Reserving For Affirmation
Reservations (oops, or was it "affirmative action"?.)After the much debated and failed attempt of the ruling class to know the status of minorities in the armed forces, the policy wonks are now rolling over to enforce reservation or affirmative action for making our society a more egalitarian one.
One weekend issue of a newspaper columnist even tells me that all developed and affluent societies have dealt with reservation, including Japan, and we must acknowlegde that time has come for it to be applied in private sector jobs too. No body doubts that. And no body even questions the veracity of reservation in eductaion and how it has helped the marginalised class to come up, as highlighted in a weekly magazine's cover issue. But we must question the premise as to whether the benefits outweighs the costs, and is the policy heading in the right direction.
A lot has been said, and written. And blogged, too. Without letting the cat run amok among the pigeons, it must be mentioned that one social group that needs government's new found word ,"affirmative action", is the Muslims. But ironically, though not strangely, it is politically incorrect to talk about it.
Those trying to fiddle with the education system in the country would also do well to study the statistics one gets if we dip into the 1999-2000 data from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s Employment & Unemployment Survey. The break-up of high school graduates and those enrolled in college can be observed from the survey. This break-up is important since, if one does not passes high school, one does not get into college—reservation or no reservation or affirmative action or no affirmation.
And what do we get? Well, the SC/ST and OBC children form 16.7 per cent and 25.9 per cent, respectively, of the population of high-school graduates. In the case of SC/STs, this is 68 per cent of their share in the population, and in the case of OBCs the figure is just 1.5 percentage points below their share in the population. De-constructing it, there is a systemic discrimination that manifests itself when it comes to SC/ST children, but not in the case of OBC children. So does the need arise for extending reservation for OBCs?
Analysing a bit further and we see that the share of Muslims is supposedly even worse. Their population share is 13.4 per cent, but they are just 7.4 per cent of the population of high school graduates. Interestingly, in all cases, the share of various groups in colleges is roughly proportionate to their share in high school graduates; in the case of the Muslims, though, they comprise just 5.8 per cent of those enrolled in college as compared to a 7.4 per cent share in the students graduating from high school.So what would have any rationalist done?
Well, as far as SC/STs and OBCs are concerned, the primary task undertaken would have been to raise their level of school education. If one is to judge by the figures, college education will then more or less take care of itself. Moreover, increasing the reserved seats for the OBC students in college immediately lowers the probability of both Muslim and non-reserved Hindu students getting in!
One weekend issue of a newspaper columnist even tells me that all developed and affluent societies have dealt with reservation, including Japan, and we must acknowlegde that time has come for it to be applied in private sector jobs too. No body doubts that. And no body even questions the veracity of reservation in eductaion and how it has helped the marginalised class to come up, as highlighted in a weekly magazine's cover issue. But we must question the premise as to whether the benefits outweighs the costs, and is the policy heading in the right direction.
A lot has been said, and written. And blogged, too. Without letting the cat run amok among the pigeons, it must be mentioned that one social group that needs government's new found word ,"affirmative action", is the Muslims. But ironically, though not strangely, it is politically incorrect to talk about it.
Those trying to fiddle with the education system in the country would also do well to study the statistics one gets if we dip into the 1999-2000 data from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s Employment & Unemployment Survey. The break-up of high school graduates and those enrolled in college can be observed from the survey. This break-up is important since, if one does not passes high school, one does not get into college—reservation or no reservation or affirmative action or no affirmation.
And what do we get? Well, the SC/ST and OBC children form 16.7 per cent and 25.9 per cent, respectively, of the population of high-school graduates. In the case of SC/STs, this is 68 per cent of their share in the population, and in the case of OBCs the figure is just 1.5 percentage points below their share in the population. De-constructing it, there is a systemic discrimination that manifests itself when it comes to SC/ST children, but not in the case of OBC children. So does the need arise for extending reservation for OBCs?
Analysing a bit further and we see that the share of Muslims is supposedly even worse. Their population share is 13.4 per cent, but they are just 7.4 per cent of the population of high school graduates. Interestingly, in all cases, the share of various groups in colleges is roughly proportionate to their share in high school graduates; in the case of the Muslims, though, they comprise just 5.8 per cent of those enrolled in college as compared to a 7.4 per cent share in the students graduating from high school.So what would have any rationalist done?
Well, as far as SC/STs and OBCs are concerned, the primary task undertaken would have been to raise their level of school education. If one is to judge by the figures, college education will then more or less take care of itself. Moreover, increasing the reserved seats for the OBC students in college immediately lowers the probability of both Muslim and non-reserved Hindu students getting in!
Hopefully, the "wise men" of the "reformist prime minister" would not jump into concluding that Muslims need reservation/affirmative action more than anyone else.I am not advocating affirmative action for muslims per se. But if a policy is being reviewed it should not be ignoring certain facts.
Lest, we undo the fundamentals we all are able to raise a toast to, even if occasionally.
posted by varun at 8:19 AM
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