Mandal commission By Akhilesh Narayan

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1. Mandal Commission: Equality and Liberty

2. Introduction The Mandal Commission, headed by Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal (M.P.) was established in India, in 1979, by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to identify the socially or educationally backward. Stratification on the basis of caste, class and religion is a very significant aspect of life in India and its impact on the people of the country has been deep and lasting. Equality and liberty – elements which are very important for giving people a chance to lead a happy and meaningful life, have constantly come under threat because of these institutions which have divided the nation and afflicted large sections of the population for a very long time. It considered the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination, by using eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness.

3. Setting Up of Mandal Commission The plan to set up the Second Backward Classes Commission was taken by the Morarji Desai government in 1978. In 1979, by a Presidential Order under Article 340 (Appointment of a commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes in India every 10 years) for the purpose of Articles 15 (Prohibition of Discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth) and 16 (Equality of opportunity in public employment), the Commission was set up. While the First Backward Classes Commission had a broad-based membership, the Second Commission seemed to be shaped on partisan lines, composed of members only from the backward castes. Of its five members, four were from the OBCs; the remaining one, L.R. Naik, was from the Dalit community, and the only member from the scheduled castes in the Commission.

4. Reservation Policy The Mandal Commission adopted various methods and techniques to collect the necessary data and evidence. In order to identify who qualified as an "other backward class," the commission adopted eleven criteria which could be grouped under three major headings: social, educational and economic. 11 criteria were developed to identify OBCs. Social Castes/classes considered as socially backward by others, Castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labor for their livelihood, Castes/classes where at least 25 per cent females and 10 per cent males above the state average get married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least 10 per cent females and 5 per cent males do so in urban areas. Castes/classes where participation of females in work is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

5. Educational Castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5–15 years who never attended school is at least 25 per cent above the state average. Castes/classes when the rate of student drop-out in the age group of 5–15 years is at least 25 per cent above the state average, Castes/classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25 per cent below the state average, Economic Castes/classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25 per cent below the state average, Castes/classes where the number of families living in kuccha houses is at least 25 per cent above the state average, Castes/classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half a kilometer for more than 50 per cent of the households, Castes/classes where the number of households having taken consumption loans is at least 25 per cent above the state average. Weighting indicators As the above three groups are not of equal importance for the purpose, separate weightage was given to indicators in each group. All the Social indicators were given a weightage of 3 points each, 'educational indicators were given a weightage of 2 points each and economic indicators were given a weightage of 1 point each. Economic, in addition to Social and Educational Indicators, were considered important as they directly flowed from social and educational backwardness. This also helped to highlight the fact that socially and educationally backward classes are economically backward also.

6. Observations and findings The commission estimated that 52% of the total population (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities, were ‘backward’. The number of backward castes in Central list of OBCs has now increased to 5,013 (without the figures for most of the Union Territories) in 2006 as per National Commission for Backward Classes. Figures of caste-wise population are not available beyond. So the commission used 1931 census data to calculate the number of OBCs. The population of Hindu OBCs was derived by subtracting from the total population of Hindus, the population of SC and ST and that of forward Hindu castes and communities, and it worked out to be 52 per cent. Assuming that roughly the proportion of OBCs amongst non-Hindus was of the same order as amongst the Hindus, the population of non-Hindu OBCs was considered as 52 per cent.

7. Recommendations The introduction to the Recommendations, as stated in the report, presents the following argument:  "It may appear the upliftment of Other Backward Classes is part of the larger national problem of the removal of mass poverty. This is only partially correct. The deprivation of OBCs is a very special case of the larger national issue: here the basic question is that of social and educational backwardness and poverty is only a direct consequence of these two crippling caste-based handicaps. As these handicaps are embedded in our social structure, their removal will require far – reaching structural changes. No less important will be changes in the perception of the problems of OBCs by the ruling classes of the country."

8. Implementation In December 1980, the Mandal Commission submitted its Report which described the criteria it used to indicate backwardness, and stated its recommendations in light of its observations and findings. By then, the Janata government had fallen. The following Congress governments under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were not willing to act on the Report due to its politically contentious nature. After being neglected for 10 years, the Report was accepted by the National Front government led by V.P. Singh. On August 7 1990, the National Front government declared that it would provide 27 per cent reservations to "socially and educationally backward classes" for jobs in central services and public undertaking. Having released the Government Order on 13 August, V.P. Singh announced its legal implementation in his Independence Day speech two days later. That same year in September, a case was brought before the Supreme Court of India which challenged the constitutional validity of the Government Order for the implementation of the Mandal Report recommendations. Indra Sawhney, the petitioner in this case, made three principal arguments against the Order:  The extension of reservation violated the Constitutional guarantee of equality of opportunity. Caste was not a reliable indicator of backwardness. The efficiency of public institutions was at risk. The five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court issued a stay on the operation of the Government Order of 13 August till the final disposal of the case. On 16 November 1992, the Supreme Court, in its verdict, upheld the government order, being of the opinion that caste was an acceptable indicator of backwardness.

9. Protest & Criticisms The National Sample Survey puts the figure at 32%.There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBC's in India, with census data compromised by partisan politics. It is generally estimated to be sizeable, but lower than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or and National Sample Survey. The criticism was sharp and colleges across the country held massive protests against it. On 19th September 1990, Rajiv Goswami, a student of Deshbandhu College, Delhi, committed self-immolation in protest of the government's actions. His act made him the face of the Anti-Mandal agitation then. This further sparked a series of self-immolations by other upper-caste college students like him, whose own hopes of getting a government job were now at threat, and led to a formidable student movement against job reservations for Backward Castes in India. Altogether, nearly 200 students committed self-immolations; of these, 62 students succumbed to their burns. The first student protestor who died due to self-immolation was Surinder Singh Chauhan on 24 September, 1990.

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