The India of Congress manifesto

The Congress manifesto imagines an India where social relations will be altered dramatically and power among social groups distributed more equitably than today These changes will in the long run undermine the domination of the upper castes in Indiarsquos life But this transformation cannot come until the Congressspearheaded INDIA comes to power Yet its manifesto is worthy of academic study as it outlines with daring strokes an India of the future for the people to considerItrsquos no surprise that the Congress manifesto promises to conduct a nationwide SocioEconomic and Caste Census This Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been advocating over the last one year with the passion typical of neoconverts Given the example of Bihar where the Caste Census was carried out last year we know such an exercise nationwide will reveal a wide gulf in employment wealth and educational attainments among groups down the caste hierarchyldquoBased on the Caste Census data we will strengthen the agenda for affirmative actionrdquo the Congress manifesto says It could have stopped at this anodyne assertion But no it explicitly spells out the affirmative action measures as if inviting the people to imagine the degree to which the existing socioeconomic reality can be altered under the existing constitutional arrangementThe Congress promises it would amend the Constitution to remove the 50 per cent cap on castebased reservation the Supreme Court imposed This proposal requires to be decoded The Mandal Commission estimated the population of the Other Backward Classes to be 52 per cent of Indiarsquos In order not to violate the Supreme Court orders on the 50 per cent cap and with the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes already accounting for 225 per cent reservation the Commission recommended a 27 per cent quota for the OBCsA caste Census will put a definite figure to the OBC population which will be well beyond 27 per cent There will rise a clamour to match the OBC quota with their population only possible by removing the cap The removal of the 50 per cent cap implicitly supports a reconfiguration of the quantum of reservation and addition of a new reservation category to accommodate socially and educationally advanced groups such as the Marathas Jats Kapus and Patels which have been agitating for a share in the reservation cake The removal of the cap will have India leap towards proportional representation in government jobs and educational institutesIn such a scenario the jobs for the General Category will diminish In 2022 according to official figures those belonging to this category which the upper castes dominate accounted for 65 per cent of Group A and 61 per cent of Group B jobs The shrinking of the General Category in the bureaucracy will thus lead to a concomitant reduction in the power of the upper castesBut the Congress manifesto does not stop there for it says it will make the 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Section accessible to those groups not entitled to it These are precisely the groups already availing reservation Another site of the uppercaste domination is the private education sector where castebased reservation has not been introduced despite the constitutional provisionmdashArticle 15 5mdashfor it being there The Congress manifesto assures Article 15 5 will be implementedReservation has been steadily losing its lure for people as the government sector has been contracting after liberalisation To counter this perception the Congress promises to regularise contractual jobs In 2022 contract and casual workers accounted for 43 per cent of jobs in Central public sector enterprises In 2021 as many as 243 lakh workers were on contract in ldquoCentral sphere establishmentsrdquo such as the Railways ports mines etcContractual jobs are outside the reservation pool Their regularisation will boost not only employment but also enhance the quantum of reserved jobs In addition the Congress promises to fill vacancies in Central government jobs There were 87 lakh such vacancies in March 2020 Here too obviously reservation will apply Should INDIA come to power the Congress will not find its allies erecting obstacles to its intention of promoting social justice The Congress is in fact amplifying ideas which its allies had initially advocated or introduced It is also unlikely the Congress will pussyfoot around its proposals for its decision to swing to the Hindu Left so to speak is influenced by the compulsion to carve out a new social base for itself For far too long the Congress waited for the upper castes which deserted the party 1990 onward to return to its fold It now wants to invent a new future for itselfmdashand IndiaThe Congressrsquo plan to reforge social relations will meet stiff opposition already presaged by the controversy triggered over its manifesto which emphasises more on altering power equations between castes than wealth distribution Imagine the backlash the Congressrsquo proposals would trigger in case these are implemented It will countenance the fury of the upper castes and lengthy battles in the Supreme Court Our judicial history shows the apex court has rarely annulled the policies of those in power That is why without power a partyrsquos manifesto ultimately becomes a fantasy only of academic interestThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper