Completing the insult

The issue of caste-based reservations continues to simmer in India, with an ongoing tussle taking place between the legislature and the judiciary. In January, the country's Supreme Court issued a notice on a petition by the All India Christian Council that sought reservations for all Dalits irrespective of their religious faith. Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists had earlier gained the Scheduled Caste (SC) status through amendments, and this has been a longstanding demand on the grounds that socio-economic and educational backwardness of Dalits who have converted to Christianity and Islam is no different from that of Dalit Hindus.

Reservation has long been one of the flashpoints in the debate over caste identity. Indeed, the clamour to be labelled as 'backward' is a phenomenon peculiar to India, with its affirmative action predicated on just this term, as defined by caste. This has led to a number of castes that, though today dominant in some regions – such as the Meenas and Gujjars in Rajasthan – are seeking reservation claiming 'backwardness'. The violent protests in 2008 by Gujjars in Rajasthan resulted in reservations for the community, along with 14 percent for other 'economically backward castes' in employment and in educational institutions. At the behest of a letter from some upper-caste students, however, the Rajasthan High Court stayed these quotas on the grounds that it exceeded the overall 50-percent limit fixed for reservations. Similarly, the issues of 27-percent reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in higher education, and the extent of reservations permissible and reservations for Muslims, are pending before various Indian courts, including the Supreme Court.