Former MP M. Ramadass has urged the Government to increase the percentage of reservation from 50 to 69 by passing appropriate legislation in the Assembly as had been done by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
In a press statement, Mr. Ramadass pointed out that the then Prime Minister, P.V. Narasima Rao, helped to include the Tamil Nadu Act in the 9th Schedule of the Indian Constitution so that it cannot be challenged in a court of law, as the quota size exceeded the 50 per cent ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
Calling upon the Government to pass a similar legislation to enact the Act and get it included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution, Mr. Ramadass said that the increased reservation percentage of 19 could be distributed to MBCs and OBCs in the existing proportion of 60:40. Accordingly the percentage of MBC reservation will rise by 11 and that of OBCs by 8 per cent.
‘Undertake suvey’
Mr. Ramadass also wanted the Government to undertake a survey and prescribe the size of reservation after consulting the State-level Commission for Backward Classes in the wake of the recent law providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and higher education to economically weaker sections among forward communities.
The promulgation of the law warranted a fresh review of the existing policy and quantum of reservation in Puducherry, as action in this direction was bound to widen the social gap between the depressed and the advanced castes, he said.
According to the former MP, historically, it was only in 1990, 43 years after independence that 52 per cent of Backward Classes were given 27 per cent reservation in jobs, courtesy the recommendations of Mandal Commission. Reservation in higher educational institutions was made in 2005, after 58 years of independence. “While this could narrow the gap between communities to some extent, substantial social disparities remain even today,” he said.
Mr. Ramadass felt that the Government of India would have done well if the economic reservation is extended to all poor people in the country which would have maintained the existing social equilibrium. “In the Indian context, social reservation is not only just and expedient but is also consistent with the constitutional tenets and the verdict of the Supreme Court. This issue needs to be redressed by affirmative action of the UT Government,” he said.
The downtrodden communities of Puducherry have not received the benefit of reservation for a long time although their counterparts in Tamil Nadu have been enjoying them since 1950.
Puducherry extended reservation only to SC communities and not to others since it had to follow the reservation policy of the Government of India, being an Union Territory. The OBCs of Tamil Nadu received the benefits of reservation since 1951, but Puducherry extended it only in 1990, after 40 years, on the basis of the Mandal Commission’s recommendations, Mr. Ramadass said.
Also, while the Most Backward Communities were accorded separate reservation in Tamil Nadu in 1989, their counterparts here were denied the right for 16 years until the mass protests of 2005, he added.
Scenario
A review of the reservation scenario showed that 90 per cent of the socially weaker sections of people in Puducherry received only 50 per cent of reservation which is “disproportionate and unjust”. Further, this quantum of reservation was determined on the basis of the Backward Classes survey conducted 20 years ago and the changes in the post survey period were not incorporated in the reservation policy, Mr. Ramadass said.
A few castes in the Backward list which desired to be included in the MBC list could not be accommodated. A new category, Extremely Backward Class (EBC), was created for the MBC fishermen community and a reservation of only 2% was given to them which has created a heart burn among them. He demanded an increase in the size of reservation to the fishermen community as earmarking a mere 2 per cent reservation was unjust, socially and economically.