The report, which took Durga Nath Jha two years to research and write, concludes that backwardness should be based on location and not caste.
The release of a think-tank report on the impact of reservation for the socially backward in Delhi started with a statement that left the audience members startled and angry.
“Three thousand years of discrimination is a false narrative, and there is no record to prove it,” declared Durga Nath Jha, chairman of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CPA) in a half-empty conference hall at the Press Club recently.
The report, titled ‘Integral Social Development: Reconceptualising India’s Affirmative Actions’, underscores the need for a fresh perspective to reassess affirmative actions, making them more aligned with the new realities. It specifically focuses on the backwardness-based affirmative action policy of the government, emphasising the need to “depoliticise” the state’s affirmative action policy.