By Dr. B K Kango
Since the advent of 19th century and spread of education and awareness, the injustice done in the name of the caste has come into focus. Many reformers like Periyar, Mahatma Phule and Dr. Ambedkar and others have focused this issue of caste injustice and demanded and worked for a casteless society.
Indian Marxists and Communists also have visualised a society based on equality in which the caste has no place. The programme of the Communist Party of India, formulated and adopted at Puducherry Congress in 2015, talks of caste struggle and class struggle to go together for establishment of a society based on equality and equal opportunity, possible only in a socialist society. Indian Constitution also had in mind such a society. However, our Constitution of India, formulated in 1949, had faced it. In reality such a society did not exist at all. They realised that for such a society, the concept of social justice was imperative. Writing of Indian Constitution was also an important step and hence, affirmative actions like reservation for ST/SC are proposed. Subsequently this has been extended to the OBC population.
Caste has become a material force as it has existed for more than thousand years Indian Constitution and Caste and justified by religion, it has gripped the human mind. Today we see that not only upper caste but other castes like SC/ST and OBC are also being victims of this casteist thinking. Hence, Indian Constitution has to deal with this problem. Normally caste is justified by argument. By giving reservations to the socalled Backward Caste this illusion of merit can be challenged and past 75 years of experience of Indian Constitution proves this point. But it has to be accepted by entire society
Marx had said that when an idea grips the masses it becomes a material force and this gripping of mind by caste has to be loosened so that it ceases to be a material force that is to create objective conditions to challenge the idea of caste. Through reservation, it has been attempted to resolve it. Indian Constitution is aware of the fact that a casteless society can be established only if in a society an individual has a dignity, equal opportunity and he or she is allowed to work and live without discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, sex, language. Our Constitution supports this idea of individual dignity.
The present challenge to caste society and future establishment of casteless society is proposed by the Indian Constitution. This is a speciality of our Constitution which has to be reiterated on the Constitution Day on November 26.
To advance towards this ideal, scientific outlook is very important and hence Indian Constitution gives this responsibility of spreading the scientific outlook on Indian State. It is unfortunate that today in the name of cultural nationalism this task is neglected by the state. In fact Indian Constitution must be the only constitution in the world which gives this responsibility of spreading scientific outlook amongst people of the Indian state.
Similarly, Indian Constitution has established a state which is secular in nature and does not belong to any religion, sect or caste. This has to be remembered and strengthened while celebrating the Constitution Day.
India is a unique country with a population of 1.4 billion. Caste is a peculiar problem which is spreading all over the world, along with the Indians all over the world going for work. Recently there were reports that some states in United States have formed laws against caste discrimination as complaints of caste injustice were received. The result was the realisation that Indian society should actively try to abolish caste system. This is what the Indian Constitution wants and we all Indians should work in that direction.
Unfortunately, the wide spread unemployment is working against this as most castes think that reservation is the answer to this question of unemployment. But it is not so. To expose this reality, not only the reservations, the opportunities also must be made available especially while privatisation of public sector is on and private sector has no reservations. If one looks for a data about reservation in jobs lost due to privatisation, it is not readily available but there is also no agitation is there about such issues which is the need of the hour if we really want to protect reservation in jobs in the interest of social justice.
Now the debate is on whether reduction in jobs is due to use of artificial intelligence and new technology. The new jobs created due to new technology requires special skills and education. Efforts should be made to impart such skills and education to all Indians to make them suitable for the new jobs. Privatisation of Education which caters to only people with money will not help as recent studies about income and asset inequality shows that it has attained alarming heights.
We must appreciate Indian Constitution which deals pragmatically with the problem of castes in India. (IPA Service)
