Editor's Pick

01 APRIL 2022

In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper.

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No data, no quota

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the 10.5% reservation quota to the Vanniyakula Kshatriya community in Tamil Nadu. The court said the quota violates the fundamental rights of equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunity of 115 other Most Backward Communities (MBC) and Denotified Communities (DNC). The total MBC quota in Tamil Nadu is 20%. Providing 10.5% within this to the Vanniyars alone and only 9.5% to the 115 communities was without "substantial basis", the court held. On November 1 last year, the Madras High Court had also declared unconstitutional The Special Reservation Act of 2021, which was enacted by the previous AIADMK regime for the Vanniyars on account of their "extreme backwardness".

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision that the quota was based on "antiquated data". While it held that there is "no bar to the sub-classification among backward classes", the court said there was no assessment done before the Act to show that the Vanniyars are more backward than other MBCs and DNCs. The government's justification for providing the quota to the Vanniyars was that the Second Backward Class Commission in 1983 had estimated the community to constitute 13.01% of the total population (although there was no consensus on this number even among the members of the Commission). Read K. Venkataramanan's explainer of the reasons for the Madras High Court's judgment here.

The judgment, like the Madras High Court verdict, puts the spotlight on the lack of caste-related data in India. As the editorial on the Madras High Court judgment said, "Instead of looking for shortcuts to popularity, regimes in all States should focus on compiling credible data both on the backwardness of sections of society and their level of representation in public services and educational opportunities." While there is demand for a Socio-Economic Caste Census, which, it is argued, would provide a rationale for reservation and pave the way for democratic policymaking, there has also been vehement opposition to it from many political parties. In this conversation, Professors Satish Deshpande and Valerian Rodrigues had discussed why a caste census is essential to document not only disadvantage but also to document privilege. The Supreme Court judgment has disappointed the S. Ramadoss-led Pattali Makkal Katchi, which had been at the forefront of this demand. But Dr. Ramadoss has also been quick to note that the apex court struck down six out of the seven grounds on which the High Court had quashed the law and has urged the Chief Minister to get the necessary report to pass the legislation. The demand for data on caste is an important, long-pending one and the judgment validates this. This is why this story is the top pick of the day.

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