Extending reservations to the 'upper castes' who are poor or singly disadvantaged delegitimises the concept of double disadvantage: social marginalisation and economic ill-being.
https://thewire.in/rights/reservations-politics-resdistribution-poverty-caste-india
Today there is concern about the way the policy pronouncement on 10% reservations in education and public jobs for the poor of any caste, except those who are already the beneficiary of reservations, is justified. Normative political theorists assume that policies that adversely or positively affect our fellow citizens have been announced after considerable reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed policy, consideration on what they portend for the future of the country, and how policies enhance democracy.
We are naïve. Today policies are announced, notably on the eve of elections. And everyone who is in a position to command a modicum of attention in the public domain rushes to justify them ex post facto. Hitherto independent institutions have been reduced to public relations firms, upholding executive decisions that are ill-thought out and dangerous.
This is not to suggest that poverty is not a bad or an ‘ugh’ word in political theory. No society that prides itself on its democratic credentials should be able to tolerate the spectacle of poor people, our fellow-citizens, huddled on pavements on cold winter nights. There are ways of dealing with poverty that are a precondition of reservations, i.e., redistribution.
Reservations alone are a soft option; a prime form of lazy politics and lazier political thinking. The appropriate concept to tackle poverty is redistribution. Democratic governments should take redistribution seriously to ensure that every citizen is in a position to compete for educational and employment opportunities from a position of rough equality. This is but fair.
13/11/2022