The recent Supreme Court decision on sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes clearly vindicates what we had been writing about in our past opinions. The seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud in a 6:1 majority verdict, overruled the court’s 2004 judgement, which held that Scheduled Castes formed a homogenous group and hence could not be sub-divided into categories. Four of the seven judges also called for the identification of the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories so that they could be removed from the reservation matrix. Justice Gavai said that the state should formulate a policy to identify the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as this was the “only way to gain true equality”.
Another judge said that reservations should be given only to the first generation within a category. “If the second generation has come up then benefits of reservation shall not be given and state should see if after reservation the second generation has come shoulder to shoulder with the general category,” he said.
We had written about the emergence of an affluent group among communities included in the Schedule Tribes category particularly in Manipur. Well, what has been missing from the general debate is how long the reservation system is going to continue. In fact, there has to be a review of the constitutional status every 10 years and in that the question of whether the aims and objectives of providing reservation and other benefits has been achieved or not are assessed and whether the special facilities have had the desired effect are studied. More than three decades back, when the issue came up for debate tribal legislators vociferously opposed it. Since then, the review process became a routine affair with the committee putting its stamp of approval on continuance.
An area of concern was the emergence of a tribal elite or a privileged class of ST families whose sons and daughters continue to enjoy the benefits taking after their grandfathers and fathers who had been able to achieve a higher status through ST benefits, while those under-privileged tribal folks in the interior areas are not really getting the benefits of being a ST either through poverty or lack of support from the well-entrenched ST babus. We had asked, isn’t it time for us to talk about bringing the idea of ‘creamy layer’ among the Scheduled Tribe community also? Indeed, our prayers had been answered.
On the other hand, the majority community has long been at the butt-end of allegations of robbing the benefits meant for the hill people while blindsiding the fact that it was mostly bureaucrats from the hills who are at the helm of state affairs with only a sprinkling from the valley.
While one can still count the number of direct IAS and IPS officers from the majority community, there are plenty from among the hill communities who enjoy the benefits of being from the Scheduled Tribe communities and they have been ruling the roost all this time and even enjoying the double benefit of reservation at both entry point and promotion avenue as well. It was a common refrain among employees of all ranks from the valley that ST employees are again and again enjoying the benefit in times of promotion also, thereby causing much heartburn. This has been the prime reason for sections of the majority community coming up with a demand for transformation into the ST category.
