Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative ‘Stand Up India’ is a welcome attempt to realign the anomalies prevailing in the controversial quota system. The scheme aims at ensuring that each of the approximately 1.25 lakh branches of banks provide loans from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore to one Dalit or Adivasi member and one woman each for setting up a new enterprise, without demanding collateral. Reservation, as envisaged by B. R Ambedkar, was a temporary device meant to help lower castes acquire education and skills that would give them dignity and bring them into the mainstream of society. But the move has its own social impact. Now with the new order in its place would there be a review of reservation policy for the recruitment to Central and State Governments jobs or would it remain the same? Will the governments would also do away with the redundant social policy which has created more wedge in the society rather bringing the people closer? Economically also the reservation policy has done more harm. The Prime Minister said that reservations were just a tool to abolish the all-pervading caste system from public life. But the Mandal Commission recommendations vastly expanded the ambit of reservations, institutionalising caste and making “quota” a way of life. The Mandal report is now being used by powerful castes to demand a share of the pie in urban jobs across the country. On the backfoot over allegations against his government that it was contemplating scrapping quotas for the Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs, Modi had clarified there is total unanimity among political parties in Parliament on the issue as nobody is against the existing quota system. Yes why not? It is the vote bank the parties are looking at and not any social change. BJP from the very first day has been in the favour of reservation. Interestingly the launch ceremony for ‘Stand Up India’ was held in Noida, UP, where Modi’s pitch was aimed squarely at Dalits. At 21 per cent UP has the largest proportion of Dalits than in any other state and BJP leaders gave a clarion call last month to prepare for UP elections next year, a large part of which comprises reaching out to Dalits.
