Thread by @sumanthraman

Yesterday I was on 2 Tamil TV debates on 27% #Reservation announced for OBC candidates in UG&PG Medical admissions.What struck me more than claims from panelists that it was their party/movement's efforts that forced Central Govt to announce this,was their take against EWS quota

EWS was passed in Parliament with almost all parties incl.Congress,CPM, BSP,SP,TMC etc. supporting it. Yet in TN most Dravidian parties have a problem with it that no one in the rest of India seems to have.(Like for NEET). Mind you EWS does not touch the existing quotas but still

they oppose it. I supported 27% reservation announcement and said it is likely to reach the needy as creamy layer among OBC wd be excluded and those who need help the most wd get the benefits. I also supported the EWS quota. Then I wondered why only Dravidian parties opposed it.

In Tamil Nadu the % of population classifed under BC/MBC/SC/ST is over 90%. Those who come under OC barely account for 8% or so. In rest of India that % of OC is higher. So I thought they were objecting to that 10% number for EWS. But no. They were objecting to it as a concept.

Even if EWS was 1% they still oppose it.They gave usual reasons,that reservations cannot hv economic basis but only social and educational basis and it was not a poverty allievation measure.Also Open quota was getting reduced as a result. But dont reservations need to be dynamic?

Over decades no caste has been removed from the list of BC/MBC etc,while dozens of new ones have been added. The Backward Classes commission appointed by the Dravidian party Govt.s recommended a creamy layer exclusion &also recommended removal of several castes from list of BC

while suggesting a higher reservation %. The Govt. took only the last recommendation and ignored the rest (though MGR briefly tried bringing an economic criteria &soon abandoned it ).Successive TN Govt.s are against creamy layer and EWS(both not implemented in TN) #Reservation

They will also not accept revision of BC/MBC lists to exclude castes that may have made progress but will periodically support adding more castes to the list. Real social justice would mean
1.Undertaking a caste based census along with data about land holding,wealth,educational &

social parameters,caste wise& regularly.
2.Periodic (10 yrs) revision of BC/MBC list by both adding&deleting castes as per the data obtained
3.Providing for creamy layer exclusion within the respective community quota.Within that community the poorer candidate will get preference

4.Yearly publication of the caste wise break up of Govt jobs and seats in colleges, availed under reservation.
Data should guide the entire process. Yet I see that Dravidian parties fear such data and what it could expose,that a handful of electorally &socially powerful castes

may have cornered the bulk of the benefits as the BC Commission already pointed out over 30 yrs ago & that their committment to "social justice" was limited to the development of a handful of intermediate castes and not all. It seems that social justice in Dravidian language is

driven by hatred for and a desire to eliminate and exclude the Brahmin (as seen from the opposition to EWS) than any genuine desire to spread the benefits of reservation to all. I strongly support reservation as it is necessary,with no level playing field in sight as yet.

It will take several generations more for those oppressed for centuries to reach social &educational parity but the benefits need to be spread out evenly to all the needy castes. Brahmins perpetrating injustice was NOT OK. So a few other communties doing the same is not OK too

Social justice should not mean just the exclusion of one community,it should at the very least mean the development and inclusion of all the needy others. In Tamil Nadu sadly that does not appear to be the case.

Note: Thread is only abt OBC reservation. SC/ST communities need even more support & for much longer. So, a lot of what is in this thread would not apply to them.
PPS: Constructive ideas and opinions only in comments please. Spare the abuse. This thread is not a political one.