Skip to main content

Raise percentage of reservation in promotion for SCs and STs to 16.6% and 8.6%: Ex-secretary, Govt of India

Counterview Desk
PS Krishnan, former secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Welfare, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has argued that there is an urgent need for Constitutional amendments following the Supreme Court judgment on September 26, 2018, which said that the reservation of Dalits and Adivasis in job promotions is not compulsory. The letter, distributed through Dalit Media Watch, cites media reports to say that the government appears reluctant to go ahead with the amendments.

Excerpts from the letter:

From my more than seven decades of country-wide experience, I have spelt out the issues and the obstacles that stand in the way of fulfilling the goal of securing Equality and Justice for SCs and STs in the machinery of administration and governance and the Constitution Amendments required to smoothly and quickly achieve that goal.
As always I have formulated my suggestions from the perspective of social integration and optimal national progress, for which Equality for SCs, STs and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs) with the Socially Advanced Castes (SAC) is a sine qua non.
Newspaper reports indicate that the Government is hesitating to go forward on important measures like the present one on account of apprehensions about possible reaction of “upper” castes, following the agitation of some short-sighted powerful persons of the “upper” castes against the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2018, justly and rightly enacted on the initiative of the Government led by you.
I have already sent you on September 26, 2018, a copy of my letter to the Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, and a comprehensive note I have prepared on that ongoing agitation. I would suggest for your kind consideration that the country’s interests will be best served if decisions are taken without hesitation based on what is fair, what is just and what the Constitution mandates.
Keeping that in view, I request you to kindly consider giving your nod to the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment (SJ&E), Minister for Law, Minister of State for Personnel etc. to take prompt action to process and move Parliament for enacting, in the ensuing Winter session 2018, Constitution Amendments suggested by me in the enclosed letter to Minister for SJ&E.
Considering that the SCs and STs are very poorly represented at higher and promotional posts, there is absolutely no justification for anyone to resent measures like the suggested Amendments, to ensure that they reach their population-equivalent proportion at all levels of administration and governance.
In addition to the above Constitution Amendments, as the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is directly under you, I have got the following three more suggestions to make for your kind consideration in that capacity, namely,
  • to raise the percentage of reservation in promotion for SCs and STs in the services under the Centre to the national population-equivalent proportion of 16.6% and 8.6% respectively and State-wise population-equivalent proportions in reservation in promotion for them in the services under the States, 
  • to restore the pre-1997, 200-point Roster to undo injustice to SCs and STs done in 1997, and 
  • to remove the recent Executive Order by which reservation in promotion was limited to the first level of Group-A. 
I have been urging the Minister of Personnel in this regard from time to time. Kindly consider issuing Executive Orders in respect of these three items now. These three measures and Constitution Amendments suggested will be fair and give satisfaction to SCs and STs – one of the Amendments also to the SEdBCs.

Brief Particulars and Justification

(i) To raise the percentage of reservation in promotion for SCs and STs in the services under the Centre to the national population-equivalent proportion of 16.6% and 8.6% percent respectively and State-wise population-equivalent proportions in reservation in promotion for them in the services under the States:
It has always been the practice to fix reservation for SCs and STs as a percentage equal to the percentage of their population in the total population of the country in respect of reservation in the Centre and, in the case of States, as a percentage equal to the percentage of their population in the respective States, as per the latest Census.
The present 15% and 7.5% reservation for SCs and STs were fixed on the basis of the 1971 Census and 1981 Census and certain developments in between. Though the percentage of the population of SCs and STs has increased since then as per the Censuses of 1991, 2001 and 2011, the consequential increases in reservation for SCs and STs were not possible with the introduction of 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs) and the Supreme Court’s observation that the Constitutional provisions require a maximum limit of 50% for reservations for the three social classes.
Reservation in promotion has been in vogue only for SCs and STs in the services under the Centre since the beginning in 1955 and as confirmed by new Clause (4A) of Article 16. Hence the reservation percentage for SCs and STs in promotion in the services under the Centre can, without any hesitation, be increased to their population-proportion level, at present 16.6% and 8.6% respectively, since such increase will not result in exceeding the 50% limit.
This can be laid down straightaway by an Executive Order. State Governments may also be advised to raise the reservation percentage for SCs and STs in promotion in the services of the respective States to the level equivalent to their population in the population of the respective States.
(ii) To restore the pre-1997 200-point Roster to undo injustice to SCs and STs done in 1997:

The Ministry of Personnel issued certain Orders on reservation in 1997. These contained certain good aspects as well as one negative aspect. The negative aspect was that a new 200-point Roster was introduced in the place of the 200-point Roster that existed prior to that.
In the previous 200-point Roster, the SCs had the 1st point of Roster, the STs the 3rd point and the SEdBCs 5th point. The 2nd, 4th and 6th points were for the “General”. All the 200 points in the Roster were covered in the same order. But, the Roster introduced in 1997 relegated the SCs to the 7th point, the STs to the 14th point and thereafter in the same order.
This meant that 6 vacancies had to be filled including the 5 for the “General” before an SC could get a post. Similarly, 13 posts had to be filled up, mostly by “General” candidates, before an ST could get a post. This has done great harm to the SCs and STs. This new Roster was introduced by a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Sabbharwal judgment of 1995.
The pre-1997 Roster was balanced and fair to SCs, ST and SEdBCs. It was also fair to the General since every alternate post was for the General and most of the posts to General go to those who are not SCs, STs or SEdBCs, i.e., the unreserved category.
(iii) To remove the recent Executive Order by which reservation in promotion was limited to the first level of Group-A:
Clause (4A) of Article 16 does not place any limit on the level to which reservation in promotion for SCs and STs will operate. But, the DoPT has limited it only up to the first level of Group-A by an Executive Order. This is a violation of the Order and practice that existed prior to the Constitution (Seventy-Seventh) Amendment Act inserting Clause (4A) in Article 16.
There is no justification for this limitation. Unlike the earlier period, candidates from SCs and STs are now available for promotion beyond the first level of Group-A. If at all in any year for any higher level of promotion qualified candidates of SCs and STs are not available, the carry-forward rule can be utilized and in the meanwhile efforts made to see that requisite pool of qualified candidates is prepared at the lower level.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.