Anti-Reservation Agitations

Upper caste youth are not willing to tolerate the sharing of government educational facilities with youth coming from historically oppressed communities. But reservations and nation building are not antagonistic. The democratic and rational path charted by Ambedkar should be allowed to run its course; otherwise, an anarchist trend is bound to set in among the SC/ST/OBCs. Let the upper castes decide which course is better for the progressive transformation of this nation.

Political Posturing THE stand of the five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court hearing the petition of anti-reservationists that the government make clear by September 24 its stand on the notification of August 13, 1990 issued by the National Front government introducing job reservations in the central government for the socially and educationally backward castes on the basis of the Mandal Commission's recommendations has put the Congress party in a fix. Having played no small part in engineering the violence that greeted the notification at the time of its announcement, the Congress can scarcely come out openly in support of OBC reservation. On the other hand, open opposition would work to the advantage of the Janata Dal and the various regional parties. The Supreme Court's demand, though difficult to comprehend, has the merit of forcing the Congress to emerge from the ambiguity behind which it had sought refuge.

An Ideological Perspective on Mandal Report Balraj Puri GROWING competition in the stagnant job market is an inadequate explanation for the anti-reservation student upsurge that is sweeping across most of towns and cities of the north India. The intensity and magnitude of the agitation and self- righteous and crusading zeal of the participants are no less sustained by theoretical rationalisations and ideological and moral sanctions provided by leading scholars, intellectuals and journalists of the country, obviously belonging to the upper castes. To be sure, these castes have, in the past, provided not only ideas but also leadership to egalitarian and radical movements. Now, too, the intelligentsia supports the anti-reservation stir more out of concern for efficiency of the system and unity of the nation than merely for the jobs for the caste to which it belongs. The concern is not entirely a rationalisation of the caste interest.

Anti-Reservation Agitations in Gujarat Ghanshyam Shah The middle class has grown in size disproportionately with economic growth in Gujarat. While their aspirations have risen, They are unable to satisfy their needs and maintain the traditional status, and therefore experience a strong sense of deprivation. This is especially true of the upper and middle caste members who are jealous of the new entrants from the traditionally low castes. The two anti-reservation agitations in Gujarat were essentially struggles within the middle class

This article attempts to analyse the implications of the anti-reservation agitation for the total Structure of Gujarat society. It argues that the system of reservations, even though introduced by the State, has now become a weapon in the hands of the various deprived groups in their struggle against socially entrenched upper caste and upper class interests.