Biasness of an unBiased system
This isn’t the first time I am raising my voice, or rather my pen, against this bogus reservation system of India. Neither is this my last.
Before starting my rant on this age long debatable topic, it is imperative for me to be clear that in no way do I believe caste system has been completely eradicated from India and the entire notion of the reservation is an unwanted burden on the Indian economy. Dalit rapes and honor killings are almost a diurnal issue in the Indian newspaper nowadays. So instead of steering it on a nation wide level, I have decided to break it down demographically and address my stance. Being a general caste female, (a.k.a the second lowest strata of reservation system, general caste male, being the lowest) and getting discriminated in my JEE exams to the impact of my father’s professional status over his SC/ST peers, I think it is justified to say most of us have been a victim of the Indian reservation system, if not the caste system. But again, re-iterating my previous stance, I do not demand for the reservation to be completely eradicated from the Indian constitution, but amended. This, I do not say in terms of pure frustration, although it would be false to completely soft-pedal the ground of frustration.
Assam, or rather the North east, unlike the rest of India hasn’t faced the brunt and brutality of caste system. It is believed that the longest ruling dynasty of Assam, the Ahoms(with an staggering record of ruling 600 years) who could remarkably manage to keep a separate political identity thwarting all such attempts of the Mughals to invade and subjugate the region owe it to their excellent military division . The military ranks and positions in the army consisted of various tribes and cultures at significant positions. With the king himself as the commander-in-chief, three territorial governors were assigned the highest rank in the army- Bargohain, Burhagohain and the Barpatra gohain. Barbaruah is entrusted with the responsibility of supervising and governing the territories of upper Assam and the post of Barphukan is entrusted with the responsibility of lower Assam. These two ranks were permanent commanders in their respective jurisdictions.
The Ahoms followed a very organized form of military recruitment process. For this they applied a method which they had carried from their homeland or prevalent among the Thais- the Paik system. It was a system through which compulsory services were to be rendered by the men folks of the state to the king. Under this system, every adult male between the age group 16 to 50 was registered as a paik for state services, both civil and military. During peacetime they were to perform different crafts like making bows, arrows, boats, houses, construction of roads, embankments, tanks etc. During war, the same men were to perform the military services as soldiers. Over every twenty paiks there was a officer called Bora, over every hundred there was a officer called Saikia. A thousand paiks were commanded by the Hazarika. Three thousand paiks were commanded by the Rajkhowas, and six thousand paiks were commanded by the Phukons. Cutting to a few hundred years later, as per the census of 1891 on Scheduled Tribes and Castes, the Kalitas used to occupy a higher position among the indigenous castes of the Brahmaputra Valley and used to rank next to the Brahmans and Ganaks.
The main objective behind turning a few rusty pages of history was to highlight the significance of these titles and the luxuries they enjoyed that followed the responsibilities. The irony of it is that maximum, if not all, of these titles fall under the quota of either Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes. Reservation has been termed as correcting the historical injustice done to certain castes by the so-called “upper castes”. Categorizing such eminent titles of the past under the ‘backward classes’ is under no circumstances justifiable.
The initial reservations were only for SC and ST [article 15(4) and article 16(4)]. OBCs were included in the ambit of reservation in 1991 [article 15(5)]. In 2019, Economically Weaker Sections are also included [article 15(6) and article 16(6)].
Even in the semi tribal milieu of Assam, those castes had not suffered the cruelties and barbarisms that there counterparts underwent elsewhere, though there certainly had been privations and discrimination. In fact, during the early 15th century, Tantrikism, or the “Shakti Worship” was on it’s zenith, and along with it, the oppression of Morans, Kacharis and other Sudras by the then elite classes of Brahmans. It was then that Vaishnavism emerged, pioneered by the social reformer, Srimanta Sankardev. Vaishnavism embraced people across all castes including Bhutias, Nagas and Brahmans. According to this reform, the source of all energies or “shakti” is the supreme, formless God Vishnu. Worship of other idols and minor deities were forbidden, as well as sacrifices, rituals or ceremonies were considered unnecessary to attain salvation.
Due to it’s all-inclusive nature, as well as the increasing complexities of Shakti Dharma, Vaishnavism offered a form of respite for the common people. Democracy was established under Vaishnavism as early as 1537 A.D. This led to mass conversion and gave them a sense of dignity and mellowed the consciousness of subjection and inferiority.
By the turn of the 19th century the process of Hinduisation of the so-called non-Aryan tribes in Assam had not yet been completed. Different tribes had been in different stages of Hinduisation. The Census of 1881 clearly connotes the influence of Hinduism over other tribes around the post “first war of Independence”
Thus it is evident that the Bodo race alone constituted one-third of the population of Assam Valley. If to these we add 88,731 Garos of the hills and 19,752 Bodo of sorts scattered throughout the rest of Assam (scattered data collected from independent sources), we have a grand total of 983,716 persons of Bodo origin alone in the Province of Assam. It is impossible that so many races would co-exist for almost six centuries without mutually affecting each other and consequently, illogical to segregate them now on the basis of reservation.
The caste rules in Assam has always remained comparatively lax. The primary occupation of the people of Assam had been agriculture since ages, across all castes. There were of course, a few exceptions in the hereditary castes as the rest of India. The volume III, part V A of the Census of India 1961 talks at length about the occupation distribution among various castes of Assam. It is interesting to note that the distribution had never been completely based on the caste division unlike the rest of India. But what is more interesting to note is the figures from the population census of 1951.
According to 1951 Census figures, 45% of the Assam Plains belonged to Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward castes. Scheduled castes contained 5% of the population, whereas scheduled tribes, a little over 19% and the backward castes nearly 21% which alone is the combined population of both SC and ST in present day Uttar Pradesh. Let’s talk about representation of the minority communities from the North-East?
The striking fact about Assam’s economic development is that it has always struggled to be at par with the rest of the country. In 1950–51, per capita income in Assam was 4 per cent above national average. In 1998–99 it was 41 per cent below the national average at current prices and 45 per cent below the national average at 1980–81 prices. Between 1980 and 1990, per capita income at 1980–81 prices grew by 20 per cent in Assam compared with 40 per cent for all-India. Between 1980 and 1998, per capita income in Assam grew by 10 per cent compared with 39 per cent for all India. While the Indian economy grew at 6 per cent over 1981 to 2000, Assam State GDP grew only at 3.3 per cent. And though the growth rate of the Indian economy accelerated in the 1990s over 1980s, Assam’s economy decelerated in the 1990s. The poor growth performance is in all sectors. Agriculture, the primary occupation in Assam has grown only at 2.1 per cent per year over the 1980s and 1990s and has slowed down in the 1990s to 1.6 per cent. Manufacturing growth rate in the 1990s was higher at 3.4 per cent compared to 2.4 per cent in the 1980s, while services growth has decreased marginally from 4.9 per cent to 4.5 per cent. Although, in recent years Assam has made significant progress in the grounds of economic development(redefining CAA and the delusional Assamese), we are miles away from where we need to be.
And a big reason to this owes to the misrepresentation of the so-called suppressed communities, neglecting the truly merited students. Almost 220/588 seats of the Assam Medical Colleges are reserved for ST, SC and OBCs and 22% of engineering seats are reserved for SCs and STs. This is followed by the sluggish attitude of the kids of the so-called deprived classes. They are confident of easily getting a seat in the prestigious universities of the State as they only have to compete among a smaller group. This has negatively affected the society.
There is no doubt that unequals should not be treated equally. However, is the current system of unequal treatment perfect? Is it creating more injustice? Is it the only way out in a welfare-nation? It’s time to introspect. Denying India, the service of the meritorious candidates, who see them being overtaken by others with lesser academic performance or brilliance, is also a crime and injustice. As the saying goes- We are deprived from the deserved due to the reserved.
REFERENCES
CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 VOLUME III ASSAM PART V-A PRG. 46 A eN) Oedy. 925 SCHEDULED TRIBES AND SCHEDULED CASTES
Assam development report, 2010
ASSAM: A burning question, Hiren Gohain
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention ISSN (Online): 2319–7722, ISSN (Print): 2319–7714 www.ijhssi.org Volume 4 Issue 6 ǁ June. 2015ǁ PP.17–22
S. K. Acharya. “Ethnic Processes in North-Eastern India.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 23, no. 21, Economic and Political Weekly, 1988, pp. 1068–77, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4378523.
