This refers to the letter, “Caste has no place in secular country” by Mahesh Kumar (Herald, April 8, 2018). It is true that caste should not have a place in our country. But it is still very much in use in our society to torture, exploit and oppress our Dalit brothers and sisters. Lower caste students are still forced to sit separately from upper caste for their mid-day meal in a government school in Junagadh, Gujarat and such ugly practices prevail elsewhere also. It is not that all those lower caste students belong to poor families. As a matter of fact, caste identity cannot be changed with the change of class or in other words with the help of money power. Those who practice untouchability will also not touch even a well-off Dalit.
Reservation is to ensure proportional representation of backward castes in government administration for the sake of pluralism, governance without caste hatred and caste balance of power. Similarly, the Lok Sabha seats have been reserved for every Indian state in accordance with its population for the sake of federalism and state balance of power. Thus, two Lok Sabha seats have been earmarked for Goa.
Will we now demand to totally unreserve those seats or reserve them only for poor candidates? We should never demand such a meritocracy as that will severely damage democracy and regional balance of power. Without reservation, many states of India may not get represented in the Parliament. In that case, it will be like the Indian cricket team where players of only a few states of our country get a chance to represent the whole India. It is okay for a cricket team. But it is absolutely ludicrous for parliamentary democracy of a federal country.
It is true that in spite of reservation policy, Una happened and some teachers are still using a stick or a ruler to touch a Dalit student to avoid physical contact with them (Pratichi Trust Report). That is why we still need the policy of caste reservation along with other stringent measures to weed out untouchability and age – old prejudices and hatred against Dalits.
