— ✍️ Nethrapal

A general misconception is that backward classes are a creation of V.P.Singh and it was just a political move to give reservations to Other Backward classes (OBCs) which ought not to have been given to them except for political reasons. In this article we will show what Mandal Diwas celebrated today has a history of 110 years and Mandal commission should be celebrated for implementing this after a sustained battle for representation. We show that it was not a political move by V.P.Singh but rather a promise which was fulfilled by V.P.Singh and Mandal commission after 110 years.

It has been argued by many that Economic basis should be the criteria for evaluating backwardness and an overall, economically weaker section (EWS) reservation is a better policy than OBC reservations.

In this article, we explore the first important question on how a greater fight for almost 110 years has enabled introduction of OBC reservations. The main criteria for enumerating OBCs were social backwardness and educational backwardness. Delinking social backwardness from OBC reservation and replacing it by economic criterion would be like burying the age-old social backwardness criterion which is the main reason for introducing OBC reservation.

Is there a historical basis for OBC and EWS reservation?

The first historical records dates to as early as 1880’s. In 1882, Jyotirao Phule made a representation to the Hunter Education Commission on how education was mostly limited to Brahmins and to other upper castes. He stated that there is a virtual monopoly of all the higher offices under Brahmins. Phule was the first person to put forth of the demand of mass primary education and separate schools for poor/depressed classes as early as 1882. His statement was one of the earliest propositions of state should incorporate principles of social inclusion and social justice.

The first legal provisions however was taken by Madras Government with the framing of Grant in Aid code in 1885, to regulate financial aid to educational institutions, providing special facilities for students of depressed classes.

On a similar note, in Travancore state, as early as 19thcentury, there was discontent among the Malyali speaking Nair caste against the non native Brahmins. On 1st January 1891, they submitted Malyali Memorial to the Maharaja of the Travancore which was signed by more than 10000 persons. The members of Travancore Ezhava Sabha submitted similar memorandum on 3rd September 1896. These were some of the earliest documented demands for backward classes reservation.

Rajashri Shahu of Kohlapur state introduced reservations for the backward classes on the 26th of July 1902. This is probably the first instance of implementation of legal quota based reservations in the entire country which stated that 50% of the vacancies would be given backward classes. Except for Brahmins, Shenivs, Prabhu and Parsis, all other castes were considered backward classes. In 1894, Shahu found that that there were 67 Brahmins out of 71 posts ( 94.37%) and by the end of his tenure in 1922, the share of backward classes rose to 62.11% from the 1894 level of 5.63%. It was also Shahu who assisted Ambedkar in his endeavors.

In 1918, the Maharaja of Mysore appointed a committee under the chariman ship of Sri L.C.Miller, the then chief justice of Mysore to recommend steps for adequate representations for Non Brahmins in the services of the state. On the basis of Miller committee report, the Government of Mysore issued orders in 1921 extending special facilities to backward communities with regard to education and recruitment in state services.

In 1928, the Government of Bombay set up a committee under the chairmanship of Mr O.H.B starte to identify backward classes. In its report submitted in 1930, the committee classified backward classes into three categories i.e depressed classes, aboriginal and hill tribes and other backward classes. This committee recommended the provision of special facilities regarding the education and recruitment for the above three categories of backward classes.

Under the provisions of Montagu-Chelmsford reforms (Government of India Act,1919), provincial elections were held in provinces of British India. In the Madras State, the Justice Party won the majority of seats and formed Government. Justice Party ideology chiefly revolved around Tamil-Pride and anti-Brahminism. The Madras State Government passed Government Order Number 613, issued on the 16th of September 1921 which provided for reservation to various communities. This G.O. no. 613 reads as:

On similar lines a second communal G.O.no 658 was passed by Madras Government on 15th of August 1922 and then a third communal G.O was issued on 1927 widening the representation of backward classes. At the end of it, out of every 12 seats, five seats were reserved for Non Brahmin Hindus(42%), two seats for Brahmins(17%), two seats for Muslims(17%), two seats for Anglo Indians and Christians(17%) and one seat for others including the depressed classes(7%). It is also be noted that this continued till 1947 and in 1947 there was yet another communal G.O which separated backward classes purely based on educational backwardness.

In the census from 1901, backward classes were recognized and enumerated under the category of shudra’s in the caste census. The perusal of these documents clearly shows that the enumeration was based on social backwardness. In 1931 census, the term depressed classes was replaced by exterior castes which eventually became a Scheduled Castes of the modern day India. It is a fact that enumeration based on social backwardness of OBCs have been undertaken as early as 1901 and there is no dispute on who is a shudra and who is not a shudra.

Post-independence, the constituent assembly completed its work on 24th January 1950 and introduced sub clauses of Article 15 and 16 wherein special provisions for advancement of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and socially educationally backward class of citizens were introduced.

The First Backward classes commission(Kaka Kalekar Commission) was set up by a presidential order under Article 340 of the constitution of India on January 29th1953 and it submitted its report on March 30th 1955. In this the commission, formulated four criteria which are enumerated below

(i) Low social position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society

(ii) Lack of general educational advancement among the major section of a caste or community

(iii) Inadequate or no representation in government

(iv) Inadequate or no representation in the field of trade, commerce and industry

Based on the above, it enumerated 2399 backward castes and also classified 837 of t them as most backward. However this report was not implemented because of various differences on whether reservations should be based on economic tests or to go by caste. However the economic criteria was left out of the definition since the word used were” socially and educationally backward classes” as a reference to OBCs. The argument was that by substitution of caste by economic tests it will amount to ignoring the genesis of social backwardness in the Indian society.

Apart from this, more than ten state govenments had set up 15 commissions and committees and notified lists of other backward classes much before the publication of Mandal commission report. Most of these states relied on the list of OBCs maintained by them for the grant of post matric scholarships etc under the education ministry’s scheme formulated in 1944 and another list prepared by the commissioner for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes at the time of drafting the First five year plan.

Now, after a big lull, only in 1979, the Mandal commission, officially known as as the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Commission, was formed to investigate the conditions of OBCs. In a detailed two volume report, the mandal commission recommended 27% reservation for OBCs in 1980s. However this was introduced in parliament by V.P.Singh Government in 1990. However, this did not stop there and an embargo was brought by a stay. The matter to the apex court and only on 16thNovember 1992, the OBC reservations were upheld in the famous Indra Sawney judgement upheld the constitutional legitimacy of OBC reservations.

So, from 1882 to 1992, it took almost 110 years to bring in OBC reservations. Now let us look at EWS reservations. Also, OBC do not have political reservations and only in 2022, OBC reservations in Post graduate medical admissions were allowed. However this is not the same with EWS reservations.

Major Sinho Commission of 2006 studied the economic backwardness among the general category. Remember, these studies have documented nothing on social and educational backwardness of the communities. The Major Sinho Commission report submitted on 22.07.2010 recommended that the limit for taxable income should be used to determine whether a candidate is economically backward. It said that affirmative action other than reservations should be thought of, such as education and skill-building, and improvement in health and sanitation. However, In 2019, the Government introduced 10% reservations for Economically Backward Sections (EWS) in higher education and public employment through the Constitution of India (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019. The EWS reservation was upheld in spilt verdict (3:2) on November 7th 2022 upholding the EWS reservation.

So, from 2010 to 2022, it took just 12 years to introduce EWS reservations compared to 110 years for introducing OBC reservations.

There are various census documents enumerating backward classes and there is no such enumeration till date for the EWS. It is in this background that the OBC reservation whose fulcrum is more tilted towards social backwardness should not be compared with EWS reservation.

OBC reservation have a legacy of historical fights as early as 1882 and no such history can be attributed to EWS reservation.

-The author has over 16 years of experience in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), and is a seasoned tax enforcement leader who is passionate about ensuring compliance and fairness in the tax system. He has a strong academic background with a B-Tech from IIT-Madras in Electrical Engineering, where he received a Silver Medal, and a PGDM from IIM-Bangalore, where he specialized in Finance and Economics.