Think fresh on quotas

The recent decision of the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra to earmark reservation of 16 per cent in government jobs and in education for the state’s influential Maratha community, is likely to trigger similar demands in other states, although the legality of the move is uncertain.

To get over the problem of raising anxiety among OBC sections that any fresh quota for the Marathas will be carved out from their existing block of reservation, the state government has created a new category of “socially and economically backward caste” (SEBC).

The Supreme Court’s prohibition on having more than 50 per cent reservations was circumvented by the chief minister with the remark that the Constitution carries no such bar. What the apex court thinks of this will be known when the matter comes before it, but there is the bar imposed by reality.

Not long ago, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari had rhetorically asked the question, “But where are the jobs?” He has a point. Even if every government job and school and college admission were to be brought under a quota regime, there won’t be enough to go around. The way around this is to have a dynamic economy and have so many educational seats that there is enough for everyone.

With decline in agriculture and subdivision of land, the Marathas, Jats, Patels and Kapus — traditionally well-off and numerous communities that can influence elections — have been demanding quotas for themselves. In the end, only the upper castes will be out of the pale. Better ways of positive discrimination need to be devised.