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SECOND PARTITION
eBook by
Sharad C. Misra
Foreword by Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap
This eBook presents a critique of the highly contentious and very controversial policy of caste-based reservation in jobs which has since been extended to education sector and is one of the worst things that has happened in the post-Independence India. Motivated by vote-bank politics in the garb of promoting social justice and egalitarianism it has divided the Hindu community into two factions. The vast majority of backward castes listed in the report of the Mandal Commission (1980) and taken to be ‘socially and educationally’ homogenous are called ‘other backward classes’ by the acronym OBC while others are ‘forward classes’ that may be called non-OBC. This dichotomy mistakenly assumes that there were no backward classes amongst the non-OBC Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Worse, to be entitled to job quota one had to be a member of some designated caste. Mere economic backwardness or abject poverty was not enough!
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of India has, in its judgment on Writ Petition No.265 of 2006 (Ashok Kumar Thakur vs. Union of India & Others) delivered on April 10, 2008 has, for the most part, virtually upheld the majority judgment on the Writ petition No. 930 of 1990 (Indira Sawhney vs. Union of India & Others) and rejected the Writ Petition No. 265 of 2006 which challenged the policy of caste-based reservation for admission in the IITs, IIMs and other Centrally controlled educational institutions In other words, the apex court has affixed its seal of approval on recognition of OBC as a distinctly separate backward class like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and ruled for extension of the policy of caste-based reservation to the education sector, debarring, of course, the ‘creamy layer’ from the quota benefit. It is now for the apolitical academics, scientists, doctors, persons engaged in knowledge-based industries and NGOs committed to seeing a casteless society in India to petition the apex court for review of the judgment by a bigger Constitution Bench.
Foreword by Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, Consultant in Constitutional Law and Political Management and Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha:
“...The Second Partition is very well written. The handling of the theme is incisive and highly perceptive. The author minces no words in expressing his views. He is precise, candid and logical. He writes as a deeply concerned citizen with no personal axe to grind. One cannot miss his commitment to the nation – its unity and integrity – and his patriotic fervour. Sri Misra bases his observations and conclusions on adequate research, study and painstaking analysis. In so far as the eBook makes a fervent appeal to save the nation from being irretrievably divided between numerous castes and communities for the sake of narrow vote bank politics, it is a voice of sanity. I have no hesitation in commending this eBook to all those who have the interest of the nation at heart.”
Sharad C. Misra is a freelance journalist writing on wide-ranging subjects of national importance. A development economist, he is Fellow of the Economic Development Institute, World Bank, Washington and member of the Centre for Transport Research and Management, New Delhi. He is a former Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Railways and Advisor (Chief) to the Planning Commission, Government of India. In 1978, he joined the United Nations as Technical Assistance Advisor. After retiring from the United Nations service he settled down in Mumbai where he functioned as visiting professor in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai.