
ranking castes and the tribal popula- groups (castes, tribes, and the Scheduled Castes or the Non-
religious groups)
tions. Brahmins are spoken of as if they were
officially recognised as eligible for
Today its suitability and effectiveness certain benefits homogeneous. Often the class dimen-
on ground of their
in addressing these last problems are relative sion is alluded to, but mainly in order
disadvantage. In Mysore,
the subject of both street violence and from 1921 to criticise the system by claiming that
until well aftbr Independ-
constitutional debate. "WhoV really ence, the BC included a small middle class or elite group
everybody ex-
benefits?" it is asked. "What price is cept the within the category is monopolising all
Brahmins and those whose
paid, arid who pays it?" "Is there any mother tongue the benefits. I submit that this, too,
was English: some 96
better way of addressing the pro- per cent of the is a distortion.
population. Thus the
blems?" These are only some of the term is synonymous
with "Non-Brah- Indeed, to oversimplify for a
questions being 'Arguedand to which I min" in its
broadest sense. In modern moment, both in the US and in India
would like to contribute some observa- India the
Backward Glass category has the confusion between the inherited-
tions in this paper. three main components: the Scheduled group nature of some problens and
It should be noted at the outset that Castes (called Untouchables, ex-Un- the socio-economic classes of the in-
in the type of arrangements we are touchables, or Harijans) who comprise dividual beneficiaries of efforts to
discussing there are typically three over 90 mnillionpeople or one seventh solve those problems has produced
political actors: a category of actual of the Indian total; the Scheduled intense controversy, but in opposite
or potential beneficiaries, a category Tribes (called Aboriginals, Adivasis or direction over time. The US, which

AAI

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April 7, 1979
TABLE 1: GAZE iTE AND NON-GAZETTE
APPOINmENTS IN MYSORE STATE
SERvicEs: PER CENT BRAEMN IN
SEb8ECT YEARS, 1918-1957
Year Gazetted Non-Gazetted
Posts Posts
1918 64.86 69.64
1930 69.67 54.13
1936 61.32 49.65
1947 46.89 37.50
1957 35.72 27.65
Note: Gazetted posts comprise the
top 2 to 3 per cent of posts in
the years covered.
Sources: 1918-36 Gazetted: Progress
Report of the Central Re-
cruitment Board, Mysore,
1930-1936. Appendix IVa,
p 14.
1918-36: Non-Gaz: Mysore
Secretariat "C" Statements.
1947: Report on the Work-
ing of the Rules of The
Public Services in Mysore
for 1948-49. Appendices X,
XI.
1957: Report of the Mysore
Public Service Commnission
for 1956-57, pp 82, 85.
assumed that the unit in the system is
the individual, 'discovered' in the 1960s
that some problems associated with in-
herited group identities are so intrac-
-table that various preferences were
adopted for racial/ethnic minorities and
women. Now these "affirmative action"
provisions are under increasing litiga-
tion. In India, by contrast, the assump-
tion has been that the unit in the
system is the group and the 'discovery'
has been that the beneficiaries are, of
course, not groups but individuals. In-
dividuals act, at least partly, in their
own sell-interest and this together with
their diversity by class has led to an
increasing rhetoric of outrage at the
system even by those initially favour-
able to it.4 Since it has always had its
enemies and is today subjet to increa-
sed public attention, this seems an
appropriate time to try to sort out the
factors of class and caste.
LEVELS OF BENEFrrs
We begin with the simple point that
different kinds of provisions appeal to
different kind of people. Moreover in a
situation of scarcity they also threaten
different kinds of people. If we are to
evaluate the suitability and effective-
ness of the provisions in meeting the
needs of different classes of beneficia-
ries, we have to sort out the benefits
by social class. I have, accordingly,
found it helpful to divide the Backward
Class provisions into three kinds. I
will first describe and evaluate them
with referencee to Princely Mysore and
ARC)
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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
will then turn to the Scheduled Caste British backers. And they took power
data at the national level. at Independence.
Elite Benefits Middle Class Benefits
The first kind I call "elite -benefits" The second kind of benefits I call
in the sense that they are of concern "Middle Class Benefits". These con-
only to a small elite within the cate- sist of appointments to Class III
gory, and also in the sense that they (clerical) posts and a variety of scholar-
involve things that the elites in the ship schemes to assist high school and
society at large want for themselves college students. The above gentle-
and their own offspring. These are: man spurned this kind of clerkly job
Class I and II administrative govern- and never needed the Rs 3, 4, or 5
ment posts, admission to the universi- per month that was paid out as a
ties and, especially, the medical. and Backward Class scholarship. But like
engineering, colleges, seats in Parlia- all politicians, he was profoundly con-
ment and the state legislatures, and cerned with how such benefits were
nominations to high office. For the distributed, and sought to obtain them
Scheduled Castes (SC) the first three for his own supporters. Since these
are provided by reserving percentages benefits are numerous but those who
for them., usually in proportion to meet the modest qualifications for
population, but for the first two, if them even more numerous, they lend
there is no "qualified candidate" avail- themselves to the political pressures
abl.e the seat or the job goes to some- for "distributive justice"" or, in the
one else. ITis happens frequently. words of the Durbar, "adequate re-
presentation". Politicians served on
In Mysore reservations were adopted the Central
Recruitment Board,, an
for the first two --- government jobs advisory body, and on
the District
and university education - but not in
Backward Classes Scholarship Com-
proportion to population. No reserva- mittees. The
pressures in this situation
tion was adopted in politics, but were to cut more
and more compo-
spokesmen of minority Non-Brahmin nent groups in
on the deal and to dis-
communities were nominated to the perse the benefits as widely as
possible
Representative Assembly if nobody within the category for
maximum poli-
from the community could get elected. tical
support. Particularly with the BC
What the elite from within the Non- Scholarships, which were
almost infi-
Brahmin community wanted was power. nitely divisible, Mysore
developed the
Not jobs, power, and for a' few years most
intricate system I know of for the
they sought it through appointments to
fine-slicing of a modest financial "pie".
decision-making civil service posts, as
one of them candidly stated in a 1921
Lower Class Benefits
debate: I
Our parents saw how Brahmin lite-
The third kind of benefits are
rates were getting on in life and "Lower Class Benefits" for the poor.
therefore thought that if we were These include Class IV posts as
educated we too could get on well. labourers and office peons,7 primary
Some of us were educated accord- and middle school fee remissions,
ingly. But what was the result?
We were about 7 or 8 graduates and books, slates, and midday meals, and a
when we went to the authorities and wide variety of economic programmes
asked for appointrnents, they offered of which loans and grants for housing
us Rs 20 and so on. Twenty rupees and house sites are the most important.
we could earn by having a cow. If Except for the Class IV
we pasied high exams it was be- jobs and some
cause we hoped for high appoint- school assistance in the towns, these
ments. . . schemes developed after Independence
It was only for about a decade that and are not to be found in Princely
persons like this relied primarily on Mysore's Backward Class system.
BC benefits to get what they wanted Those who were, in fact, concerned
for themselves and their own offspring. about poverty and rural problems did
By the late 1920s their close relation- not think of solving them with Back-
ship with the Durbar was eroding as ward Class benefits. Instead, they
they put more and more emphasis on called for drastic overall changes in
the electoral route to power, on consti- economic policy,8 which they believed
tutional changes,. and on agitations to would come with Independence and a
mobilise supporters. At the end of Congress government.
1937 they made common cause with
their former foes, the Brahmin natio- EFFSETIVENESS IN MYSORE/KARNATAKA
nalists, by forming the Mysore on- Well, how do these three types of
gress against the Durbar and its provisions work to benefit the different
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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY April 7, 1979

TABLE 2: CENTRAL GOVERNMENT S$ERVICES* OF INDIA: PER CENT SCHEDULED to elites in the society at larg-. The
CASIE BY CLASS OF SERVICE, SELECTED YEARS, 1951-1975 growth of private medical colleges,
financed by the "capitation fee" sys-
Class of Service 1951 1958 1966 1975 tem, did not ease the situation but
I: Senior Administrative, 0.55 1.17 1.77 3.42 put even more premium on money
II: Other Administrative 0.84 2.38 3.25 4.98 power. When, in 1974, a friend told
III: Clerical 3.15 6.95 8.86 10.34 me with delight that she had paid a
IV: Attendants, Peons** 9.37 17.24 17.94 18.64 capitation, fee of "only" Rs 40,000 for
her neice, and the college had been
Notes: * Combined Permanent and Temporary.
** Sweepers are included for 1951 and excluded for 195841975. kind enough to give her a receipt for
Souice: Reports of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled it, it occurred to me that any effort to
Triles (RCSCST) for the years: 1956/57, II, pp 160-161; 1960/61, counteract the power of money and
I, pp 277-278; 1966/67, p 15;1974/75, p 82. class advantage by adopting reserva-
tions was doomed to be subverted.
TABLE 3: MEDICAL COLLEGE ENROLMENTS - TOTAL NUMBER AND PER CENT
Stories of paymnentsto upcountry au-
SCHEDULED CASTE, BY STATE, 1972-73. SCHEDULED CASTES AS PER CENT OF
STATE; POPULATION, 1971 thorities for caste certificates suggest
amounts considerably less than Rs
Medical Colleges Population 40,000.
Per Cent Per Cent SC Middle Class Benefits
State Number* Enrolment** S Caste
If any, type of provisions is going to
Andhra Pradesh 6 5042 8.25 13.27
Assaim 2 1901 6.21 6.24 wvorkto promote the social mobility of
Bihar 2 1057 7.10 14.11 those eligible and interested in them,
Delhi 4 1682 5.53 15.64 it would appear to be the middle class
Goa 1 280 1.93 type. Of course, these provisions also
GCujarat 3 2142 9.24 6.84 work to the political benefit of those
Ilaryana 1 709 2.40 18.89
jam]nu anedKashmir 1 611 4.75 8._26 in power who influence or control the
Karnataka 7 6601 2.94 13.14 distributions. The Mysore experience
Kcrala 3 2829 4.74 8.30 ;ears out 1)oth of these statements.
MadhVa Pradesh 4 1364 9.68 13.09 Mysore collected extraordinarily detail-
Maharashtra 8 5228 4.93 6.00
MTanipur 1 78 2.56 1.53 ed caste data on, the distribution of
Orissa 1 789 9.63 15.09 educational enrolments and appoint-
Pondicherry 1 385 12.21 15.46 ments to services. Over the years they
Punjab) 2 1613 9.30 24.71 show not only that the proportion of
Rajasthan 5 2932 3.31 15.82
Tai1iil Nadu 6 3736 15.60 17.76 Non-Brabmins went up markedly, but
Uttar Pradesh 5 3035 2-64 2 1.0( that posts were rather widely distri-
West Bengal 4 1928 10.01 19.90 buted among the jlifferent castes.
India 67* 43942 6.59 14.60 Over time, however, particularly
Notes: * Colleges for which data are available. No data on additional 30 after Independence, the lion's share of
colleges. the posts and educational assistance
** For some colleges, only first-year figures were given. terndedto go either to the largest com-
All percentages computed. munities or to those who were well
Sources: RCSCST, 1971-73, Appendix VII, pp 280-285. situated to take advantage of them.
"India, A ReferenCe Annual", 1975, p1p7, 98.
Gradually in the 1950s and 1960s
classes of potential recipients accord- the middle-ranking non-gazetted posts spokesmen of some groups came to feel
ing to the experience of Princely Mysore as regards their responsiveness to aggrieved that, for one reason or
and modern Karnataka, its successor reservations is apparent from Table 1. another, they had been left out of this
state since the late 1950s? In the first 18 years, the proportion distribution system, yet financially and
of Brahmins at non-gazetted levels was educationally they wvere quite badly
Elite Benefits significantly reduced, while that at off.9
gazetted levels was hardly affected. Thus in 1q72, when Devaraj Urs
For elite benefits the record is un.-
even and the difficulties of implemen- This was for two reasons: those al- challenged the Organisation Congress,
ready entrenched in the administration in which the two dominant castes were
tation are formidable because of the
had many ways to resist recruitment very prominent, be did so in part by
many forms of resistance to them with-
in and without the government. In of Non-Brahmins to these posts, and building support amnong these "Other
many of the posts were filled by pro- Backward Classes" and the Scheduled
politics, as already noted, the Mysore
experience suggests that the best way motion, which takes several years. By Castes. He did this by-practising what
1947 the position had begun to change, he called "distributive justice" :10 dis-
to build up power is through electoral
and by 1957 the Brahmin percentage tributing the Indira Congress ticket
support, if you belong to a "dominant
caste". If not, it is difficult. The small had fallen! to 36 per cent, a reversal of among more communities and, as soon
its 65 per cent in 1918. as be won the election, appointing a
communities that. used to be repre-
sented by nomination lost this privi- new Backward Classes Commissioni, to
The most conspicuous case of the
lege in the early 1940s, and their non- revise the lists and recommend a new
ineffectiveness of reservations concerned
representation in politics has been a system of Backward Class benefits.
admissions to medical and engineering
grievance of theirs ever since. colleges, the most politically sensitive Lower Class Benefits
In governiment jobs, the contrast area of all. There were not many .such As noted already, pre-Independence
betweenthe elite "gazetted"posts and seats and they were extremely valuable MIysore mlade little use df Backward

663

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April 7, 1979
TABLE 4: PUBLIC SECTOR
CASTE BY CLASS OF SERVICE,
Class of Service
I: Senior Administrative
II: Other Administrative
III: Clerical
IV: Peons, etc, excl sweepers
Note:* 1966/67 percentage, computed from incomplete data.
Sources: 1965: Report of the (Elayaperumal)Committee on Untouchability....
1969, p275
1966/67: RCSCST, Appendix I, pp 91-97.
1971: RCSCST for 1973/74, p 138
1975: RCSCST for 1974/75, p 93.
TABLE 5: SCHOOL ENROLMENT
1973-74 - SCHEDULED
Category
Scheduled Castes
Enrolment ('000)
Per Cent of Age Group
Scheduled Tribes
Enrolment ('000)
Per Cent of Age Group
Remaining Population
Enrolment ('000)
Per Cent of Age Group
Source: RCSCST, 1973/74, p 75.
Class preferences to cope with poverty,
whether urban or rural. Thus I will
save my remarks on this level until the
next section.
EFFECTIVENESS FOR SCHEDULED
IN INDIA
Elite Benefits
Turning now to the Scheduled Castes
in India as a whole, we begin, again,
with the elite level of benefits. The
all-India statistics, which are published
annually in voluminous detail by the
Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and
Tribes, indicate that reservations and
related concessions have begun to
work more effectively than they used
to at this level. But not much more:
there is still much resistance in the
system here, and implementation takes
continual political pressure. After
nearly three decades the percentage of
upper level job-holders has slowly in-
creased (Table 2). Starting in the late
1960s, pressures were brought to bear
on the medical colleges in the states
and the national Institutes of Techno-
logy to admit more Scheduled Caste
students. Figures for 197.3, for 67
of the 97' medical colleges in the
country, show, that these efforts
have been successful in several states,
and that my experience in Karnataka
may be atypical (Table 3). There is,
however, no infoi-mation on what hap-
pens to the students after they are ad-
mitted and whether they actually
graduate.
664
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ECONOAIC. AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
UNDERTAKINGS IN INDIA - PER CENT SCHEDULED them. The change would have occur-
SELECTED YEARS, 1965-1975 red anyway at this level, even without
reservations, though not quite as ra-
1965 1971 1975 pidly.13
0.20 0.52 1.44 For the Scheduled Castes, however,
1.07 1.54 3.02
a mere increase in the number of per-
0.92 5.49 13.73
11.28* 15.96 26.29 sons with the necessary educational
qualifications is not enough. The best
example of this is the contrast between
the Central government services and
the nationalised industries in the mid-
1960s (Table 4). The industries had
the same number of employees but did
AND PER CENr OF AGE GROUP IN INDIA,
not reserve any Jol)s for the SC. The
CASTES, TRIBES, AND GENERAL POPULATION
disparity is most marked at the Class
III level, where the SC percentage in
Standards Standards Standards the services was almost ten times that
I-V VI-VIII IX and Up in the industries. When these figures
were made public, under the political
6,895 1,216 575 conditions described above, consider-
68.9 22.1 11.5 able pressure was put owlthe industries
2,845 to adopt the sazme prcvisions as the
409 189
59.3 15.7 7.9 services. In only a few years, these
bore fruit, as Table 4 shows.
53,453 13,064 6,711 Education. is the main itemn of ex-
90.7 40.4 23.4 penditure on the Scheduled Castes,
accounting for over three fifths of the
total. States pay for various schemes
The reasons for the pressures to im- assisting pupils up to matriculation
plement benefits were broug,ht to bear from high school, and the Centre pro-
in the late 1960s are suggestive of a vides post-matric assistance. Bcth of
point about the effectiveness of reserv- these have had their administrative
ed seats. The mere existence of a problems, but by comparison with
CASTES bloc of reserved-seat holders in Par- other expenditures on Scheduled Castes,
liament may not itself confer power. they. constitute a success story. The
Only during one period did it do so. post-matric scholarships scheme, which
This was during 1967-71, when Indira I would put in the "middle class bene-
Gandhi's majority depended on them fits" category, has been in operation
and they were led by an experienced since 1944 and now assists roughly
politician who demonstrated in August 350,000 students. It pays only a por-
1967 that he could and would defeat tion of their costs, but the policy is
the government if sufficiently provok- that all who are eligible and. apply will
ed.12 During this period. many new ge. help irrespective of budget limi-
provisions were adopted as well as tations.'4
stronger efforts to implement those
already on .he books. Following Indira Lower Class Benefits
Gandhi's electoral victory in 1971, those If there is any Scheduled Caste wel-
in power in the Centre and the states fare programmne that reaches, sizeable
sometimes decided that delivering the numbers of the rural poor, it is pre-
goods to SC voters was in their self- matric education. In recent years, the
'interest and sometimes did not. Whe- Education Ministry has begun coinpil-
ther they did or not does not seem to ing figures of enrolments at different
be directly correlated with the num- levels in comparisoni with the estimat-
ber of SC reserved-seat-holders in theired populations of the respective age
legislatures. groups (Table 5). In 1973/4 nearly 7
million SC pupils were enroled in
Middle Class Benefits
primary school, roughly two-thirds of
The middle level benefits do "work", the SC children in that age group.
at least to get jobs and scholarships What proportion of these were assisted
for people who would not otherwise by their state governments I do not
get them. Here there is a contrast know; presumably it was a good share
with the Mysore situation in one res- of the total. The numbers and propor-
pect: the main reason the Non-Brah- tions drop off at middle and high
min proportion in the non-gazetted school levels, btut are still significant.
posts changed in Mysore was that large Of appointments to Class IV jobs as
numbers of people of various castes got peons an.d attendants, there is little to
the education necessary to apply for say exQept that thle Scheduledt Caste
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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
percentage in the Central Services
reached the 17-18 per cent range twenty
years ago and has remained relatively
stable (Table 2). It has increased stea-
dily in the nationalised industries to
more than a quarter of the total (Ta-
ble 4). These figures omit the swee-
pers and scavengers, who are virtually
all Scheduled Caste. Whether this
picture represents genuine mobility is
questionable. If one is impoverished
and unemployed, a steady job as a
government peon looks very good. So
good, in fact, that what seems to be
develoiping as a result of the magni-
tude of the Class IV category and the
relative success of the reservations for
jobs as clerks and schoolteachers at the
Class III level, is a pattern of govern-
ment clientage. Studies available to
me15 suggest that approximately one-
eighth of all SC households have a
member working for government at
some level or another (state and local
as well as national). If this holds true
throughout the country, it is a major
feature of the condition of the Sche-
duled Castes today, and its implica-
tions should receive careful study- and
attention.
Other lower class benefits, besides
those in education and lower-level
government employment, do ncot seem
to have any discernible impact on
of the Scheduled
the conditions
Castes, and it should not be forgotten
that the overwhelming -nmajority of
the SC population is in this lowest
stratum. The main reason, it seems to
me, is that the major problems faced
by the poor are structural. Giovern-
ments are unwilling to take steps to
re-structure relationships, and where
they try to do so, these are instantly
and strongly resisted by those in the
dominant positions. In this situation,
doling out a few economic benefits
may help this or that individual but
does not cope with the problem. Al-
though there are a large number- and
variety of schemes administered by
the various state governments, they
are almost all small and scattered, and
rarely do they reach more than a re-
latively few people.
There are some exceptions to this
last point, but they are temporary.
When those in power really want the
electoral support of the poor, the BC
set-up provides a very convenient
mechanism for delivering the goods
quickly with a minimum of legal com-
plications. With the pipeline already in
place, a great deal can go into it in a
hurry if there is the political will to
do so, as the recent histroy of both
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April 7, 1979
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka This assumption is universally made in
illustrate.10 India, yet, as we have seen, there are
But in most of the states most of the grounds for examining closely to what
time the pattern is very different and extent it is true.
raises the question of whether we are, Taking the lower stratuumof provi-
in fact, dealing with a case of "preferen- sions first, it is only in connection with
tial treatment" for backward classes at Class IV appointments that the assump-
all. The Scheduled Caste welfare tion may have some truth to it, and
schemes are Wsupposedto supplement this is slight enough. In the Central
the economic programmes for the gene- services, the Scheduled Castes' share of
ral population, which are intended to appointments has stabilised at a figure
benefit the SC along with others. But (17-18 per cent) not very different from
often they tend to replace those pro- their proportion of population (14 per
grammes, and w.hen this happens the cent). Not very different, in other
claim that assistance is being given is words, from what they would be get-
fraudulent. The Scheduled Castes are ting if there were neither preferences
not benefitting from preferences but for nor prejudices against them. In
being deprived of what is rightfully education what the Scheduled Castes
theirs. get is not very different from what
For example, in Haryana, Scheduled others get under other headings, and
Caste persons applying for loans from where different, the concession is actu-
the general departments are taunted as ally a step on the way to universal
"sons-in-law of government" and told free compulsory education for every.-
to go to the "'Iarijan Department" one. In the area of those economic
where, in fact, little is available. Sche- benefits that are of such great import-
duled Caste politicians, lacking the anc.e to so imianypeople, we have al-
power to deternine how much goes ready seen rhat most of the time it
into the pipeline, are nevertheless posi- is the, Scheduled Castes who pay the
tioned (on the key District committees) price: in exchange for a small bene-
to determine how the pipeline is dis- fit under a "SC Welfare" heading they
tributed, a process which tends to be are, in effect, deprived of m!ich more
highly politicised. In this situation, the substantial assistance under a general
so-called beneficiaries have tG have a heading.
great deal of stamina and political ex-
The middle-class level of provisions
pertise.'7 Haryana may be an extreme
case, but the pattern, in one form or presents an intermediate situation, in
which the benefits do seem to have
another, is not at all unusual.
produced re.sults,.others may be giving
up something so that the Scheduled
CONCLUSIONS
Yet it is widely believed, every- Castes can have their share, but the
where, that the "Harijans" are being arrangement is generally accepted by
well taken care of by public opinion. In a situation of scar-
government
city where there are so many more
today. We have seen that in fact the
qualified people than there are jobs, it
record is very uneven, not only by
seems to be accepted as reasonable that
state and time period but by the type
these be distributed according to com-
and level of provisions. The middle
munal and other pressure groups. There
class benefits are much more successful
are gru-mblings and grievances expres-
than either of the other two types at
sed here and there, but as noted al-
assisting the relevant class of Schedul-
ready, the pressures in the situation
ed Castes and at winning their politi-
aLreto cut more and more groups in
cal support. But the belief persists, arnd
on the deal. Thus in recent years there
this gap between reality and public
have been more and more agitations to
perception suggests some final conside-
grant more benefits to "Other Back-
rations: namely, what, in fact, is the
ward Classes", to show more prefer-
price being paid for this system, and
ences for native sons rather than out-
v;ho pays it?
siders, and so on. The politicians who
Vvho Pays? mnakepolicy and influence its imple-
It is generaily assumed, whenever a mentation must become practitioners of
system of "preferences" exists for mem- the fine art of "distributive justice".
bers of an ascriptive category, that the Where successful, they derive their
price for it is paid by everyone else: own political benefit from it.
by persons who do not belong to that At the elite level, like the lower
category but who must pay the taxes class, we have a case where the bene-
or forego the iobs or scholarships that fits on paper differ from those in prac-
nIOWare given to the category in order tice, where the distributions are far
to right historic wrongs against them. less than they are believed to be, but
005
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
April 7, 1979
unlike the lower-class level, there! is
strong hostility expressed in public
opinion. In other words, the general
public in the class concerned believes
itself to be paying a far greater price
than it actually is. Since this is an
articulate class. the vocal protests (to
say nothing of the covert resistance)
against the alleged injustices are loud
and continuous. This is where we are
giveni the argument that the SC bene-
ficiaries are niot really "backward". If
they were they would not be in a posi-
tion to apply for admission to medical
and engineering colleges or posts as
Class I probationers in the first place.
This is also vhere we are told that
after all what is needed among doctors,
engineers, and top decision-makers is
competence, the implication being that
if such a person is Scheduled Caste he
must be incompetent.
This is also where we hear innume-
rable tales of persons being deprived
of appointments in favour of people who
ranked lower than they did in the
relevant examinations. No doubt this
does happen, but if all these people
were, in fact, paying the price for
appointments to Scheduled Castes,
there would be many more SC persons
appointed than there actually are. To
illustrate: supposing that 300 people
qualify for ten posts available. The top
nine are appointed on merit but the
tenth is reserved, so the authorities go.
down the list to finld a SC anplicant.
They find one at number 140 and he is
appointed. Whereupon all 131 between
him and the merit list feel aggrieved.
He has not taken 131 posts; he has
taken one, yet 131 people believe they
have paid the price for it. Moreover,
the remaining 159 often also resent
the situation, believing that their
own chances were, somehow, lessened
by the existence of SC reservations.
What is the Price?
Most analyses of this system address
themselves at some point to the ques-
tion of what price is paid for it. Our
material suggests that the price actu-
ally paid may be different from what
is commonly cited. 1 suspect that the
heaviest price is not that it perpetu-
ates the stigma of untouchability by
forcing benefit-seekers to call attentio'n
to their caste status. This has always
loomed much larger in the writings of
sociologists than in the statements of
the scheduled Castes themselves. Noris
it that it encourages weakness and de-
pendency on the part of recipients and
introduces incompetence and corrup-
tion into public life, as so often asserted
in editorials and private conversations.
Gee
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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
Such assertions can be treated with a
good deal of scepticism. The main pro-
blem riiay well be that it introduces
complacency and resentment into pub-
lic life' which are injurious to the Sche-
duled Castes.
I said at the outset that there were
three political actors: the category of
potential beneficiaries, those who feel
threatened by the system and oppose
it, and those in power who adopt it
for their own reasonis. There is a
fourth, non-active category: those non-
beneficiaries who do not oppose the
system and may be vaguely supportive
of the government's policies. What
seemns to have happened over time,
with the widespread belief that the
system is showing much more favouri-
tism to the SM than it actually is, is
that this category has increasingly
joined the opposition. Such people ac-
quiesce in the system but feel increas-
ingly resentful of what they think it
is doing.
In the course of my visits to India
over two decades I have noticed an
erosion and virtual disappearance of a
liberal-minded public opinion suuort-
ing private efforts to improve oppor-
tunities for the SC. Of course, edu-
cated people are against untouchability
itself. But the kind of people who might
have translated this into action to
assist SC indi-viduals and support pri-
vate programmes are inactive now, on
the ground that government is doing it
all and nothing more needs to be done.
As for everybody else, I find varying
degrees of resentment and resistance,
reinforcing whatever caste prejudices
they may also feel. In the circumst-
ances, one can uniderstand the 'appre-
hension, expressed by Scheduled Caste
leaders that if the system is abolished
there will be a wave of reaction and
they will lose what little they have
obtained.18 rhis problem may be built
into any system of so-called "preferen-
tial treatment" wherever it occurs in
the world, but it seems particularly
marked in India today. The price paid
in public opinion - the anirnosities,
*.mistaken beliefs, and their behavioural
consequences -- may be the greatest
price of the system, and it is being paid
by the Scheduled Castes.
Notes
I SC and ST iigures are from the
1971 Census. OBC comment is in
the nature of a "guesstimate" based
on extrapolations from earlier cen-
suses of communities still on the
OBC list (Nomadic and Seminoma-
dic and former Ex-Criminal Tribes
on lists of several states, Non-
Brahmin communities still on the
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BC lists in the South, early OBC
lists published elsewhere) and esti-
mates of those religious converts
from the SC and ST who are en-
titled to BC benefits in certain
states. In the early 1960s this OBC
category was about equal in size
to the Scheduled Castes, but now,
with revision and reduction of
various, lists, it appears to be less
than half that size. On the legal
history of this category, see Marc
Galanter, "Whio Are the Other
Economic
Backward Classes?",
and Political Weekly (EPW)
XIII: 43-44 October 28, 1978
1812-28.
2 Dushkin, Lelah, 1961. "The Back-
ward Classes", Economic Weekly
XIII: Oct 28, Nov 4, 18: 1665-68,
1695-1705, 1729-38.
1967. "Scheduled Caste
Policy in India: History, Pro-
blems. Prospects", Asian, Suirvey,
VII: 9 : September: 626-36.
1972. "Scheduled Caste
Politics' J M Mahar, ed, "The
Untouchables in Contemporary In-
dia" (Tucson: University of Ari-
zona Press) 165-226.
3 Dushkin, Lelah, 1974. "The Non-
Brahmin Movement in Princely
Mysore". Ph D dissertation, Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania.
4 Innumerable articles might be
cited in stupport of this point, To
give but one illustration, see V T
Raishekhar Shetty, "Reserv4tions:
Blessing or Curse?" Sunday States-
man Magazine, February 19, 1978.
He expresses similar opinions in
portions of his book, "Dalit Move-
ment in Karnataka" (Bangalore:
Christian Literature Society, 1978).
5 M Subbaiya in Prroceedings of the
Mysore Representative Assembly,
Oct 1921, 102-103.
6 The phrase was used with preci-
sely this meaning by the present
Chief Minister of the State, Deva-
raj Urs, in 1972. (Deccccn Herald
February 6. 1972). The - Durbar's
phrase was used in the name of
the committee appointed in 1918
whose report led to Mysore's basic
BC policy docuiment, a GO issued
in May 1921, namely, "Committee
Appointed to Consider Steps Ne-
cessary for the Adequate Repre-
sentation of BaackwardCommnuni-
ties in the; Public Service", Sir L
C Miller, Chairman. The phrase is
used several times in the Report
(1919) and later documents.
7 Class IV also includes sweepers
and scavengers, but the Scheduled
Castes (lo not need any reserva-
tions for these jobs because nobody
else will do them. Thus, when
Class IV fig,ures are computed,
the sweepers and scavengers are
normally excluded.
8 Mysore's reputation as a "model
state" was built largely by good
public relations and by invest-
ments in the towns. The rural areas
were relatively neglected as regards
many items of economic develop-
ment and social overhead. This
imbalance, in the state's priorities
was a constant theme of Congress
rhetoric during the 1930s anld
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY April 7, 1979

1940s in Mysoie. See Dushkin, op
cit, 1974, esp chapters 1 and 6.
See also James Manor, "Political
Change in an Indian State", Mysore
1917-1955. Australian National
University Monographs on South
Asia No 2 ,New Delhi: Manohar
Books and Columbia Mo: South
Asia Books, 1977), passim.
9 The largest such caste groups
were, the Kuruba shepherds (nearly
7 per Cent of the state's popula-
tion) and Beda "hunters" (nearly 5
per cent). Also aggrieved were se-
veral relatively small (1 to 2 per
cent of the population) communi-
ties, such as the Voodda earth-
workers, Yadava cowherds, Up-
para saltworkers, Agasa washer-
men. and Lambani "gypsies". See
Dushkin, op cit, 1974, 302-304. For
an example of the communal
understandings which had develop-
ed, see the data on the distribu-
tion of merit and- BC reserved
seats in Mysore Engineering Col-
leges cited in the law case, Vishwa-
nath vs Stalte of Mysore, AIR,
1964, Mysore 132 at 137, 139.
10 Devaraj UJrs in Deccan Herald,
February 6, 1972.
11 L G Havanur, Chairman. Deccan
Herald, October 31, 1972. The
Commission's Report was publish-
ed in four large volumes in 1976.
See esp Indian Express, April 28,
29 and 30, 1976, and Deccan He-
rald, May 18 and 19, for its major
recommendations and its political
reception. Also both papers, Nov-
ember 20, 1975. Havanur is now
the Law Minister of Karnataka.
12 Deccan Herald, Deccan Chronicle,
and The Statesnan, August 9,
1967.
13 The detailed caste data on educa-
tional enrolments during the
1940s and 1950s are summarised
in Dushkin, op cit, 1974, 289-296.
A comparison of the communal
distribution of government jobs
just before and just after States
Reorganisation at the end of 1956
is instructive : there is almost no March 22, 1977. This picture is
change in Brahmin.Non-Brahmin
proportions, yet the major group
of officials to join Mlysore came
from the Bombay districts, where
there had been few if any reser-
vations for BC, compared to prin-
cely Mysore, where there had been
many.
14 RCSCST for 1973-74, p 83.
15 Chandidas, R, "How Close to 17 Aggarwal and Ashraf, op cit, 1976,
Equality Are Scheduled Castes?",
EPW, IV: 24: June 1.4, 1969: 975- 18 The reaction may already have
980. See also the discussion of
Chandidas' data in. R A Schermer-
horn, "Ethnic Plurality in India"
(Tucson: University . of Arizona
Press, 19,78) pp 55-58. P C Aggar-
wal and M S Ashraf, "Equality
Through Privilege: A Study of
Special Privileges of Scheduled
Castes in Haryana" (New Delhi:
Shri Ram Centre, 1976) p 125.
16 The reference to Karnataka is de-
rived from my own observation
during the year 1975-76, numer-
ous Press clippings and interviews, sity, and so on.
as well as correspondence
since my departure, James
Manor discusses related mat-
ters in: "Structural Change in
Karnataka Politics", EPW, Octo-
ber 29, 1977: 1865-1869; and
"Where Congress Survived: Five
States in the Indian General Elec-
fion of 1977", Asian Survey,
XVIII: 8: August 1978: 785-803.
For Andhra Pradesh, see the Gov-
ernor's address to the Leg,islature
reported in Deccan Chronicle,
supported by field observation in
one reserved constituency by Janet
Benson, personal communication
1978 and "Political Activity in a
Parliamentary Constituency of
Andhra Pradesh in the 1977 Ge-
neral Election: Why Congress
Won", Asian Survey XVIII: 8:
August 1978: 804-816.
pp 168-173.
begun, with or without the re-
moval of SC reservations and
other benefits. Cf. New York Times
February 18, 1978 on the venge-
ance being taken since the ouster
of Indira (Gandhi and victory of
the Janata in the North. The In-
dian Press is full of items of
escalating rural violence against
Scheduled Castes, to say nothing
of the periodic urban riots over
BC benefits, the caste-communal
implications of renaming a u.niver-

Union Budget, 1979-80

B B Bhattacharya

The Central government Budget for 1979-80 is conservative as far as public investment and
resource mobilisation are concerned. The additional taxationmeasures are designed more to -makeup
for th1e loss of revenue on accoulntof concessions granted to a certain class of Ithe rural population
than with any overall objective of resource mobilisation.
Given the political and economic conditions prevailing in the country today, some of these
features of thie Budget are likely to retard the process of long-rungrowth with social justice and, there-
fore, need serious consideration.
THE Union Bud-et for 1979-80 seems herent in some previous budgets as sel and power tiller; (c) no basic
b be more concerned about the trans- w-ell. This budget has only accentuated change in income tax stiucture, parti-
fer of resources between different seg- these tendencies with consequent im- cularly corporate tax structure, except
ments of the private sector than about plications. Nevertheless, given the poli- for reduction of t-ax concessions for
thte overall resouirce mobilisation for tical and economic conditions prevail- long-term saving and investmnentin the
planned development. Even if we ing in the country today some of these organised sector; (d) increase in tax
ignore the usual ritualistic excitement implications may retard the process of concessions for agricultural credit and
about increases and decreases in tax lonig-run growth with social justice investment as well as further direct
rates on various commodities, we can- and, therefore, they need serious con- and indirect tax concessions for agri-
not ignore some of the long-term im- sideration. cultural income from the cultivation
plications of the budget. However, it of tobacco, mushrooms, etc; (e) further
may be mentioned at the outset that The main features of this year's bud- increases in agricultural and non-agri-
the basic features of the budget like get are: (a) additional taxation worth cultural subsidies with no efforts to
the attempt to shift production as well Rs 665 crores mainly through increases control them; and (f) large-ecale defi-
as benefits of development more and in excise and customs revenues; (b) ci. financing in spite of a high dosage
more to the agricultural from the major tax concessions on variouis agri- of additional taxation, and modest in-
non-agricultural sector have been in- cultural inputs like fertiliser, light die- crease in Plan size.

667

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions