Pathetic Conditions of the Dalits and Adivasis in Karnataka -An Indepth data analysis | Ahinda DEI Impact

— ✍️ Nethrapal

Progress masks the marginalization and political rhetoric hides the weakest. This is what Karnataka signifies. At one end we can see flashy IT parks, state of the art metro, SEZs and high rises. But at the other end, there is a large section of Indian society called the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are completely neglected. Today we are taking the case study of Karnataka which shows deep underdevelopment inspite of its flashy IT parks and great GSDP compared to other states in India. 

Clearly Dalits form almost 17.15% of the population and STs also form 6.95% of the population. Now this was in 2011. Now based on the projected population in 2015 and 2020, we get the following figures:

It can be seen that a staggering 17.98% of the population of Karnataka in 2020 were from the scheduled caste community and 7.41% was from the scheduled tribes community. Now the tragedy in Karnataka is that inspite of the fact that the SC population has been increasing year on year, for the last 35 years there was no revision of reservation. It should be noted that as per Article 330 of the constitution the  reservation for Scheduled castes is  based on population % got in the census. However this has been taken as per 2001 census and there was no revision till date. So the Karnataka government increased the reservation for SC to 17% and ST to 7%.

Now ideally speaking the limit of 50% ceiling should not apply for SC,ST since the reservations for SC & ST should be given first and then the OBC should be given. However in Karnataka, when they increased SC and ST reservation. They did not reduce correspondingly the OBC reservation. This is a legal question since what should be reduced to maintain the 50% limit becomes a serious legal battle. The Indra sawney ceiling would be breached and it was felt by many including me that this would not stand the test of law. However the Nagmohan Das commission report stated some great reasons on why 50% ceiling can be breached. 

Indra sawney did not completely put a block of 50% ceiling

The land mark Indra Sawney judgement in its nine judge ruling placed a 50% cap on reservation. However a careful reading of the judgement would suggest that this 50% limit is not a sacrosanct  limit and if the state can show that there are extraordinary circumstances especially with a finding that certain communities have been excluded from the main stream society, than in such cases 50% reservation can be relaxed. The court mentioned that the  outcome to such an relaxation should be based on data. It was this extra ordinary circumstances that exists in case of SC/ST and also the constitutional mandate of providing reservation based on population as per Article 330 comes into foray in Karnataka. 

Now one of the key questions here is when SC/ST reservation is mandated to be provided as per the provisions of Article 330 of the constitution, should the SC/ST reservations be restricted to 15%. 

SC= 15%, ST= 7.5%, OBC=27% Which totals to 49.5%

Now if constitution mandates reservation to be provided as per the population of SC/ST as per given census, suppose SC=18%, ST = 10%, Should not the OBC reservation reduced correspondingly to 22% so that the total becomes 50%. 

SC= 18%, ST = 10%, OBC= 22% which totals to 50%. 

Now whether the increase in SC,ST reservation can be offset by reduction in OBC reservation. 

Now it is to be noted that for SC/ST, the political representation is sacrosanct. Now when the SC/ST reservation is artificially pegged at 15% and 7.5%, the political representation at all levels will get affected. SC/ST political reservations exists at MPs, MLAs and local bodies. Now not increasing the population percentages as per the census would seriously harm the political representation of SC,ST in the political space. The OBCs do not have any such political reservations and the limit imposed for 50% was only for Article 15 which mandates reservation in education and Article 16 which mandates reservations in government jobs.  Now an upper limit now would pose a serious threat to the representation of Dalits and adivasis and it is for this reason that the Karnataka case of SC/ST reservation increase to 17% and 7% becomes far more important. 

It is to be noted that the Indra Sawney judgement coined extraordinary circumstances to capture certain communities which have remained excluded from the mainstream society.  It is not that SC,ST reservations are restricted to 15% and 7.5% while the total reservations are at 50%. There are multiple examples where because of special circumstances, it has been breached. 

For example, in Lakshadweep there is a 100% reservation for STs. 

In Madhya Pradesh, the SC= 16%, ST=20%, OBC=14%. You can notice that the first preference was for the SC/ST reservation and only after that the OBC reservation could be done. 

In  Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, there is a reservation of 80% for ST. 

Again in Orissa, the SC reservation is at 16% and ST reservation is 22% while OBC reservation is at 11%. 

So numerous examples clearly shows that the OBC reservation should be computed only after giving effect to SC/ST reservation since the SC/ST reservation is linked to political reservation as per Article 330 of the Indian constitution. 

It is in this background, that Indra Sawney judgement that if there is a extraordinary circumstances that certain communities are not in main stream of society, than 50% can be breached. Now in Karnataka the breach from 50% to 56% has happened mainly because of increase in excluded communities like SC/ST who are not represented in the main stream of the society. So the state governments are within their jurisdiction to increase the relevant reservations from 50% to 56%. 

So, we will place all the data now to show that there is extraordinary circumstances exists for breaching the 50% limit.

Inadequate representation in Government Services 

The table below extracts all the sanctioned posts, SC filled posts, Vacancy rate at 15% and actual loss of seats at 17%. 

You can see that between 1990 to 2018, the unfilled posts for SC at 15% increased from 13331 to 29452, a staggering rise. You can see in 2016 it was as high has 32438, that is one third of the total SC seats were never filled up in the state. 

1990–2010 (Earlier governments)

• Backlog fluctuates but remains between ~7,000 and ~18,000 posts.

• The lowest backlog occurs around 2010 (~7,488 posts).

2008 – BJP Government begins

• The dashed vertical line marks the start of BJP rule.

• The backlog initially appears controlled around 2010.

2013 – Congress Government begins

• After this period the data shows a sharp escalation in backlog.

2015–2018 period

• Backlog jumps dramatically:

• 2015: ~14,076

• 2016: ~32,438 (highest level)

• 2017: ~30,038

• 2018: ~29,452

This indicates that nearly one-third of mandated SC quota posts were not filled during this period.

Structural takeaway

The graph reveals a deeper institutional issue:

• Reservation mandates existed continuously.

• Yet recruitment implementation lagged, leading to persistent backlog accumulation.

• The crisis becomes especially visible after 2015, when vacancy levels nearly doubled within a year.

Now again it appears that scheduled castes seats are not getting filled up and has risen massively over a period of time. 

Now let us take the vacancy rates.

Interpretation with political periods

Pre-2008 period (earlier governments)

• Vacancy rates were consistently high but relatively stable.

• Around 19–22% vacancy existed in 1990 and 2000.

2008 – Start of BJP government

• The dashed marker indicates the beginning of BJP rule.

• Around 2010, vacancy reached its lowest point (~7.5%), indicating a temporary improvement in filling reserved posts. But after that vacancy rates started increasing for SCs

2013 – Start of Congress government

• The second dashed marker shows the transition to Congress rule.

• After this period, the vacancy rate begins to rise again.

Post-2015 period

• The vacancy rate increases sharply:

• 2015: 12.7%

• 2016: 29%

• 2017: 27%

• 2018: 25.6%

This means that roughly one out of every four SC reserved posts remained vacant during the later years.

Major structural pattern

1. 1990–2000

• Loss gradually increases from 22k to 30k posts.

2. 2008–2010 period

• Loss declines to around 20k, the lowest deficit.

3. Post-2015 period

• The deficit rises dramatically.

• 2016 shows the largest loss (~47,000 posts).

This graph demonstrates that even if 17% representation were the benchmark, the state employment system consistently fell short.

By the late 2010s, around 45,000 posts that should have gone to SC communities were missing from the system.

Now let us see for STs.

Now at a sight of it, you have think that STs are represented adequately. But the reality is that they were given 3% reservation instead of 7% and as result on 3% you will vacancy rate of 0% for many years, that there was a surplus. You can see in 2015, massive number of ST posts were filled. But if you take the 7% benchmark, than the loss of seats would be visible.

At this rate there will be a loss of 30000 seats for STs in 2018 because of having reservations at 3%. That's a staggering number. 

So, the increase in SC,ST reservations is a very important issue that needs to be considered. 

Representation of SC and ST in A,B,C,D

Now it should be noted that the numbers provided are for the total employment and even this is not achieved. However for adequacy the supreme court has laid out a test of effective representation which is a test of whether the group is adequately representation in strategic positions which actually shows whether the group has effective voice or not. When we see the Group A data the stark data emerges in Karnataka that both SC and ST communities are not represented in Group A jobs.

The above table indicates some stark representational issues for the SC and ST employees. 

The Group A representation for SCs was as low as 2.81% in 1990 which marginally increased to 3.74% in 2018. The bureaucratic power was never adequately represented in Group A for Scheduled castes all through out. ST representation was at 2,93% in 1990 which marginally increased to 3.54% in 2018.The Group B representation again for SCs was as low as 2.74% in 1990 which improved to 8.80%. For ST it was 3.92% to 8.03%. Bulk of the representation was in Group C and Group D.

More than 94% of the employees of SC,ST were from the Group C and Group D(Safai karmachari) which clearly shows the stark underrepresentation of Dalits and Adivasis in strategic positions. 9 out of 10 employees of SC & ST where in Group C and D jobs. The chart below depicts this funnel:

Now you can see that at Group A, the persistent gap remained the same. For 18 years, there was not even 1% increase in representation for SC and ST communities. The data shows structural barriers against the communities to reach strategic positions. 

Again even at Grade B, there is a greater representation. But you can see the ST is on par with SC. Some how in Karnataka ST vacancies are getting filled up but not SC vacancies. Now again if you see the outsourcing trends can be seen clearly when you see 

Incidentally the Ratna Prabha Report came up before the Supreme Court when considering Reservations in Promotions case in BK Pavitra II. The court discussed the Ratna Prabha Report in entirety and found the following

The Court accepted the claim of inadequate representation. The Committee found that SC/ST employees constitute 10.65% and 2.92% respectively across 31 State Government departments. Further, it found the cadre wise representation to be:

• SCs: 12% (Grade A), 9.79% (Grade B), 12.74% (Grade C), 16.91% (Grade D)

• STs: 2.70% (Grade A), 2.34% (Grade B), 0.04% (Grade C), 2.34% (Grade D)

The Report concluded that there is inadequate representation of SC/STs in State Government services in Grade A, B and C while adequate representation in Grade D.  The court in the same judgement also emphasized that there is no harm to efficiency by giving reservations in promotions to SC/ST employees. 

The report also noted that in higher level services, SC/ST representation is dismal. The table below clarifies that there are just 4.38% SC in Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Directors in 2019. This shows a deep structural barrier created against the SC/ST officers inside the system.

So already the Ratna Prabha report has clearly highlighted the pathetic conditions of SC/ST. So clearly the supreme court has acknowledged the extra ordinary conditions of the SC/ST in Karnataka state and even approved the Reservation in Promotion Act. It is for this reasons that the increase of reservations from 50% to 56% would be legally sustainable. 

With the EWS reservation, the total reservation is already at 60%. Now unlike other states where general upper castes population is in double digits, in Karnataka the upper caste population is estimated to be in the range of 4 to 5%. So since there is no legal block for giving till 60%, if we increase it to 56% and then the remaining 4% can be allocated to EWS was one of the argument which many experts advanced. This is also in line with various supreme court judgements that till 60% reservation can be provided and 50% ceiling is no more a limit.  

All this point to one thing, that if this case is handled well at high court and supreme court the increase in reservation from 50% to 56% is sustainable. Let us see what is in the store.