2006 Indian anti-reservation protests
Encyclopedia
The anti-caste-based-reservation protests 2006, that took place in parts of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, were in opposition to the decision of the Union Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

, the multiparty coalition 'United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance
The United Progressive Alliance is a ruling coalition of center-left political parties heading the government of India. The coalition is led by the Indian National Congress , which is currently the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha...

' (headed by the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

), to implement reservations for Other Backward Class
Other Backward Class
The Central Government of India classifies some of its citizens based on their social and economic condition as Scheduled Caste , Scheduled Tribe , and Other Backward Class . The OBC list presented by the commission is dynamic and will change from time to time depending on social, educational and...

es in central and private institutes of higher education. In the year 2005, based on the recommendations of the Mandal Commission
Mandal commission
The Mandal Commission was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward." It was headed by Indian parliamentarian Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal to consider the question of seat...

, the government proposed to reserve 27% of seats in the All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS), Indian Institutes of Technology
Indian Institutes of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education. The IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as “institutions of national importance”, and lays down their powers, duties,...

 (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management
Indian Institutes of Management
The Indian Institutes of Management , are graduate business schools in India. They were set up with the objective of providing management education and to assist the industry through research and consulting services. The IIMs award diplomas and not degrees.- Institutes :Indian Institute of...

 (IIMs) and other central institutions of higher education for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in order to help them gain higher levels of representation in these institutions. This move led to massive protests by those claiming that the government's (and the Congress party's) proposal is discriminatory and driven by 'vote-bank' politics.

Historical background

India is divided into many endogamous group
Endogamous group
Endogamous group is a community in which the members generally marry within the group. The caste in India and the tribes in many of the cultural regions of the world form endogamous groups....

s, or castes and sub-castes, as a result of centuries of following Varnasrama Dharma, a social system which translates to "types" or "order". This put limitations on access to education, jobs and other rights to the"lower-castes".

During the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, some methods for upliftment of the backward among these parts of the population were introduced. These included reservations in the legislature and in government jobs. After independence, the Indian constitution, introduced provisions for reservations for the scheduled castes and tribes in government institutions in the 1950s, to give a fair reperesentation to the weaker sections of society. 22.5% of the seats in higher education institutes currently set-aside for Scheduled Castes
Scheduled Castes and Tribes
The Scheduled Castes , also known as the Dalit, and the Scheduled Tribes are two groupings of historically disadvantaged people that are given express recognition in the Constitution of India...

 (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The reservation system was originally supposed to last only for ten years.
However, it has continued to this day. In 1989, then Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh
V. P. Singh
Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the seventh Prime Minister of India and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda.-Early life:...

 accepted and implemented the proposals of the Mandal Commission, which recommended reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Many Indian states implemented the OBC reservations in their higher educational institutions, which led to protests by those belonging to "upper castes" and opposed to the quota system. However, a select few higher educational institutions - the IITs, IIM
IIM
IIM may refer to:*Indian Institutes of Management, a group of business schools in India*Alternative name for Mexican pop group Flans for 2002 revival, from initials of names Ivonne, Ilse and Mimí...

s, AIIMS, etc. - were kept out of the purview of the OBC reservations until now.

In some states (for example Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

) where the quotas for SC/ST/OBC have been implemented, the quota amounts to 50% of the available seats in any medical, engineering or other institute falling under the state government. This includes even the unaided private colleges.

Protests against reservation

In 2006, the Human Resource Development
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...

 minister, Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress party. He was the Union Minister of Human Resource Development in the Manmohan Singh cabinet from 2004 to 2009....

 promised to implement a 27% reservation for OBCs in institutes of higher education (twenty central universities, the IITs
Indian Institutes of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education. The IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as “institutions of national importance”, and lays down their powers, duties,...

, NITs
National Institutes of Technology
The National Institutes of Technology , are a group of higher education engineering institutes in India. Comprising thirty autonomous institutes, they are located in one each major state/territory of India. On their inception decades ago, all NITs were referred as Regional Engineering Colleges ...

, IIM
IIM
IIM may refer to:*Indian Institutes of Management, a group of business schools in India*Alternative name for Mexican pop group Flans for 2002 revival, from initials of names Ivonne, Ilse and Mimí...

s and AIIMS) after the 2006 State Assembly elections
State Assembly elections in India, 2006
The State Assembly elections in India of 2006 took place between April 3, 2006 and May 8, 2006. The Indian states that went into poll are Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pondicherry....

, in accordance with the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, which was passed unanimously by both Houses of Parliament.

The text of the 93rd amendment reads:
The 93rd Constitutional Amendment allows the government to make special provisions for "advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens", including their admission in aided or unaided private educational institutions. Gradually this reservation policy is to be implemented in private sector institutions and companies as well. This move led to opposition from non-reserved category students, as the proposal, will reduce seats for the General (non-reserved) category from the existing 77.5% to less than 50.5% (since members of OBCs are also allowed to contest in the General category). However, government of India assured that number of seats in these educational institutes will be increased so that effectively there will be no reduction in number of seats available for general category

Events

In an incident on 13 May, medical students protesting in Mumbai were lathi-charged (baton-charged) by the police. The protest had been previously banned by the High Court. The nationwide strike launched by "Anti-reservation" medical students protesting against the lathi-charge, was later joined by like-minded resident doctors from all over India.

The government took measures to counter the protesting doctors by serving them with suspension letters and asking them to vacate the hostels to make way for newly recruited doctors. Some states invoked the 'Essential Services Maintenance Act' (ESMA) and gave notices to the doctors to return to work, failing which legal action would be taken against them. The government also put on alert 6,000 men from Rapid Action Force
Rapid Action Force
The Rapid Action Force is a specialised wing of the Indian CRPF . It was established on 11 December 1991 and became fully operational in October 1992, to deal with riots & related unrest...

 to take care of any untoward incident. However, in most places the protesters remained defiant despite ESMA. In Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, a human chain rally was organized on 20 May, by students of IIT Delhi with the support of PAN IIT. Nearly 150 students went on a 'relay' hunger strike in AIIMS (Delhi) which, lasted for about a month.
A resolution, signed by 2,500 IIT Roorkee students and expressing their opposition, was sent to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Election Commission, and a deaf ear was turned to it. A peaceful protest march was organised on 23 May. The following were the demands made by the 'Youth for Equality
Youth for Equality
Youth for Equality is an Indian organization involved with the 2006 anti-reservation protests, which started to counter the Government of India's move to implement 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes in institutes of higher education...

', the anti reservation student body leading the protests:
  • Roll back of the proposed hike in reservations
  • Setting up of an academic, non-political panel of experts to review the existing reservation policy
    Reservation in India
    Reservation in India is a form of affirmative action designed to improve the well being of socially backward and underrepresented communities of citizens in India. There are laws in place, wherein a certain percentage of total available slots in Jobs and Education are set aside for people from...

     and explore alternate forms of affirmative action
    Affirmative action
    Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...

  • Vacant positions in reserved government jobs to be thrown open for other eligible candidates
  • No penal action be taken against the protesters
  • A white paper
    White paper
    A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...

     issued on the reservation policy and a concrete statement on the issue by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh
    Manmohan Singh
    Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...



Several students at the IIT Guwahati decided to boycott classes to protest against the government proposal led by an undergraduate student from Mechanical Engineering Department, Class of 2007, Mr. Shailendra Kumar Mishra. Mr. Mishra went on a three day hunger strike to protest against the same. His selfless contributions to the society were later translated into a Public Interest Litigation filed at the District Court of Guwahati City. In Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....

, hundreds of striking anti-quota resident doctors went on a door-to-door campaign in Jaipur to garner support for a rally. The doctors affiliated to 'Youth for Equality' began their Jan Samarthan padyatra in the High Court and Banipark areas. In Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, more than a hundred students from IIT Madras and city medical colleges protested in front of the government guesthouse in Chepauk
After the government reaffirmed its commitment to implementing reservations, the protesters called for a "Civil disobedience movement". Their protests were also supported by the traders in Delhi, who threatened to shut shops if the government doesn't roll back on its decision. The AIIMS Faculty Association went on a mass casual leave from 25 May 2006 to support the anti-quota stir, but made it clear that basic health-care services would not be disrupted. Whether health care services were really unaffected is questionable. On 27 May 2006, a massive rally was organised in Delhi. The rally was attended by participants from all over India, numbering almost 1 lakh
Lakh
A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...

. It was declared that the strike by students and junior doctors would continue.

On 28 May 2006, the government set up an 'Oversight Committee' to "prepare a road map with a time-bound programme to implement 27 per cent reservation for OBCs without compromising merit and addressing apprehensions aired by students propose an effective way to implement reservations keeping the interests of all sections of society in mind". This committee, headed by former Karnataka Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily, will submit its report by 31 August 2006.

On 31 May 2006, in deference to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...

 directive, resident doctors resumed hospital works from 1 June 2006, as the health service was affected seriously due to the strike. However, protest from the part of students (both medical and other streams) has continued and a national coordination committee comprising representatives of medical colleges, IITs and several other educational institutions has been proposed to be formed to lead the agitation. The Supreme Court has also sought the government to clarify the basis on which the reservation policy was being implemented.

Political reactions and opinions

The 93rd Constitutional Amendment was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...

 except for two abstaining members. The Left
Left Front
The Left Front is an alliance of Indian leftist parties. After a 34-year reign in West Bengal, the Left Front was swept from power in the 2011 election...

 parties, while supporting reservations, called for excluding the 'creamy layer' from availing of its benefits; the 'creamy layer' is used in reference to members of economically advanced population belonging to any caste.

The Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...

, in its two-day national executive meeting, backed quotas but also called for upholding merit and excellence in educational institutes. They asked for the benefits of reservations to be extended to "economically weaker sections of the forward castes", and also for exclusion of the 'creamy layer'.

The Congress party which has introduced these quotas has vociferously backed them. Congress workers allegedly confronted the fasting doctors at AIIMS. They were headed by Sacchar Singh, a relative of HRD minister Arjun Singh. They proceeded with heavy slogan-shouting. It almost became a show-down between both camps; however, the police managed to stop these workers.

The only party which opposed reservations was the Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena , is a political party in India founded on 19 June 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray...

. Its supporters went on a procession to protest the move saying it was votebank politics and a means to divide Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

.

Pro-reservation protests

There have also been pro-reservation protest marches, such as the march in Chennai led by the PMK
Pattali Makkal Katchi
Paattali Makkal Katchi is a Tamil political party.-History:PMK was founded by Dr. S. Ramdoss and the state president is G. K. Mani. Ramdoss had earlier worked with the Vanniyar Sangham founded by him in 1980. PMK is based amongst the Most Backward Class Vanniyakula Kshatriyas community...

, a key constituent of the DMK
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar...

-led alliance in Tamil Nadu, which demanded that the OBC reservation quotas be implemented without any delay. They have called upon the government to pay no heed to the anti-reservation protestors.

Supreme Court of India upholds 27% reservation for OBC

The Supreme Court of India on 10 April 2008 upheld the law for 27% OBC quota the law enacted by the Centre in 2006 providing a quota of 27 per cent for candidates belonging to the Other Backward Classes in Central higher educational institutions that includes the Indian Institutes of Technology
Indian Institutes of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education. The IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as “institutions of national importance”, and lays down their powers, duties,...

 (IIT's) and the Indian Institutes of Management
Indian Institutes of Management
The Indian Institutes of Management , are graduate business schools in India. They were set up with the objective of providing management education and to assist the industry through research and consulting services. The IIMs award diplomas and not degrees.- Institutes :Indian Institute of...

 (IIM's). But it directed the government to exclude the ‘creamy layer
Creamy layer
The creamy layer is a term used in Indian politics to refer to the relatively wealthier and better educated members of the Other Backward Classes who are not eligible for government sponsored educational and professional benefit programs...

’ among the OBCs while implementing the law and this exclusion has nothing to do with the reservation for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes .

Population Statistics

According to the 2001 census, Hindu SCs represent 16.2%, the STs account for 8.2% of the total population of India. Exact figures of OBCs are not collected in the census; the 1980 Mandal Commission, using census data from the 1931, pegs it at 54% of the population. Various recent estimates by government agencies put it anywhere between 29% to 36% of the population. According to the 1999-2000 National Sample Survey, around 36 per cent of the country's population is defined as belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The proportion falls to 32 per cent on excluding Muslim OBCs. A survey conducted in 1998 by National Family Health Statistics (NFHS) puts the proportion of non-Muslim OBCs as 29.8 per cent.
The original Mandal report classified 1257 communities as backward. Since the implementation of Mandal report recommendations in 1991 for government jobs, the number of backward communities has grown. As of 2006, 2297 communities are listed as backward, a 90% increase from 1991, while no community has been removed from the list based on progress made.

External links

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