30 Years of Mandal Commission recommendations : How it began and its Impact

 

Thirty years ago, on August 7, 1990, the then Prime Minister, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, announced that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) would receive 27 per cent reservation for jobs in central government services and public sector units. This would take the total number of reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to 49 per cent.

The decision was based on a report submitted on 31 December, 1980 that recommended reservations for OBCs not just in government jobs but also central education institutions. This was perhaps the world largest affirmative action programme.

 

The decision changed Caste's narrative, which had been the basis of unbridled torture and ostracization, into a social justice instrument. It also opened up a Pandora's Box.  

Read this Also: Government Approved a new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020

 

Background of OBCs Reservation

After India gained independence, affirmative action began for the ‘Depressed Classes’ or the Scheduled Castes and Tribes that provided benefits for the most backward and socially ostracized communities of India.

Establishing First Backward Classes Commission OR Kalelkar Commission: In 1953, under the Jawahar Lal Nehru government, Country's first Backward Classes Commission was set up, headed by social reformer Kaka Kalelkar, to address this issue. That was also known as the Kalelkar Commission.

In 1955, the commission submitted its report stating there were 2399 backward groups in India out of which 837 were 'most backward' and caste was cited as the major evidence of backwardness. However, the report was never implemented.

 

Establishing Second Backward Class Commission OR Mandal Commission: The Mandal Commission, officially known as the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was created by the Indian Government under the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai on 1st January, 1979.

Government chose Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal, a former chief minister of Bihar, to head the Second Backward Class Commission. So, it was called Mandal Commission.

Mandal Commission submitted its report two years later, on 31st December, 1980.

The Commission developed 11 criteria for identifying the classes that were called ‘OBCs’ (Other Backward Classes). The parameters are listed as social, educational and cultural.

 

Mandal Commission Recommendations

The Commission recommended that members of OBCs be given 27% reservations for jobs under the Central government and public sector undertakings.

Reservations for SCs and STs were already 22.5 per cent. Thus, the reservation figure for OBCs was capped at 27 per cent which would be below the 50 per cent mark if added to the already existing reservation. The Commission also identified Non-Hindus backward classes.

 

 

Mandal Commission: Implementation & Impact

The then Prime Minister VP Singh announced in Parliament in 1990, that the Mandal Commission's recommendations would be implemented.

 

Soon after Prime Minister’s announcement, protests rocked the country. These anti-Mandal Violent protests ensued in northern and western India. Many students immolated themselves in protest and a few of them died as well.

According to historian Ramachandra Guha, nearly 200 students self-immolated in these protests, of which more than 60 succumbed to their injuries, he wrote in his book ‘India After Gandhi’.

 

Following the severe opposition the issue of OBCs reservation reached the Supreme Court in 1992. This case is known as ‘Indira Sawhney Judgment’ or Mandal Case. The Supreme Court upheld OBC 's 27 percent reservation but also stated that the only caste was not an indicator of backwardness in social and educational matters. It said that the ‘creamy layer’ among the OBCs should not be the beneficiaries of the reservations.

 

It faced mainly opposition on two grounds, that reservation would compromise the merit and can the reservation be given on economic lines.

 

The policy of reservation has caused the resentment of those communities which did not have a share in the reservation.

 

The recommendations for OBCs reservation in central government institutions was finally implemented in 1992 while the education quota came into force in 2006.

 

Conclusion

However, only half of the commission's recommendations have been implemented. The commission held that reservations along with all financial aid will remain mere palliatives unless the backwardness problem is addressed at its root. Consequently, it recommended land redistribution and change in production relations.

 

Implementation of recommendations from the Mandal Commission empowered communities. But the present reservation architecture needs a review, with the goal of creating a just, inclusive and equal society, without pandering to populist movements.