Sunday, November 19, 2006
Inevitable battle for job quotas
19th November, 2006 - Economic Times
India is firmly in the grip of vote-bank politics. So, the clamour for job reservation for scheduled castes and tribes in the private sector will grow as we approach the state election in Uttar Pradesh next March. The clamour will be couched in the language of social justice, but will be largely about winning a critical election in India’s largest state.
The major chambers of commerce and industry say they favour affirmative action, but not job quotas. They have proposed an affirmative action plan to provide training and entrepreneurship development for Dalits and tribals. They have suggested public-private partnership for setting up new industrial training institutes.
They say they are seeking lessons from the best affirmative action practices in the US and South Africa. But, they point out, neither the US nor South Africa has ever mandated job reservations — that would be too destructive of quality and competitive standards. Rather, those countries seek to improve the skill levels of historically oppressed communities.
So far, the government has gone along, or at least not disagreed, with this approach. Yet, commerce minister Kamal Nath was quick to say last week that legislation would be used if necessary to enforce job reservation. This shows that the Congress Party simply cannot let itself be outflanked on this issue by its rivals.
Two years ago, I appeared on a TV panel discussion along with steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who (as a Dalit) favours job quotas in the private sector for scheduled castes and tribes. He said, correctly, that it was a disgrace that Dalits and tribals remained an entrenched underclass after more than 50 years of Independence. He then said, incorrectly, that India should follow the US in mandating job quotas in the private sector.
I found I was the only one in the panel protesting that there were no job quotas in the US. Others, who had heard of affirmative action in the US, assumed that the minister must be right in his assertion. When I protested that this was not so, the minister laughingly waved a copy of the US law against discrimination, and said the facts were there for all to see.
This was not an isolated example of perverting the facts about US affirmative action. Shortly afterwards, I appeared on another TV discussion on job reservations along with CPI leader D Raja. The two of us had a short exchange before the TV recording began. Raja waved a copy of the US law under my nose and said it was outrageous that the US had job reservations for oppressed classes in the private sector but India did not.
India is firmly in the grip of vote-bank politics. So, the clamour for job reservation for scheduled castes and tribes in the private sector will grow as we approach the state election in Uttar Pradesh next March. The clamour will be couched in the language of social justice, but will be largely about winning a critical election in India’s largest state.
The major chambers of commerce and industry say they favour affirmative action, but not job quotas. They have proposed an affirmative action plan to provide training and entrepreneurship development for Dalits and tribals. They have suggested public-private partnership for setting up new industrial training institutes.
They say they are seeking lessons from the best affirmative action practices in the US and South Africa. But, they point out, neither the US nor South Africa has ever mandated job reservations — that would be too destructive of quality and competitive standards. Rather, those countries seek to improve the skill levels of historically oppressed communities.
So far, the government has gone along, or at least not disagreed, with this approach. Yet, commerce minister Kamal Nath was quick to say last week that legislation would be used if necessary to enforce job reservation. This shows that the Congress Party simply cannot let itself be outflanked on this issue by its rivals.
Two years ago, I appeared on a TV panel discussion along with steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who (as a Dalit) favours job quotas in the private sector for scheduled castes and tribes. He said, correctly, that it was a disgrace that Dalits and tribals remained an entrenched underclass after more than 50 years of Independence. He then said, incorrectly, that India should follow the US in mandating job quotas in the private sector.
I found I was the only one in the panel protesting that there were no job quotas in the US. Others, who had heard of affirmative action in the US, assumed that the minister must be right in his assertion. When I protested that this was not so, the minister laughingly waved a copy of the US law against discrimination, and said the facts were there for all to see.
This was not an isolated example of perverting the facts about US affirmative action. Shortly afterwards, I appeared on another TV discussion on job reservations along with CPI leader D Raja. The two of us had a short exchange before the TV recording began. Raja waved a copy of the US law under my nose and said it was outrageous that the US had job reservations for oppressed classes in the private sector but India did not.
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