JAT QUOTA STIR: CALL TO GO FORWARD NOT BACKWARD

 

Mere Pass Gaadi hai, Bangla hai…..Tumhare paas kya hai?........mere paas “RESERVATION” hai……

That’s the fighting most Indians from various community are fisticuffing with system. Memories are not faded the way Hardik Patel in August  held the state government to ransom by demanding that Gujarat CMAnandiben Patel personally come to the stage at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad to receive the memorandum for Patel reservation; now same story being repeated in Haryana and the whole life has come to standstill. The Jat stir has  shaken up India Inc with Maruti having to stop production and Delhi's water supply being hit.Most of the parts In Delhi reeling under severe water crisis which is to be expected to resolve in another two weeks . The ongoing violent agitation in Haryana has already dealt an estimated blow of Rs 18,000-Rs 20,000 crore by way of loss to public and private property and halting trade, industry, small business and transport as per  Assocham and almost 16 people lost their life, and first non jat chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar being heckled .As Haryana shares borders with Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and is the transit route to a number of national highways and trunk railway lines, the collateral damage would be more.

There are few who says demand of quota by jats is fine but violent way adopted by them is wrong , others claim from the blocked NH 1 that Violence is the core key and only way to get your voice heard otherwise nobody hears you out  .Jats in Haryana comprise 25% of the state's population and dominate one-third of the state's 90 assembly constituencies. Jats were not included in OBC lists (both in states and centre) when reservations were given to socially and educationally backward communities after the 1993 Indira Sahwney case. During NDA 1 Rajasthan was the first state to give reservations to Jats in state services ( Jats of all dists except Dhaupur and Bharatpur).over the years  quota demand amongst Jats in other states gained ground. Jats of other states including UP, Haryana and Delhi were also granted quota by state govt's of the respective states.the haryana quota was challenged in the HC where it remains pending. in the meantime UPA towards the fag end of the tenure approved reservations to Jats in central services.the order of the central govt was struck down by the SC.THUS Jats in Haryana have not benefitted from reservations both in state and central govt jobs.This explains the tension which has been festering for a while now.The Jat agitation is part of a nationwide pattern where dominant upper castes are increasingly demanding downward caste mobility and reservation benefits. Patels in Gujarat, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh and Marathas in Maharashtra all have similar reclassification demands.Even Ahoms in Assam want ST status. These movements reflect two underlying trends.The first reservation to go was the central one, when the SC struck it down in March 2015 saying Jats did not appear to need the benefits. It also referred to the advice of the National Commission for Backward Classes that recommended the demand for quotas be rejected.Later in July, the Punjab and Haryana high court stayed the state quota as well. Haryana’s 2013 decision to give benefits to Jats took the total proportion of reservation to 57% -- flouting a 1992 SC order that said quota benefits should not take up more than 50% of available jobs and college seats

The big question is the caste which was not considered backward in 1992 by mandal commission how it can be considered backward after 24 years from then , time has come to review ,modify , lift or implement reservation in way most needed should get benefit of it and no one should be at receiving end due to wrong implementation of it.

At a time when rating agencies like Moody giving thumps up to Inida …its time to  go forward but its really unfortunate of India that inspite of going forward we want to go backward and to more extent political parties aspiration to remain is responsible for this.

Let the reservation be necessity not luxury. One goes ahead in the life and achieves due to his talent and ability not reservation.

 

Sundaram Chaurasia,Assistant Editor with CNN -IBN