Dismantling the myth of Merit

‘Merit’ is the virtue of being able to out-perform others or fulfil a set criterion of performance among a group of individuals.

A ‘meritocracy’ is an ideal world where preference and rewards are directly proportional to the performance, hence better performers gain higher rewards. But a pre-condition to such world is that there is no discrimination and bias against anyone, that all are provided a level playing field where everyone is at the same starting point in terms of socio-economic, political and cultural privilege.

It is a wonderful idea. But if a society thinks that it is a meritocracy with its pre-conditions present, when in reality it isn't, this idea becomes something very dark and twisted. It is because it contains a fundamental belief that the successful deserve their success and those who fail, deserve their failure.

2. Background of meritocracy in India -

On August 16 1932, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was able to secure the Communal Award which provided separate electorates for Dalits. This ensured that only Dalits were eligible to vote in the seats allocated to them. This would have ensured that there was no interference of non-Dalits in the governance and administration of Dalits. In this way, they could carve their progress outside the Hindu caste system which suppressed them for centuries. This was perceived by MK Gandhi as a threat to Hindu Unity. Also, it would have left the Congress as representing at best only the non-Dalit Hindus, comprising roughly 50% of the country’s population. M.K. Gandhi went on a fast unto death if Dalits continued their demands to split. This was a huge gesture, and it effectively forced Ambedkar to concede. The compromise that emerged was called the Poona Pact, wherein instead of separate electorates, the Scheduled Castes were going to get "reservations." So essentially, in order that Dalits can be merged into the larger Hindu voter base, they had to compromise on their self-secured emancipation given as Communal Award. And worse thing is that from the moment reservations were implemented, upper castes have constantly complained that it has been destroying merit and they are making it as an excuse to harass Dalits and Adivasis in public institutions. Whereas, in the first place India was never a meritocracy nor has attained that state yet. So firstly, Dalits & Adivasis were made to compromise on their rights and now they are humiliated for the limited provisions they have been offered. Hence, reservations which are called out as concessions/charity/compromise made by upper caste are in fact the compromise imposed upon Dalits by the upper caste in exchange of a highly empowering system of Communal Award.

3. Meritocracy demands a level playing field. So, is India a fertile land for meritocracy as of now?

No, it is not. Some facts can help us answer this.

1. Crime Data:
   According to NCRB data, there were 33,719 cases of crimes against Dalits in 2011, and this figure rose to 50,291 in 2020. A more horrific picture appears when one looks at the crimes against Dalit women. Almost 10 Dalit women or girls are raped each day. A total of 8,272 cases were registered for committing crime against Scheduled Tribes (STs), showing an increase of 9.3 per cent over 2019 (7,570 cases)
2. Representation Data:
   • Judiciary - According to National Commission for Schedules Castes, in 2011 out of 850 High Court judges, only 24 come from Dalit and Adivasi communities
   • Education - In 2018, representation of SC, ST, OBC faculty in total at IITs was merely 9% and at IIMs it was even grim at a mere 6%
   • Civil Services - In 2019, government in Parliament reported that only one of the 89 secretaries posted at the Centre belonged to the Scheduled Castes (SC), while three belong to the Scheduled Tribes and none belonged to OBC. Out of 93 additional secretaries in central government ministries, just six are SCs and five are STs, while there are no OBCs of this rank either.
   • Economic status - According to a 2014 government report, over 44.8 percent of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 33.8 percent of Scheduled Caste (SC) groups in rural India continue to live below the poverty line.
3. Some shocking incidents of caste discrimination against Dalits in higher positions :
   • Earlier this year in February, a Dalit IPS officer who wanted to ride horse had to take heavy police protection for his pre-wedding ceremony in Jaipur.
   • In 2020, Priya who is a Dalit and a panchayat president in Mayiladuthurai of Nagapattinam district alleged that the panchayat vice-president had been threatening her and not allowing her to use the chair allotted to her at the office.
   • In 2019, Payal Tadvi who was an Adivasi and a medical PG student in Nair Hospital, Mumbai committed suicide due to caste harassment from her upper caste colleagues.

4. So, why is it that merit outcry is made by upper caste when essentially there is no ground for meritocracy in the unequal societal structure of India?

The ground for merit outcry for upper castes comes from non-recognition of their own privileges. Our constitution only recognizes caste as a source of disadvantages for lower caste. Upper castes have spent centuries accumulating enormous caste capital. This capital looks different for different communities. For Brahmins, it's a history of access to literacy learning and as a result administrative power. For Vaishyas and Kshatriyas, it could mean control over land and wealth and trading networks. These pre-existing advantages mean that when the British established a westernized education system, upper castes were the first to benefit. When this education system became the basis of entry for all the new professions like law and the Indian civil service, again they were the first to benefit. And that advantage keeps getting passed down from generation to generation. In this way, over time, caste capital is converted into modern "currency" - into qualifications, into professional achievements. And because the Constitution does not officially recognize any of these caste advantages, upper castes could capture all of independent India's opportunities while insisting they had done it through fair and open competition. At the same time in government jobs and in education, upper castes labeled themselves as "General" - while lower caste had to identify their specific caste.

This is a situation that is fundamentally weird. It actively hides the truth. This became clear in 1990 when the government announced that it's going to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission and new quotas were created in public sector jobs and in education for OBCs who were historically deemed as "Shudras" and occupied the lowest rung in the caste order and therefore faced oppression and exploitation as well. Half of all the seats were now reserved. Immediately there were huge protests across India, led mostly by upper castes, who complained that this would destroy merit in India forever. The only reason that every oppressed group, i.e. SC, ST and OBC needed caste need reservations is because the "General" category was being over-represented by upper castes (see pt. 7, 1st para). According to the Mandal Commission, India's population was roughly 23% SC-ST and 52% OBC. So, put together they're roughly 75% of the whole country. And the recommended reservation for both together was roughly 50%. This meant that the remaining 50% of all jobs and university seats continued to be dominated by upper castes, who were roughly only 25% of the whole country. This is the upper caste reservation which is seldom talked about. Now, the protests around the Mandal Commission suddenly appear in a very different light. They're not about upper caste fighting for the principles of fairness and merit. They are about upper class fighting against the reduction in their quota of seats.

5. Myth of castelessness and the myth of merit :

Younger generations in upper caste families may genuinely believe that they are "casteless". But all that means is that their parents did the conversion of caste capital into money and qualifications before them. In their lifetime, they might not be seeing any benefits from caste specifically. But for this generation at least, all those benefits that come from family are caste, it's just one step removed. These generations may have to remind themselves that there is no Maths or engineering gene. There is nothing intrinsic about Brahmins that makes them better at intellectual pursuits. Being born a Rajput does not automatically make someone brave, Baniyas are not inherently good at business. If there is a distinguishable pattern of upper caste dominance in the general category of an institution like IIT, that is not a sign of merit. That is a sign that the caste system is still alive, that caste capital is still deciding the lives of people today.

6. Brahminical merit vs Scientific constitutional merit

Reservations as an instrument of government policy emerged as an integral part of the anti-Brahmanical movements in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the dawn of the 20th century. The attack on reservations under the garb of merit outcry emanate from a Brahminical idea of merit rather than from any scientific or constitutional concept of merit.

Brahminical idea of merit is that the merit possessed by an individual is essentially acquired in unverifiable previous births. So essentially the unequal nature of society around is justified by the Brahmanical notion of karma and rebirth which implies that a lower caste is born in a pitiable state due to his/her own bad karma. Hence, those who claim of merit violation by reservations essentially believe that their own privileges are justified as they were earned by them in their previous births leading their births in upper caste community. This is a very cunning plot which defies all scientific logic. A scientific and constitutional concept of merit doesn’t allow any illogical, superstitious or religious belief to justify inequality in the society. It considers the historical and current social reality of an individual and their group to decide the scaffolding required to provide a level playing field to them. It tries to remedy the sick society from its disease of casteism by implementing reservations.

7. Is representation really an issue? What is reservation? Should reservation be implemented on the basis of economic criteria?

To understand if representation is really an issue, we can take a few examples. In 2018, in IIT Madras 255 out of 256 unreserved seats for which technically any caste or gender is eligible, went to upper castes. In 2017, women made up just 8% of the total student strength of all IITs put together. Results of a 2009 study found that when applying for a job, candidates with upper caste Hindu names were twice as likely to be called for interviews as compared to those with Dalit names, even if they had the same education and experience. So, caste-based discrimination is indeed an issue which needs redressal.

We have many problems in society such as poverty, unemployment, overpopulation etc. All these problems have their own mechanisms and accordingly separate means to address them. Lack of representation due to caste discrimination is a distinct problem and has its own historical genesis and hence its own unique remedy. Reservation is a scheme of affirmative action to ensure representation of historically marginalized communities in employment, educational institutions and legislature. It is not a poverty alleviation program hence the criteria to address caste based lower representation can never be economic. It is very evident from daily news that economic mobility or higher education or even attainment of legislative positions (see 3.c) doesn’t allow any lower caste to surpass caste-based humiliation or torture. The purpose of reservation is to increase representation for historically oppressed communities - to put them in positions of power in boardrooms, newsrooms and courtrooms that they have been systematically kept out of for generations. If one understands caste as an actual source of power, and caste-discrimination as oppression instead of some vague disadvantage, one can understand why people need reservation on the basis of caste. The idea of reservation, the hope of reservation, is that once enough lower caste people are in positions of power, the effects of caste oppression can be countered. Reservations were never meant to single-handedly destroy the caste system, but they are a vital first step.

8. Are the quality and efficiency put at stake when remedial measures taken to balance out Brahminical merit and achieve scientific constitutional merit?

1. Reservation in employment –

   Prof. Ashwini Deshpande (Delhi School of Economics) and Prof. Thomas Weisskopf (University of Michigan) conducted a study on impact of reservation on productivity and efficiency in the Indian Railways between 1980 and 2002 and found that it did not reduce productivity in any sector, but had, in fact, raised it in some areas. The study also remarks that individuals from marginalised groups may be especially highly motivated to perform well when they attain decision-making and managerial positions, because of the fact that they have reached these positions in the face of claims that they are not sufficiently capable, and they may consequently have a strong desire to prove their detractors wrong.

2. Reservation in educational institutions –

   Reservation is only implemented at the entry level to facilitate entry of oppressed and systematically removed groups. All the students undergo the same training after the entry and have to pass similar standards set by respective courses in order to secure their degrees. So, there is no question of lack of capability or merit in a reserved category student, who just receives a push in the initial stage, and is allowed to pick up on his/her own once admitted.

   In October and November 2017, a study was carried out by Stanford University, AICTE and the World Bank on 45,453 first and third-year students across one IIT, seven NITs and other engineering institutes under the AICTE. It revealed that disadvantaged students (SC/ST/OBC) make significantly more gains than advantaged students in math, physics, and quantitative literacy from year one to year three.

Excerpts in the article are taken from the video -The “General Category” Is India’s Greatest Scam from India Ink YouTube channel.
It can be accessed on this link .