It is interesting to watch the furore over the recently announced 50% reservations for Muslims in AMU. We have wildly differing views on this which swing from - 'Let us put an end to all reservations' to 'Let autonomous, community-run institutes decide their own reservation policies'. Taking a look at India's religious demographics, it seems highly improbable that either of the above is a workable solution in the near future.
First, a look at some facts and figures. Almost 12% of India's population is Muslim, which is the third highest population of Muslims in the world. It should also not be forgotten that after Hindus (about 81%), Muslims are the next largest community in India. Despite this, the literacy rate among Muslims is a distressing 59%, which is lowest among all communities - Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists.
2 things are clear from these figures -
1) We cannot choose to ignore the Muslim community in India, if we are to someday become a developed nation
2) We have to find a way to integrate Muslims into mainstream society, just like all other communities mentioned above and ensure that everyone receives their slice of the economic progress pie.
Common sense suggests that the only way to achieve this is to improve the level of literacy among Muslims, which will eventually make them more employable and finally result in their being both, contributors to and consumers of the Indian economy. This is where the delicate issue of reservations in the education sector creeps in.
1) Active or Reactive
Firstly, let us not get hysterical about this subject. By doing so, we are simply fuelling the fire set off by politicians and fanatic religious leaders. Let the Hindus ask themselves - Can we visualize a developed India with consistent 8-9% economic growth without the participation of 12% of the population? And let the Muslims question themselves - In our effort to push the community forward, are we willing to risk isolation from mainstream India and in the process get left behind in the progress that the country is making?
So, instead of siding with the AMU board, which has obviously asked for a very high % of reservation or with the idealistic well-wishers, who believe that there should be no reservations at all, we should attempt to reach a mutually satisfying consensus on this issue.
2) Revamping the reservation policy
Sadly, the word 'Reservation' has very negative connotations, so let us view this from the point of 'diversity'. A majority of us will accept that any educational institution, workplace or even a housing complex is enriched when it has a diverse mix of people. But what if a part of society is unable to contribute to this diversity for certain (either economic or discriminatory) reasons? The natural and sensible solution would then be to offer some concessions, relax certain criteria and make an effort to provide an impetus for quick progress. This is exactly what the whole ideology of reservations is.
Unfortunately, it ignores the fact that there is a risk of 'ghetto-ising' certain communities, resulting in even greater segregation, as is progressively happening with the Muslims in India.
One of the solutions to this is to allow community-run institutes (and by that I do not mean just Muslim ones, even Christian, Gujarati, South Indian, etc) to reserve a low percentage of seats for candidates from their community. This should be fixed at a maximum of 20% and the candidates admitted under it should be academically bright and able to prove economic inability to afford an education. Firstly, this policy would automatically eliminate 'easy access' into an institute simply on the basis of community leanings. Secondly, it would prevent educational institutes from acquiring a religious identity on the basis of its student population. And finally, it would assuage the inbuilt sense of belonging to a community, that majority of Indians possess.
As every policy needs to have a goal, so should this one. The main aim should be to reach nationwide % literacy, with relatively less disparity between communities in X years. After X years, the policy should be reviewed and if the desired goal is achieved, reservations can be phased out.
3) Moving towards an equal society
Just like everything else in India, the issue of reservations has acquired a communal undertone. If 50% of AMU seats are reserved for Muslims, does it mean that they want to keep Hindus out of their institutes? Of course not! If Hindus do not have access to those 50% of seats, it is a byproduct of the policy, not the main aim. To put it in perspective, there are many Jain housing societies in Bombay which allow only Jains to purchase their flats. Isn't this reservation of a different sort? In the end, every community wants to look out for its own, its only human nature.
A viable way to change this mindset is to emulate the concept of globalization at a micro-level. Today, an American employer is more eager to give work to an Indian engineer sitting in India, than an American engineer available in the US. Why is that? Simply because it is a purely economic decision and where money talks, religion hardly has a voice.
If we can apply the same model and prove that any educational institute and its students can thrive only if its admissions are based on merit(better students, more recruitments and eventually more money), reservations will be a thing of the past. This will again take time and requires institutes to provide honest, detailed statistics to the general public.
4) Boundaries of the current reservation policy
A majority of us agree that reservations in the education sector on the basis of EBC (Economically Backward Class) are justified. But can we carry this forward to the job sector? That is not just unwarranted; it is a recipe for economic disaster. Ideally, the whole point of reservations in educational institutes is to bring the privileged and not-so-privileged on par and to release them into society as equal individuals. If we continue having reservations in the job sector, it only goes to prove that those in the education sector have been a total failure.
In conclusion, it is not difficult to imagine India as a developed country with the unique ability to allow diverse religions and communities to prosper within its fold. Hopefully, once we have reached that goal, issues like religion, caste and reservations based on them will ultimately be left behind. But till then, we all have to accept facts and make an effort to bring everyone on par, without forsaking the underlying quality of growth.
