Affirmative Action / Reservation

What is affirmative action?, according to the Princeton university dictionary its a policy designed to
redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their
economic and educational opportunities, but not many believe so. Those who appose affirmative
action are of the view that
!. affirmative action is a program based on "uotas.
#. affirmative action creates $reverse discrimination%.
&. affirmative action gives minorities special advantages which they no longer need.
'. affirmative action gives (obs to un"ualified minorities.
). affirmative action is $race counting.%
*or such purposes the +linton administration tried to define affirmative action
,affirmative action is any effort ta-en to e.pand opportunity for women or racial, ethnic and
national origin minorities by using membership in those groups that have been sub(ect to
discrimination as a consideration./
0nli-e in the 01 where affirmative action is a collection of e.ecutive orders, bureaucratic
decisions, court cases and recently state legislation, in 2ndia a specific affirmative action policy has
been a part of the +onstitution.
The articles given to us, 2 feel connect in a way. To me it is a (ourney of the $other% through the
history and the end is affirmative action providing them with an opportunity to get at par with the
society.
The Amistad +ase is the start of the (ourney where the plight of the minorities/ other is shown by
the way which they are illegally -idnapped from their home countries and brought to the 01 to be
sold as slaves. This shows the way society has been treating the people of the minority groups and
sub(ected them to cruelty and disgrace.
3urder of 4ames 5yrd 4r. is a case which is spotlighting the issue of racial discrimination. Racial
discrimination and hate crimes have also lead to the sub(ugation of the blac- race on the hands of
the whites who have been controlling the power ever since. This power control by the whites in my
view comes out with the reason why some people are opposed to the idea of affirmative action as it
would lead to up6gradation of the blac- race/other with the idea of bringing them at par with the rest
of the society.
Plessy v *erguson, by this time the government had reali7ed that e"ual opportunities should be
provided to all citi7ens of the country but this reali7ation was worthless as implementation was
missing. The $e"ual but separate% doctrine given in the case was (ust a mere way to escape the
conse"uences of a full fledged implementation of the fourteenth amendment. This doctrine never
intended to provide the une"uals with an e"ual opportunity towards running the nation or even
having a shot at it. 2t was a way to retain their supremacy and remain the all powerful.
5rown v 5oard of 8ducation, this case finally provided the blac-s with an e"ual opportunity to
study in the same schools as the whites. 2t was universally accepted that the blac- schools did not
have the same facilities as the whites but in most cases instead of loo-ing at the root problem itself
the court was only trying to e"uali7e the schools instead of e"uali7ing the students which was the
main intention of the fourteenth amendment of the 01 constitution.
5ut this case brought about the change needed and gave the blac-s the e"uality, which they had
always longed for in the form of e"ual education and giving them the opportunity to study with the
white students in the same schools and same classes.
3andal +ommission6 the main intention of the commission was to identify the socially or
educationally bac-ward and to consider the "uestion of seat reservation and "uotas to redress the
problem of caste discrimination. 9ifferent social, educational and economic indicators were used to
identify the bac-ward classes. The main criticism of this report is the fact that a !:&! census data
was used to calculate the bac-ward classes which was a very inaccurate way to go about it. Another
ma(or criticism of the report is the fact that non6;indu <5+ count has been done in a very bi7arre
and arbitrary manner as their percentage has been assumed to be the same as that of ;indu <5+%s.
5eing a non6;indu in a hindu ma(ority country does have its conse"uences and ignoring that factor
and assuming the percentage of non6;indu <5+ was a way to mas- the condition they were in and
also tilt the benefit of the scheme more in the favor of the ;indus.
Affirmative action in the 01 and 2ndia have been adopted through different approaches. 2n 2ndia it
was always a part of the +onstitution and in 01 it was through different reforms and court
decisions. Another 2nteresting thing to be noted is that in the 01 affirmative action was based on
race whereas affirmative action in 2ndia was based on different social educational and economic
factors.
=uestion +an race alone be the deciding factor for affirmative action?
Another difference in the affirmative action process in the 01 and 2ndia is that in the 01 the blac-s
had to first fight for their rights to be even allowed to have the same facilities as the whites whereas
in 2ndia the bac-ward classes were straightway given "uotas and reservations for their uplift in the
society.
People believe that affirmative action provides the minority people with an opportunity to level the
playing field which is tilted in favor of the upward classes, but 2 feel that it still creates a vested
interest in affiliation with the social categories recogni7ed and bestows important advantages li-e
(obs and education upon the people who are a part of it and therefore ignores the people who are not
a part of the group and are in need of the bestowed benefits.
=uestion ;as the affirmative action system opened a pandoras bo. which would lead to all social
groups wanting their inclusion into the system?