Finally, the Haryana Assembly has passed the Jat Quota Bill on 29th March 2016. Along with the Jats, five other castes will now be eligible for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions as the Assembly unanimously passed the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill 2016. The Bill was passed within ten minutes.
Along with Jats, the other five castes who got reservations are: Jat Sikh, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Muslim Jat. The Bill creates an additional Block (C).There are 77 castes that are already covered under Backward Classes Block (A) and (B). As per the Bill, 10% reservation will be granted to these six castes in Backward Class Block (C) for Class III and Class IV, and 6% for Class I and Class II. They will get 10% reservations for admission in educational institutions. This new Bill takes the reservation quantum to 50% for Class I and Class II and 67% for Class III and Class IV government jobs. The Haryana government is also contemplating bringing another bill to increase the existing reservation of 5% for Economically Backward Persons (EBP) to 7%.
It is quite likely that this Act would be challenged in the High Court/Supreme Court. To avoid being struck down, the Haryana government has requested the Centre to include the Act in the 9th Schedule read with article 31 B of the Constitution to give it immunity from judicial review. The 9th Schedule was added to the Constitution by the 1st amendment, 1951, along with article 31 B to give a ‘protective umbrella’ to land reform laws that could be challenged in courts on the ground of violation of fundamental rights. The article 31 B gives immunity to laws placed in 9th Schedule. Such laws cannot be challenged in courts even if they violate fundamental rights.
The ground zero reality
This is all legalese. On the ground, the Jats are not happy with the new Act. Mr. Yashpal Malik, president of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, an umbrella group of Jat protesters said that he was not satisfied with the Bill. The Jats have demanded 10% in Class I and Class II posts, but the government has given them only 6%. Consequently, the Jats from 13 states are planning to intensify their agitation.
It is interesting to note that there is an all-party agreement about reservations for the Jats. Before this bill passed by the BJP government, Congress government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda had passed a Bill in 2014 granting Special Backward Class status to Jats and other castes.
The Hooda government had tried to push through the Act, but without any consultation with the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). No wonder that order was struck down by the Courts. It is quite interesting to note that at one level the Jats are actually fighting for restoration of reservation which the community had during 1991-94 and which was scrapped by Bhajal Lal. In that sense, the community is not fighting for reservation the way the Patels of Gujarat or Marathas of Maharashtra or Kapus of Andhra Pradesh are doing.
On one hand, if the Jats are asking for restoration of reservation, there are other caste groups who are opposed to this. Mr. Radheyshyam Prajapati who leads a 35-caste forum spoke against inclusion of Jats in the OBC category. They are threatening a counter-agitation if the Jats are included in this category. Though these groups do admit that the Jats are not as prosperous as they once were, they are against the Jats being included in the OBC list. They argue that Jats should be given reservation in some other category, not in OBC category.
In this context, one must also understand the position taken by Dr. Sukhdev Thorat, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR). He insists that if groups like Patels, Jats and Marathas want to be included, they must come forward with sufficient data and evidence on discrimination. He further insists on ‘exit policy’ to be considered if some groups don’t face discrimination. While this is a noble position, it is quite impractical as in our country, caste-based reservation is a highly sensitive issue. The OBC reservations have been in place since the 1990s, but till today, there have been no exclusions. The fight is always for inclusion.
According to Dr. Thorat, the real solution lies in holding caste census which should be used to examine the situation with respect to discrimination. It should also be studied with respect to employment, education and ownership of assets, and that too in comparison with other castes.
Do the Jats really need reservation?
The Jat reservation demand is a peculiar phenomenon. The Jats are socially dominant and an economically prosperous community and that too in a highly developed state like Haryana. The Jats are 30% of the population of Haryana and out of 12 chief ministers so far, ten have been from the Jat community. Given this reality, can Jats claim discrimination? And yet they are agitating for reservation. This needs to be properly understood.
The decade of 1990s saw tectonic shifts in our society, economy and polity. In 1990, the then prime minister V.P. Singh accepted the Mandal Commission report which gave the OBCs 27% reservations in government jobs and educational bodies. And in the year 1991 India adopted the New Economic Policy (NEP). These twins are the force behind the demands for reservation from various dominant communities in our country.
The Mandal commission empowered the OBCs with reservation. This is the silver jubilee year of the Mandal Commission report. In these 25 years many OBCs prospered in terms of government jobs and higher education. This has upset the balance of power in rural areas in almost all states of the Indian Union. The balance of power was shifting in favour of the OBCs much to the resentment of upper castes like Marathas, Kapus and Jats. The leaders of these dominant communities identified ‘reservation’ as the ladder to progress.
The NEP made structural changes in our economy. The land-holdings were shrinking. Today, many Jats in Haryana own 2-3 acres land per family. They saw a drop in their income from agriculture. As a consequence of the NEP, the Indian state was withdrawing from many sectors of economy and thus number of government jobs were shrinking too. Also by now, thanks to the 6th and the 7th Pay Commissions, government jobs have become extremely lucrative. A driver in a government company can earn nearly `35,000 per month compared to his counterpart in the private sector who cannot expect to be paid more than `15,000 per month. No wonder today everyone is eager for a government job which can be acquired through reservation.
The reservation demands must be understood against this backdrop. This is why yesterday’s ‘forward castes’ are willing to be called today’s ‘backward castes’ to avail of the benefits of reservation. Entire India is witnessing such demands from almost all quarters. The case of Jats of Haryana is being keenly watched by one and all. If the Jats succeed, can the Marathas and the Kapus be far behind?
