Freedom of equality without reservation

By Harsh Vardhan

PEOPLE living in a village, precinct, town, city or country constitute quite a heterogeneous populace. Apart from differences of size, strength, colour, culture, likes and dislikes, different religious faith they have different levels of intelligence and above all different affluence. This last is important because of the variation from abject poverty for those who find it difficult to rustle up even a single satisfying meal, reasonable clothes to wear and shelter to live under, to overflowing, extravagant richness of those who live in mansions, flaunt several cars, eat in expensive restaurants, and often display an arrogance and self absorption that is repelling.

Then there are those who, earlier, were called untouchables. Through the ages many great thinkers raised their voice against the practice of untouchability — Ram Mohan, Kabir, Nanak, Dayanand and Ambedkar. Gandhi Ji called them Harijans — children of God. But, for many decades now they have been bundled into categories called Schedule Castes (SCs) Schedule Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Those labled a higher castes or who have other religious faith are not included even if they are abjectly poor. This classification is applied irrespective of the financial level of the people appearing in the lists of these categories. The origin of this classification is rooted in history and archaic religious beliefs, not current economic and social realities.

Every human being, whoever he may be, has, physiologically, about 10 billion neurons, 1012 interconnections and many other cells in his head buried at different depths in the various sectors of the brain. The neurons are like the memory elements of a computer but much more. They are tiny factories producing a variety of chemicals and electric charges, receiving, registering, storing, analysing retrieving and conveying information through electro-chemical processes, and controlling the motor functions of the individual. Since this number is about the same in every person’s brain, on this count their capabilities ought to be more or less the same.

Every individual inherits the genes from both parents. They define the inherited abilities and the behavioural aspects of the individual. They make every individual unique. However, what the individual is, is not written irrevocably in his genes. To be fair some of it is. This and what is mentioned in the previous paragraph provided the intrinsic ability — the base line for the intelligence on which the individual builds his life.

From here upbringing, education and culture take over. These are the external influences that shape an individual’s character. We call this ‘extelligence’. Intelligence and ‘extelligence’ go hand in hand. Neither can develop without the other. Parents’ environment, education, values, discipline, character, culture and above all their affluence and the kind of life they lead and thereby expose the child to while he is growing up, are the main ‘extelligence’ contributions. Differences in these factors confront the children of families or groups of families living in different parts of our country.

Take for example, the tribals, living in jungles for generations, distance from urban civilisation, illiterate, but able to communicate among themselves, and living by their own code of conduct. Apart from their unique genetic traits, nature and the physical elements probably have the strongest ‘extelligence’ influence on the shaping of their character and lifestyles. Come to the villages, and one sees a seemingly more organised social structure, including the SCs and the upper caste. This structure continues to become more complex the closer you move to the metropolises.

Thus a tribal will have social and mental capability hugely different from someone brought up in a village and may be taught in a village school who, in turn, will again be quite different from the city-based labourers in different vocations — traders, contractors, and, of course, from the fortunate ones born to well-to-do urban parents and educated in private schools. There would be enormous differences in the intellectual and physical endowment, and the attitude of such people based on genetic inheritance and subsequent, upbringing in their respective environment. This interplay between intelligence and ‘extelligence’ influences is what makes us all ‘individuals’.

Casteism is perpetuated in the name of equality of opportunity, strangely enough, despite the fact that a much larger fraction of the poor in our country do not fall under any of the SC, ST categories. It is only these few groups that elicit concern from intellectuals and the government. And, ostensibly, in order to help the people in these categories, opportunities are provided by reserving government and public sector jobs, admissions in educational institutions etc irrespective of the individual’s capabilities or needs.

This is done by downgrading the qualitative requirements, and separate lists are made for appointments of the reserved categories. By doing so, they are in fact condemned to a lifetime of ineptitude and mediocrity. The evils of social and economic casteism are thus perpetuated; increasing the rifts in society by depriving the meritorious and deserving, of opportunities they can honestly compete for. More seriously, instead of getting the less fortunate into the mainstream, absorbing and homogenizing them with the rest of society, reservations have created another permanent caste — the ‘reserved categories’. Some of these are now being brought under the banner of ‘Dalits’ because of political brinkmanship.

This doctrine of providing equality of opportunity to the 33 (50) per cent falling in these categories is believed to be an elixir to improve their lot. To most people this doctrine sounds eminently fair and reasonable. It is attractive because the marks of the invidious social distinction acquired through this scheme become visible in society. Also, no one wishes to be counted as an opponent of equality in public.

But, in fact, this doctrine is as contradictory to reality as is the concept of total equality of wealth. The equality-of-opportunity view was and has been a monumental misunderstanding based on the idea that the opportunities are fundamentally external to the individual. Based on this belief, the government seized control to distribute opportunities to earn wealth and income and so give the less fortunate an equal chance by holding back the more deserving. Is that not a violation of the principle of equality?

Restrictions on what is due to the individual as a citizen are made in the name of equality. Such a step has not been able to make the stupid intelligent, the weak strong and the backward advanced. Even if, for a moment it is accepted that this is possible, the numbers receiving such doles in each group is so small that a majority in these groups have remained where they were more than four decades ago.

Those who got the concessional opportunities and reached better economic levels, then clung on to that privilege at the cost of others even in their own group. Even after acquiring better status, the reservations continue for their children, thus destroying opportunities for others. As a result, a majority of the backward classes remain deprived even today.

However, the indicators of social distinction acquired by those receiving the dole of reservation make it attractive to others. Therefore, everyone scrambles to be included in the reserved categories, a short-sighted, self-oriented but self-denigrating desire. The original aim of a casteless society has been totally lost. Caste continues to be a crucial factor in determining opportunities. People now look for largesse rather than real opportunities to prove their worth as individuals.

Opportunities are destroyed by overt government controls on fair industrial practices, and jumbled up licensing procedures, official apathy etc. Instead, what festers is corruption rampant in every echelon of society proportionally to the status and power of those involved. And, it takes on ingenious forms. There is little effort to simplify procedures because it would tend to expose corruption. Many, now, justify it as a way of life.

To most people, specially to the warped politician and the beneficiary reservationist, the equality of opportunity doctrine seems fair and just. On this bases they have advocated public system of education, especially the higher education. Loud proclamations are heard promising education for all, ‘adult literacy,’ ‘equality for women’, ‘alleviation of poverty’. But these have remained unfulfilled.

Primary education, particularly in rural areas, remains the most neglected, least funded government responsibility. Most funds sanctioned for this purpose get diverted into bottomless political and associated pockets. Not to say of school buildings, even the teachers are not well trained and often Sifarishi. Can you blame them for being disinterested? Thus, this growing generation is, essentially, being denied its share of opportunities.

Main Bharat ki beti hoon is heard and seen on the radio and television all the time. But when it came to accommodate at least 33 per cent women, the men in the Parliament balked. Why? Because, most likely, they feared the loss of their opportunity to be in Parliament to nurse their ego and amass wealth by simply waging their tongues in the service of the nation?

Denying admissions to the most deserving by creating barriers through reservations for state domiciles, wards of teachers, bureaucrats, politicians and other moneyed people, reservation takes on many insidious forms indeed. Educational institutions restrict admissions to even deserving students from other states. Why? Are we not citizens of one country?

Extend this myopic attitude a step, and you see how inflexible the curricula are. Students have a limited choice of what they can learn. Subject combinations are fixed, strangling interest and creativity. The course structure is kept the same all over the country, whether in rural or urban areas, guided by fallacious understanding of parity thus destroying individual brilliance and denying the fact that people growing up in different environments have instinctive aptitudes and skills in different areas that should be nurtured, not killed. Higher degree attainments are time bound by the period of stipends with complete disregard to quality. Thus real quality competence suffers. Opportunities go down.

Unemployment continues not because of any metaphysical or fundamental lack of opportunities, but because of the restrictions placed by the antiquated rules and laws of the government, societal aberrations, personal inhibitions and prejudices, racial and religious intolerance, caste discriminations restricting the production capacities, indulgence in mismanagement, protecting the culprits, tolerating and even abetting indiscipline.

The solution of many of these ills lies in freedom of opportunity. And opportunities arise again and again. They can be created by individuals. Opportunities are products; products of human thought, innovation and action. They are the result of abilities and skills of individuals and exploitation of circumstance to their advantage. This leads to progress and progress leads to opportunities. There are opportunities aplenty. Freedom of opportunity does not guarantee that every one would become rich overnight. But most could become better off than they were, and then their next generation could further go up the economic rung and so on.