The hydra-headed bill

By K.N. Pandita – Indian President has returned the OBC reservation bill, which the parliament had sent in for his assent. The government is obliged to send the bill to the president when the parliament passes it with a majority vote.

Under constitutional provision, the President has a right to return the bill to the government if he wants clarification in part or in whole or if he has questions on the impact of the bill on various segments of society. Obviously, the President has some doubts and some questions. He has suggested some amendments to the draft bill.

This is not unprecedented in Indian Constitutional history. But in a democracy, such issues are ultimately resolved amicably and without causing any damage to the State. The present controversy is likely to blow off without causing any serious stir.

The fact of the matter is that the majority vote in the parliament is not the end of the story. It is the ground reality that matters.

There has been much opposition to the decision of the government on reservation issue. A large segment of civil society — the student segment— forming a sizable percentage of voters in this country was geared up to oppose the bill. The strike of the doctors, followed by protest rallies by students of prestigious professional institutions in the country actually sent shock waves to the entire nation.

A delegation of doctors on strike met with the president. The very fact that the President advised them to call off their strike was a clear signal that he was not satisfied with the feasibility of the reservation bill in the form in which it had been drafted and passed. A government not pushed to the wall by the power group within the cabinet would have taken the clue from President’s advice to the striking doctors.

There have been speculations in the galleries and on the sidelines that ambitious old guard in the Congress may not be reined in any more. Throughout the tense period of doctors’ strike the PM maintained Sphinx –like silence. He was on the horns of dilemma.

At last it appears the PM has found an escape route. He hopes that reconsideration of the draft bill will be deferred till August. It means his government can plan some inoffensive strategy to steer safe through the storm.

We need to differentiate between the negative and positive politics. Who says that OBC of Indian society should not be provided support to upgrade the level of their life? But the aftermath of Mandal report should have prompted the government to change its thinking of and approach to the issue.

There is growing support to the suggestion that the government use the instrument of MNCs by funding them stoutly to open highly efficient schools on district level in almost all states with 80 per cent reservation for the OBC. The MNCs of proven efficiency and result-oriented culture would be bound to ensure a high standard of education and consequently an enviable result record of students of OBC in such schools.

The idea is to provide crutches to the OBC student community not with a view to let them make their legs dysfunctional but to go a little distance and then be on their own legs.

It is unfortunate if this issue is raked up to settle political score and personal ambition. The HRD Minister has from the very beginning declared that he has a two-agenda programme. One is to change the entire syllabus of history books from middle to college level and the second is to see that 27 per cent quota bill is passed. He claims to have achieved full success in his agenda number one. It may be so because that issue is not directly in the focus of public attention just as the second agenda is.

The idea of increasing the number of seats in professional as well private institutors of excellence is a much later development after the HRD Ministry heard the silent murmur. This means that there was not impersonal approach to the idea of reservation up to 27 per cent. The aggrandizement is now manifested and the HRD minister finds himself in the eye of the storm. One may say that he has not been only hasty but also unimaginative.

Indian democracy is passing through an era of vote bank culture. Democracies elsewhere, too, had their share in its evolution. But Indian politicians must take care of not dividing the civil society on one or the other count. The president is very right in suggesting universal reach of reservation benefits offered by the government. A deprived class has to be entitled to its genuine rights but not at the cost of other classes placed wherever they are. What the OBC need is not spoon feeding but strong gums to chew.

The Indian government would be well advised not to let the hydra-headed monster disrupt the silent march of Indian civil society to the destination of prosperity and excellence.

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