Thursday, 13 October 2022

Why 22 vows are necessary for Neo-Buddhists?

 https://countercurrents.org/2022/10/why-are-the-twenty-two-vows-necessary-for-neo-buddhists/?sw

Dr. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar renounced Hinduism and embraced Buddhism on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur (Deekshabhoomi) along with five lakh followers. On the same day first he himself had received the initiation of Buddhism from the Buddhist monks and after that, he himself gave the initiation of Buddhism to the people present. As part of the initiation of Buddhism, he also administered twenty-two vows to all which were as follows: –

1. I will not believe in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh nor will I worship them.

2. I will not have any faith in Rama and Krishna, who are considered to be incarnations of God, nor will I worship them.

3. I will not have faith in Gauri, Ganapati and other Hindu deities and neither will I worship them.

4. I do not believe in the incarnation of God.

5. I do not believe and will never believe that Lord Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu. I consider it insanity and false propaganda.

6. I will not participate in Shradh nor will I do Pind-Daan.

7. I will not act in a manner that violates the principles and teachings of the Buddha.

8. I will not accept any ceremony to be performed by Brahmins.

9. I believe in the equality of men.

10. I will try to establish equality.

11. I will follow the eightfold path of the Buddha.

12. I will follow the Paramitas prescribed by the Buddha.

13. I will exercise mercy towards all living beings and will protect them.

14. I will never steal.

15. I will never lie.

16. I will not commit adultery.

17. I will not consume intoxicants like alcohol, or drugs.

18. I will try to follow the Great Eightfold Path and practice empathy and being kind in my daily life.

19. I renounce Hinduism which is harmful to humanity and hinders the progress and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as self-religion.

20. I firmly believe that Buddha’s Dhamma is the true religion.

21. I believe that I am born again (through this conversion).

22. I solemnly and solemnly declare that after this (conversion) I will conduct my life in accordance with the principles and teachings of the Buddha and His Dhamma.

Now the question arises as to why Babasaheb made these twenty-two vows part of the initiation into Buddhism. To understand this, it is necessary to know what the danger is if these promises are not kept. Babasaheb, mentioning the need to get them, informed Valisinhan, General Secretary of the Mahabodhi Society, “We have made a ritual system for the initiation ceremony. Everyone will have to perform those sanskaras while taking initiation into Buddhism. My opinion is that the conversion of an ordinary ignorant man is not a conversion at all. It is only a matter of the name. One of the reasons for the disappearance of Buddhism from India is that the ignorant people continued to worship Buddha because of their loose stance, along with other gods and goddesses introduced into Buddhism by Brahmins in their earlier lives. Therefore, a special ceremony should be performed at the time of initiation of Buddhism.” By taking lessons from the mistakes of the past Babasaheb’s main concern was to take precautions to prevent the re-entry of Hindu gods and goddesses in Buddhism.

Apart from this, Babasaheb’s main concern was to make the newly-initiated Buddhists complete Buddhists so that they could become good Buddhists and role models for others. Apart from this, it is necessary for the follower of every religion to follow the basic principles of that religion. According to Kanwal Bharti, “Any religion lives on its basic principles. The basis of Hinduism is the Varna system, as Gandhiji also used to say that without the Varna system, Hinduism will end. If a Hindu is not a believer, it ok, does not worship, will be ok, does not go to the temple, will be ok, but if does not believe in caste, then it will not work. Belief in caste is the basic condition of being a Hindu. Kanwal Bharati further says that “Similarly there are some basic principles of other religions, without believing in which one cannot be considered a follower of those religions. If a Muslim does not believe in ‘Kalma Tayyba’, then he cannot be considered a Muslim. It is the basic belief of Christians that Jesus is the son of God. One cannot be a Christian by expressing disbelief in it. Similarly, some basic principles were laid down by Dr. Ambedkar for the neo-Buddhists. These principles are known as the twenty-two vows. These vows are administered to the Neo-Buddhists as an oath to be completely free from Hindu culture and beliefs. What is wrong with that? Do BJP Hindus want that even after conversion, neo-Buddhists remain trapped in the ‘Brahmin-trap’ of Hindu beliefs?”

The first two vows in the twenty-two vows are – (1) ‘I will never consider Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh as God, and will never worship them, and (2) I will never consider Rama and Krishna to be God and will never worship them. Regarding this Babasaheb said in his speech at Diksha Bhoomi on 15th October, “There is a great difference between other religions and Buddhism. You will not find the great things of Buddhism in other religions, because in other religions, there is a deep relationship between man and God. Other religions say that the world was created by God. He has created the sky, air, Indra, the sun and everything else. God has done everything for us. Nothing is left, that is why we worship God. There is no place in Buddhism for God and soul.”

According to Kanwal Bharti, “Dr. Ambedkar had converted them to Buddhism with twenty-two vows only to free the Dalits from the exploitation in the name of Ram-Krishna and deities. These vows not only free them from the religious culture of exploitation but also enrich them from a scientific point of view. Because it also has the nineteenth vow that ‘I completely renounce my old Hindu religion, which is harmful to the advancement in man and considers man as unequal and inferior, and accept the Buddha-dharma.

It is clear from the above brief discussion that the twenty-two vows of Babasaheb are of great importance for the newly ordained Buddhists. It is these vows that can free them from the anti-human beliefs of Hinduism and bind them to the human beliefs of Buddhism. It is also worth mentioning that the twenty-two vows of Babasaheb are not anti-Hindu in any way but give guidelines for the followers of Buddhism which each religion gives.

Babasaheb’s Role in Damodar Valley, Hirakund and the Sone River Valley Projects

Babasaheb’s Role in Damodar Valley, Hirakund and the Sone River Valley Projects

 

 

If you ask any school going child, where Damodar Valley, Hirakund and the Sone River Valley projects are, and who inaugurated these projects, they’ll tell you the names of Nehru-Gandhi family, although they have nothing to do with these projects. (Check out the wiki page giving details that “Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India, Dr B C Roy, chief minister of West Bengal and Sri Krishna Sinha, chief minister of Bihar, took personal interest to ensure early success of the project.”).

We have been taught in schools about these projects but we don’t find a word about Dr Ambedkar’s prominent role and contribution towards all these projects. Why weren’t we told?

Since 1930 emphasis has been increasingly placed on engineering practices, on the hydrological unity of a river basin on treating the basin as the unit of development of its water resources. Credit for multipurpose project (irrigation and generating electric power together) goes to Irrigation and Power Department, under the leadership of Dr Ambedkar.

Keeping in view the enhanced magnitude of such projects, it was keenly felt that the technical expert bodies available then at the centre weren’t adequate. Dr Ambedkar approved the Central Waterway and Irrigation Commission (CWINC) in March 1944, and subsequently by the Viceroy on April 4, 1945. Thus Dr Ambedkar helped build a strong technical organisation for the development of India. (Source: Ambedkar’s Role in Economic Planning Water and Power Policy by Sukhadeo Thorat)

If our houses are illuminated and if our fields are green, it’s because of Dr Ambedkar’s stellar role in the planning of these projects, on which rests a major part of India’s economy today. If there is such a concept as water-management and development in India, then the credit goes to Dr Ambedkar for ably using the natural resources to serve India. If it was not for Dr Ambedkar’s vision, one can imagine the situation of electric supply, irrigation and development of India.

Babasaheb Ambedkar and India’s Water Policy and Electric Power Planning

Almost everyone ignores the role of Dr Ambedkar as a Labour leader.  Department of Labour was established in the year November 1937 and Dr Ambedkar took over the Labour portfolio in July 1942. The policy formulation and planning for the development of irrigation and electric power was the major concern. It was the Labour Department under the guidance of Dr Ambedkar, who decided to establish “Central Technical Power Board” (CTPB) for power system development, hydro power station sites, hydro-electric surveys, analysing problems of electricity generation and thermal power station investigation.

Dr Ambedkar emphasised on the significance and need for the “Grid System”, which is still working successfully even today. If today power engineers are going abroad for training, the credit goes to Dr Ambedkar again, who as a leader of Labour Department formulated policy to train the best engineers -overseas. It is a matter of shame that nobody credits Dr Ambedkar for the role he played in India’s water policy and electric power planning.


 

 


Friday, 7 October 2022

IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT RESERVATION

 

                     IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT RESERVATION

                                             

                                                                    PS Krishnan

IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT RESERVATION
• RESERVATION WAS NOT STARTED BY “VOTE-HUNGRY POLITICIANS”
• RESERVATION WAS NOT “INVENTED BY THE DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY OF THE BRITISH”
• RESERVATION CAME INTO EXISTENCE IN PENINSULAR INDIA WELL BEFORE INDEPENDENCE
RESERVATION WAS STARTED MAINLY ON INITIATIVE OF INDIAN MAHARAJAS AND AN INDIAN PARTY IN RESPONSE TO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AGAINST BRAHMIN AND OTHER UPPER CASTE MONOPOLY IN ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNANCE
IT WAS STARTED
in 1902 in Kolhapur by its Maharaja
in May 1921 in Mysore by its Maharaja
in Sept 1921 in the Madras Presidency — which inter alia included
Andhra Pradesh — by the Justice Party Government
in 1931 in Bombay Presidency
in 1935 in Travancore by its Maharaja
followed by Cochin by its Maharaja
IT COVERED communities now classified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (BCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)
• AT THE NATIONAL / CENTRAL LEVEL ALSO RESERVATION WAS STARTED BEFORE INDEPENDENCE
In 1943, it was started for SCs by the initiative of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as Member, Viceroy’s Executive Council
On Independence, in 1947, it was extended to Scheduled Tribes (STs)
Unfortunately, BCs missed the bus at that time and were unconstitutionally made to wait till 1990 when the combined efforts of Prime Minister VP Singh, Welfare Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, and Welfare Ministry Secretary P.S. Krishnan overcame all obstacles and started it.
WHY PATH OF RESERVATION BECAME INEVITABLE IN INDIA?
• Reservation became inevitable BECAUSE the caste system and the upper castes denied access to education for SCs and other “lower” castes in latter 19th century by various means including
physical violence against Dalit Children going to school,
tearing their books,
beating them up and
driving them back home
in different parts of India as recorded by the Hunter Commission 1882
— There is record that British educationists and administrators found Dalits to be the best students but were afraid of actively promoting their education which would have got them entry into the services and higher services on merit, because of fear of adverse upper caste reaction
— This in modern times (apart from centuries-old economic, educational and other deprivations of the “untouchable” and other “low” castes) led to artificial monopoly of upper castes in governance, administration, education, higher education, etc.
FOR WHOM CONSTITUTION PROVIDES RESERVATION AND FOR WHOM NOT ?
• THE CONSTITUTION PROVIDES RESERVATION FOR ONLY THREE SOCIAL CLASSES
(a) SCHEDULED CASTES (SCs), now popularly known as Dalits
(b) SCHEDULED TRIBES (STs), now popularly known as Adivasis
(c) SOCIALLY AND EDUCATIONALLY BACKWARD CLASSES (not Socially and Economically Backward Classes as trotted out by many scholars and learned TV anchors and commentators with self-assurance matching ignorance) – referred to in different States as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes or as OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES or as BACKWARD CLASSES (BCs).
• CONSTITUTION DOES NOT PROVIDE AND DOES NOT PERMIT RESERVATION FOR THE POOR OR THE SPURIOUS “ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD CLASSES”
no such class is recognized by the Constitution.
Some Governments have coined this term to make it look like a Constitutional category
TRUE PURPOSE OF RESERVATION
• RESERVATION IS NOT A POVERTY REMOVAL
OR POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME
• RESERVATION IS NOT A PROGRAMME FOR
REMOVAL OF UNEMPLOYMENT
• IT WAS INSTITUTED FOR REMOVAL OF
– IMBALANCE IN GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
– MONOPOLY OF A FEW CASTES ACCOUNTING FOR MINORITY OF POPULATION AND EXCLUSION OF CASTES ACCOUNTING FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION
• WITH COMMENCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION, RESERVATION ALSO BECAME AN INTEGRATL PART OF THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF MEASURES REQUIRED FOR ELIMINATION OF THE INHERITED STRUCTURE OF INEQUALITY, BASED ON CASTE-WITH-“UNTOUCHABILITY” AND FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIAL EQUALITY, WHICH IS A BASIC FEATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION.
BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE — WRONG TO BLAME RESERVATION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT OF SACs
• THE NUMBER OF EDUCATED UMEMPLOYED REGISTERED IN EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES IN ALL INDIA (2009) WAS 3,81,52000.
• THE NUMBER OF POSTS THAT CAN BE FILLED UP IN CENTRAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS AND QUASI-CENTRAL AND QUASI-STATE GOVERNMENT SECTOR AND LOCAL BODIES THROUGH RESERVATION IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT IS A MERE 262120 (If Reservation is Properly Implemented).
• IF ALL RESERVATION IS ABOLISHED, as unjustly and unrealistically demanded by some misguided persons,
IT WILL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE TO
THE UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION
FOR,
• RESERVATION IS NOT THE CAUSE OF WIDESPREAD UNEMPLOYMENT
• FURTHER, IN THE MUCH LARGER PRIVATE SECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION WHERE THERE IS NO RESERVATION THE WHOLE FIELD IS MOSTLY OCCUPIED BY SACs
• UNEMPLOYMENT exists among ‘GENERAL COMMUNITIES”
as well as among SCs, STs and BCs
• THE SOLUTION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT has to be brought about through MACRO- ECONOMIC AND OTHER MEASURES
UNCONNECTED WITH RESERVATION
POVERTY MUST BE TACKLED BY VARIOUS MEASURES — THEY DO NOT REQUIRE TAMPERING WITH RESERVATION
• POVERTY exists MUCH MORE among SCs, STs and BCs than among THE SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTES (SACs)
— Plenty of Data available to show this.
• THE SOLUTION FOR REMOVAL OF POVERTY has to be sought through
VARIOUS MEASURES WHICH DO NOT REQUIRE TAMPERING WITH RESERVATION
NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL JUSTICE MEASURES
FOR SC, ST AND BC
AND SCHOLARSHIPS AND EDUCATIONAL LOANS
FOR OTHER POOR
• RESERVATION is NOT the TOTAL SOLUTION for the DEPRIVATIONS
SUFFERED BY SC, ST and BC
— A COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
MEASURES has to be undertaken
FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF SCs, STs and BCs
and bringing them to THE LEVEL OF EQUALITY with SACs in EVERY PARAMETER — ECONOMIC, EDUCATIONAL, HEALTH-AND-NUTRITION-RELATED, HOUSING AND RESIDENTIAL AREAS FACILITIES-RELATED ETC.
• RESERVATION is ONLY ONE ITEM in that comprehensive package
• THIS COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE HAS NOT BEEN HOLISTICALLY UNDERTAKEN AND SINCERELY IMPLEMENTED —
that is why CONDITIONS OF SC, ST, BC CONTINUES TO BE MISERABLE
• THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS SUFFERING FROM POVERTY AMONG SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTES (though much less than among SC, ST and BC)
• SAC POOR DESERVE SYMPATHY AND HELP — THE SOLUTION FOR THEM IS NOT THEIR INCLUSION IN THE LIST OF BCs — WHICH SOME OF THEM ARE DEMANDING — AND WHICH IS JUST IMPOSSIBLE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND IN LIGHT OF HISTORICAL AND CURRENT SOCIAL REALITIES
• THE SOLUTION FOR THE GENUINELY POOR among the SACs is to provide SCHOLARSHIPS AND EDUCATIONAL LOANS
so that no child or youth has to drop out of education at any stage for financial incapacity.
PEACEFULLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY OPPOSE WRONG INCLUSIONS in SC, ST and BC LISTS
• SCs, STs and BCs SHOULD COME TOGETHER to
PEACEFULLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY OPPOSE ANY WRONGFUL INCLUSION OF ANY COMMUNITY IN THE LIST OF BCs, OR SCs OR STs AND ANY PROPOSAL OR DEMAND FOR SUCH WRONGFUL INCLUSION
Any WRONGFUL INCLUSION OF A SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTE IN any of these LISTS WILL DEPRIVE GENUINE BCs, STs and SCs OF large part of POSTS AND SEATS WHICH SHOULD GO TO SCs, STs and BCs.
THEY SHOULD DO THIS WITHOUT ANY HATRED OR ILL-WILL TOWARDS ANY CASTE BUT ONLY TOTAL OPPOSITION TO THE HARMFUL CASTE SYSTEM, WHICH IS HARMFUL TO THE DEPRIVED SOCIAL CLASSES AND ALSO HARMFUL TO THE NATION AS A WHOLE
POINTS ON WHICH SC, ST AND BC CAN JOINTLY, MASSIVELY, DEMOCRATICALLY, PEACEFULLY AND WITHOUT THREATS, MOVE CENTRAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS ARE
Governments should, without dithering and equivocation, firmly declare
that no Socially Advanced Caste will be included in BC Lists
that no such demand will be entertained
that there is no question of changing the criteria for listing SCs, STs and BCs which are based on the Constitution and socio-historical and still-current realities
that there is no question of changing the well-thought-out Constitutional and statutory procedures laid down and followed since long relating to SCs, STs and BCs
Governments should consistently follow these declarations without being swayed by electoral considerations
Governments should holistically undertake and sincerely and efficiently implement the full gamut of Social Justice measures required for bringing about Equality of SCs, STs and BCs with SACs in all parameters of development and welfare in all fields, such as economic; educational at all levels; health, nutrition and infant and child survival-related; housing and residential areas facilities-related, etc., including significantly the Special Component Plan for SCs (SCP) and Tribal sub-Plan (TsP), leading to the annihilation of the caste system
Governments should, along with the above, help the genuinely poor among SACs with scholarships and educational loans to save them from having to drop out from education at any stage only for want of financial capacity, taking care that the genuinely poor are properly identified without scope for false poverty certificates
Governments should incorporate, in the educational syllabus at all levels and training syllabus for all All-India, Central and State Services, clear and unbiased socio-historical facts of India and the sufferings imposed on Dalits, Adivasis and BCs over the centuries of history and decades of our Independence to this day on account of the caste system-with-“Untouchability” in all its ramifications.
NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING HISTORICAL FACTS
• PEOPLE OF SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTES , Especially YOUTH
SHOULD UNDERSTAND
Socio-historical facts of India
The sufferings imposed on Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Classes over the centuries of our history and decades of our independence
And the paramount need to build harmony among all classes and castes based on Equality and elimination of inherited Inequalities, leading to the annihilation of the caste system
AND COOPERATE IN THE COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL JUSTICE MEASURES INCLUDING RESERVATION FOR SC, ST AND BC
so that we completely solve the historically inherited problem of discriminations and inequalities based on the caste system-with-“Untouchability” and create a situation that will facilitate the annihilation of the caste system which is
A MILLSTONE ROUND OUR COLLECTIVE SOCIAL NECK HAMPERING INDIA’S OPTIMAL PROGRESS
AND SHOULD REALIZE THAT NOBODY CAN WISH AWAY OR DO AWAY WITH RESERVATION
UNTIL AFTER
the disappearance of “Untouchability” in all of its ramifications in the case of SCs
the disappearance of isolation under vulnerable conditions in the case of STs
the disappearance of social backwardness in the case of BCs
the SCs, STs and BCs as a whole and each of their castes and tribes reach a level of presence in employment at every level including the highest level and education at every level including the highest level, comparable to their proportion in population
the SCs, STs and BCs as a whole and each of their castes and tribes are made capable, though comprehensive Social Justice measures, of securing, in open competition, posts at every level including the highest level and seats in education at every level including the highest level, comparable to their proportion in the population
the SCs, STs and BCs as a whole and each of their castes and tribes are enabled, through comprehensive Social Justice measures, to reach the level of Equality with SACs in all parameters of development, life and welfare
This is the answer to the oft-repeated question “HOW LONG RESERVATION?”
The Real Question is “HOW LONG UNTOUCHABILITY, ISOLATION AND INEQUALITY?”
The Answer is with those who occupy the commanding heights of Governments, higher administration and governance, public and private institutions, academia and media (print as well as visual), who mostly belong to SACs
• IF MISGUIDED ELEMENTS AMONG THEM TRY TO BLOCK THE PROGRESS OF SC, ST AND BC towards EQUALITY AND ERUPT INTO AGITATIONS AS THEY HAVE BEEN DOING PERIODICALLY, IT WILL
CREATE CONTINUOUS HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE TWO,
and
HAMPER INDIA’S OPTIMAL PROGRESS
which is essential to remove widespread unemployment and poverty

• RESEVATION WAS NOT STARTED BY “VOTE-HUNGRY POLITICIANS”

• RESERVATION WAS NOT “INVENTED BY THE DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY OF THE BRITISH”

• RESERVATION CAME INTO EXISTENCE IN PENINSULAR INDIA WELL BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

RESERVATION WAS STARTED MAINLY ON INITIATIVE OF INDIAN MAHARAJAS AND AN INDIAN PARTY IN RESPONSE TO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AGAINST BRAHMIN AND OTHER UPPER CASTE MONOPOLY IN ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNANCE

IT WAS STARTED

in 1902 in Kolhapur by its Maharaja

in May 1921 in Mysore by its Maharaja

in Sept 1921 in the Madras Presidency — which inter alia included

Andhra Pradesh — by the Justice Party Government

in 1931 in Bombay Presidency

in 1935 in Travancore by its Maharaja

followed by Cochin by its Maharaja

IT COVERED communities now classified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (BCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)

• AT THE NATIONAL / CENTRAL LEVEL ALSO RESERVATION WAS STARTED

BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

In 1943, it was started for SCs by the initiative of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as Member, Viceroy’s Executive Council

On Independence, in 1947, it was extended to Scheduled Tribes (STs)

Unfortunately, BCs missed the bus at that time and were unconstitutionally made to wait till 1990 when the combined efforts of Prime Minister VP Singh, Welfare Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, and Welfare Ministry Secretary P.S. Krishnan overcame all obstacles and started it.

WHY PATH OF RESERVATION BECAME INEVITABLE IN INDIA?

• Reservation became inevitable BECAUSE the caste system and the upper castes denied access to education for SCs and other “lower” castes in latter 19th century by various means including physical violence against Dalit Children going to school, tearing their books,

beating them up and driving them back home in different parts of India as recorded by the Hunter Commission 1882

— There is record that British educationists and administrators found Dalits to be the best students but were afraid of actively promoting their education which would have got them entry into the services and higher services on merit, because of fear of adverse upper caste reaction

— This in modern times (apart from centuries-old economic, educational and other deprivations of the “untouchable” and other “low” castes) led to artificial monopoly of upper castes in governance, administration, education, higher education, etc.

FOR WHOM CONSTITUTION PROVIDES RESERVATION AND FOR WHOM NOT?

• THE CONSTITUTION PROVIDES RESERVATION FOR ONLY THREE SOCIAL CLASSES

(a) SCHEDULED CASTES (SCs), now popularly known as Dalits

(b) SCHEDULED TRIBES (STs), now popularly known as Adivasis

(c) SOCIALLY AND EDUCATIONALLY BACKWARD CLASSES (not Socially and Economically Backward Classes as trotted out by many scholars and learned TV anchors and commentators with self-assurance matching ignorance) – referred to in different States as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes or as OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES or as BACKWARD CLASSES (BCs).

• CONSTITUTION DOES NOT PROVIDE AND DOES NOT PERMIT RESERVATION FOR THE POOR OR THE SPURIOUS “ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD CLASSES”

no such class is recognized by the Constitution.

Some Governments have coined this term to make it look like a Constitutional category

TRUE PURPOSE OF RESERVATION

• RESERVATION IS NOT A POVERTY REMOVAL OR POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME

• RESERVATION IS NOT A PROGRAMME FOR REMOVAL OF UNEMPLOYMENT

• IT WAS INSTITUTED FOR REMOVAL OF

– IMBALANCE IN GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

– MONOPOLY OF A FEW CASTES ACCOUNTING FOR MINORITY OF POPULATION AND EXCLUSION OF CASTES ACCOUNTING FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION

• WITH COMMENCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION, RESERVATION ALSO BECAME AN INTEGRATL PART OF THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF MEASURES REQUIRED FOR ELIMINATION OF THE INHERITED STRUCTURE OF INEQUALITY, BASED ON CASTE-WITH- “UNTOUCHABILITY” AND FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIAL EQUALITY, WHICH IS A BASIC FEATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION.

BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE — WRONG TO BLAME RESERVATION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT OF SACs

• THE NUMBER OF EDUCATED UMEMPLOYED REGISTERED IN EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES IN ALL INDIA (2009) WAS 3,81,52000.

• THE NUMBER OF POSTS THAT CAN BE FILLED UP IN CENTRAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS AND QUASI-CENTRAL AND QUASI-STATE GOVERNMENT SECTOR AND LOCAL BODIES THROUGH RESERVATION IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT IS A MERE 262120 (If Reservation is Properly Implemented).

• IF ALL RESERVATION IS ABOLISHED, as unjustly and unrealistically demanded by some misguided persons,

IT WILL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION

FOR,

• RESERVATION IS NOT THE CAUSE OF WIDESPREAD UNEMPLOYMENT

• FURTHER, IN THE MUCH LARGER PRIVATE SECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION WHERE THERE IS NO RESERVATION THE WHOLE FIELD IS MOSTLY OCCUPIED BY SACs

• UNEMPLOYMENT exists among ‘GENERAL COMMUNITIES”

as well as among SCs, STs and BCs

• THE SOLUTION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT must be brought about through MACRO- ECONOMIC AND OTHER MEASURES UNCONNECTED WITH RESERVATION

POVERTY MUST BE TACKLED BY VARIOUS MEASURES — THEY DO NOT REQUIRE TAMPERING WITH RESERVATION

• POVERTY exists MUCH MORE among SCs, STs and BCs than among THE SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTES (SACs)

— Plenty of Data available to show this.

• THE SOLUTION FOR REMOVAL OF POVERTY has to be sought through

VARIOUS MEASURES WHICH DO NOT REQUIRE TAMPERING WITH RESERVATION

NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL JUSTICE MEASURES FOR SC, ST, AND BC

AND SCHOLARSHIPS AND EDUCATIONAL LOANS FOR OTHER POOR

• RESERVATION is NOT the TOTAL SOLUTION for the DEPRIVATIONS SUFFERED BY SC, ST and BC

— A COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE MEASURES must be undertaken FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF SCs, STs and BCs and bringing them to THE LEVEL OF EQUALITY with SACs in EVERY PARAMETER — ECONOMIC, EDUCATIONAL, HEALTH-AND-NUTRITION-RELATED, HOUSING AND RESIDENTIAL AREAS FACILITIES-RELATED ETC.

• RESERVATION is ONLY ONE ITEM in that comprehensive package

• THIS COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE HAS NOT BEEN HOLISTICALLY UNDERTAKEN AND SINCERELY IMPLEMENTED — that is why CONDITIONS OF SC, ST, BC CONTINUES TO BE MISERABLE

• THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS SUFFERING FROM POVERTY AMONG SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTES (though much less than among SC, ST, and BC)

• SAC POOR DESERVE SYMPATHY AND HELP — THE SOLUTION FOR THEM IS NOT THEIR INCLUSION IN THE LIST OF BCs — WHICH SOME OF THEM ARE DEMANDING — AND WHICH IS JUST IMPOSSIBLE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND IN LIGHT OF HISTORICAL AND CURRENT SOCIAL REALITIES

• THE SOLUTION FOR THE GENUINELY POOR among the SACs is to provide SCHOLARSHIPS AND EDUCATIONAL LOANS so that no child or youth has to drop out of education at any stage for financial incapacity.

PEACEFULLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY OPPOSE WRONG INCLUSIONS in SC, ST and BC LISTS

• SCs, STs and BCs SHOULD COME TOGETHER to OPPOSE ANY WRONGFUL INCLUSION OF ANY COMMUNITY PEACEFULLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY IN THE LIST OF BCs, OR SCs OR STs AND ANY PROPOSAL OR DEMAND FOR SUCH WRONGFUL INCLUSION

Any WRONGFUL INCLUSION OF A SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTE IN any of these LISTS WILL DEPRIVE GENUINE BCs, STs and SCs OF large part of POSTS AND SEATS WHICH SHOULD GO TO SCs, STs and BCs.

THEY SHOULD DO THIS WITHOUT ANY HATRED OR ILL-WILL TOWARDS ANY CASTE BUT ONLY TOTAL OPPOSITION TO THE HARMFUL CASTE SYSTEM, WHICH IS HARMFUL TO THE DEPRIVED SOCIAL CLASSES AND ALSO HARMFUL TO THE NATION AS A WHOLE

POINTS ON WHICH SC, ST AND BC CAN JOINTLY, MASSIVELY, DEMOCRATICALLY, PEACEFULLY AND WITHOUT THREATS, MOVE CENTRAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS ARE:-

Governments should, without dithering and equivocation, firmly declare

that no Socially Advanced Caste will be included in BC Lists

that no such demand will be entertained

that there is no question of changing the criteria for listing SCs, STs and BCs which are based on the Constitution and socio-historical and still-current realities

that there is no question of changing the well-thought-out Constitutional and statutory procedures laid down and followed since long relating to SCs, STs and BCs

Governments should consistently follow these declarations without being swayed by electoral considerations

Governments should holistically undertake and sincerely and efficiently implement the full gamut of Social Justice measures required for bringing about Equality of SCs, STs and BCs with SACs in all parameters of development and welfare in all fields, such as economic; educational at all levels; health, nutrition and infant and child survival-related; housing and residential areas facilities-related, etc., including significantly the Special Component Plan for SCs (SCP) and Tribal sub-Plan (TsP), leading to the annihilation of the caste system

Governments should, along with the above, help the genuinely poor among SACs with scholarships and educational loans to save them from having to drop out from education at any stage only for want of financial capacity, taking care that the genuinely poor are properly identified without scope for false poverty certificates

Governments should incorporate, in the educational syllabus at all levels and training syllabus for all All-India, Central and State Services, clear and unbiased socio-historical facts of India and the sufferings imposed on Dalits, Adivasis and BCs over the centuries of history and decades of our Independence to this day on account of the caste system-with-“Untouchability” in all its ramifications.

NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING HISTORICAL FACTS

• PEOPLE OF SOCIALLY ADVANCED CASTES, Especially YOUTH SHOULD UNDERSTAND

Socio-historical facts of India

The sufferings imposed on Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Classes over the centuries of our history and decades of our independence

And the paramount need to build harmony among all classes and castes based on Equality and elimination of inherited Inequalities, leading to the annihilation of the caste system

AND COOPERATE IN THE COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL JUSTICE MEASURES INCLUDING RESERVATION FOR SC, ST AND BC

so that we completely solve the historically inherited problem of discriminations and inequalities based on the caste system-with-“Untouchability” and create a situation that will facilitate the annihilation of the caste system which is

A MILLSTONE ROUND OUR COLLECTIVE SOCIAL NECK HAMPERING INDIA’S OPTIMAL PROGRESS AND SHOULD REALIZE THAT NOBODY CAN WISH AWAY OR DO AWAY WITH RESERVATION UNTIL AFTER

the disappearance of “Untouchability” in all its ramifications in the case of SCs the disappearance of isolation under vulnerable conditions in the case of STs the disappearance of social backwardness in the case of BCs the SCs, STs and BCs as a whole and each of their castes and tribes reach a level of presence in employment at every level including the highest level and education at every level including the highest level, comparable to their proportion in population the SCs, STs and BCs as a whole and each of their castes and tribes are made capable, though comprehensive Social Justice measures, of securing, in open competition, posts at every level including the highest level and seats in education at every level including the highest level, comparable to their proportion in the population the SCs, STs and BCs as a whole and each of their castes and tribes are enabled, through comprehensive Social Justice measures, to reach the level of Equality with SACs in all parameters of development, life and welfare.

This is the answer to the oft-repeated question “HOW LONG RESERVATION?”

The Real Question is “HOW LONG UNTOUCHABILITY, ISOLATION AND INEQUALITY?”

The Answer is with those who occupy the commanding heights of Governments, higher administration and governance, public and private institutions, academia, and media (print as well as visual), who mostly belong to SACs

• IF MISGUIDED ELEMENTS AMONG THEM TRY TO BLOCK THE PROGRESS OF SC, ST AND BC towards EQUALITY AND ERUPT INTO AGITATIONS AS THEY HAVE BEEN DOING PERIODICALLY, IT WILL CREATE CONTINUOUS HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE TWO, and HAMPER INDIA’S OPTIMAL PROGRESS which is essential to remove widespread unemployment and poverty

Inequality, Polarization, and Democratic Backsliding

  Inequality, Polarization, and Democratic Backsliding Susan Stokes (Summary of “WHY ELECTED LEADERS SUBVERT DEMOCRACY” https://muse....