Khagendra Kumar

In a caste ridden Indian society where the welfare state is trying hard to abdicate its responsibility of protecting the interest of its millions of marginal and deprived people, a small proportion of entrenched elites and well off people are trying to revert the ongoing efforts for providing sustainability to our development by creating mechanisms for patching the wide social and economic gulf exising in the society. In fact, the small entrenched class is deliberately striving to narrow the space of social and economic responsibility of the state by turning a socialist state into a capitalist economy insulting its peamble that is supposed to be the  spirit of the Constitution.

The political process is in the state of crisis. It was a simple understanding that a person working on the post of profit cannot contest election. Even a peon working in a government sector has to resign before contesting an election. But now a days an elected legislature not only gets handsome salary but he/she gets pension too. The Indian judiciary never questioned this understanding of 'working not on the post of profit'. In fact the politics has turned into profitable job. The judiciary appears equally to be in crisis. It may be recalled that 4 senior judges of the SC declared in public that democracy was in danger. But one out of the four was offered a seat of Rajya Sabha MP just after three months of his retirement which he candidly accepted. 

The judicial reform is badly needed. Elitist culture of the higher judiciary must be shunned. A large number of talented lawyers from smaller cities cannot accept cases as they are unable to argue in English. The British culture is still being carried as they wanted to retain the colonial system of imparting justice in English. There is an urgent need to make reforms in the judicial system so that the scope of legal practice could be widended and democratised in favour of hundreds of legal talents who can fight for the common people in their own language in court rooms. Thus,the relibility of the judicial process can be strengthened. The hegemony of English speaking lawyers can be removed.

In the above backdrop it is easier to distort the spirit of protective discrimination i.e. reservation which is enshrined in the Constitution as a part of fundamental right. The biasness of judiciary towards dalit and backward class reservation based on social discrimination can be understood from the interpretation of newly implemented Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservation which is simply a reservation for upper castes who did come under a defined creamy layer or who are economically not so well off. But as a biased decision this 10% reservation although exclusively for upper castes (castes not falling within SC, ST & OBC) was judged as a part of general (open) 50% reservation. There is no doubt, the own limit of only 50% reservation set by the judiciary was violated by the judiciary itself. Now limit of unreserved seats is only 40% and 60% seats are reserved for SC, ST, OBC and Upper castes falling under creamy layer. In order to conceal such biaseness, the judiciary always tries to  stick to colonial practices.

Reservation based on social deprivation is the only measure to protect the majority common people facing the wrath of inequality and inhuman practices for hundreds of years. Still the job of scavanging and cleanliness, meanial work for farming and industries are done by these socially deprived people. If a common awareness is generated towards their importance in the society, the government will become subservient to their needs and aspirations. It is advisable to the smaller entrenched class not to adopt treacherous means of spoiling the instuments of protective discrimination/reservation otherwise a situation may arise when nothing will remain invincible for the majory deprived  class. They only will draw lines as it is being drawn by the smaller entrenched class. It is always good if we strive to make a society where all will get an opportunity to lead a life with dignity.