Sunday, January 29, 2006
Justice Narendran and Kerala - Commissions and Omissions
Controversy regarding the Justice Narendran Commission Report is once again filling the media in Kerala. At the core of this debate is employment opportunities in the limited posts in the state government. This Commission was appointed based on the demand for proportionate opportunities for various communities in the state. This seemingly genuine need however hides the larger frame of reference, state of Kerala economy as a whole. Also the history of various communities in the state vis a vis the government service. How allegations are being made by some vocal and moneyed minority organizations, who also use the language of threat. Politicians who love their power and privileges do not want to lose that and are willing to do some compromises.
Forget for now that India is the only country where there are provisions for reservations based on one’s birth. What was initiated by the colonial British to favour the minority Christian community as history tells. A policy accepted by the Indian republic to see that the disadvantaged sections of society, like the low castes, gets adequate representation in government jobs. Originally meant to have been in force for few decades this later got extended in time, also the number of communities in the bracket went up. It was an anomaly of the democratic electoral system and its vote banks, where quality governance suffered. In states like Kerala huge populations of the so called minority communities, who do not deserve to be called minorities by any definition, started taking advantage of the scene with abandon. Ill educated dalits and tribals remained where they were.
The main group now in the forefront for this demand is the Muslim community, majority of whom are now extremely rich, thanks to their links to West Asia and their traditional skills in trade and commerce. Those without such skills went for employment in government and it is this terrain that they are now eating in to. Thus a maid servant in a Malappuram Muslim household from the former upper castes like Nayars will be treated as privileged and the Muslim given government support. The Muslim rich man’s children, who do not need any state patronage, getting advantage and the poor driven to ruin. With their vote banks, media clout and money they are now making aggressive demands. Achieved quite a bit already. The silent lot are put to suffering. Have no media clout or vote banks to counter the threat. They have no money to print colour posters and organize mass rallies.
That the Muslims and Christians were traders from olden times, skilled in that, is forgotten. There is no commission as yet to see what percentages of traders and are from these communities, no demands to give reservations there. There are also no commissions to see how many from the Muslim and Christian communities are abroad, how much money they have been sending home, how much of the state’s common resources they have captured. There is no proportionate sharing there. There are no commissions to see how much community representation is there, apart from trade, say in fishing in the seas or similar other vocations. If a demand is made to have reservations in deep sea fishing or in granting of visas abroad there was justice. It is only about the few government jobs, what was traditionally the only skill that communities like the Nayars had. Commissions and omissions help the clever ones.
They knew agriculture but the huge international receipts and the resultant rise in cost of life destroyed agriculture in Kerala. They also lost their lands. Those in traditional sectors like coir are also out on the roads job hunting for at least one meal a day. The few jobs in government are their only solace. It is here that the attack is targeted. The already high rates of suicides in these communities will go up manifold. Wait for more juicy ‘pen vanibham’ stories as well. There will be more and more decay in families and they shall be totally enslaved in another generation. More silenced. This will also affect the other Hindus who have no support from abroad and the real low castes are not going to make a big gain anyway. Taking tribals for instance there are no suitable candidates for many posts. So who is to gain can be easily predicted. With large number of professional and non-professional educational institutions in the minority sector the big kill is to come as days go by.
There are few other areas which needs to be analyzed here. One, the sabotage of a statewide Economic Survey, of various communities, initiated together with the Narendran Commission, by the same government few years back. This was cleverly blocked, presumably by the minority communities, what could have brought out the real scene in Kerala. How much destitute the vociferous minority communities are. How a parallel minority economy is flourishing in Kerala, how a new minority feudalism has come to rule Kerala. Which has took over almost every sector of public life. So it is a calculated move, divisions in the Hindu society were used to gain advantage. The majority Ezhava community, now dissociated from the lobby after their having been judged by the commission as having got more than their due, helped make this lop sided issue vicious. Some freak Muslim groups have taken over from them. But will the rich among them support the poor, no way, it is a game to fool the naïve.
The greed for government jobs in a country suffering from chronic unemployment is understandable. What is due to wrong economic policies and western colonization, what is to aggravate in the days of globalisation. Where even the few jobs are to be cut down, only the capital rich will have investments and jobs shall go for their own people. Yes, the minorities are to gain there also. From within also there are problems, like the high salaries offered to the government employees, what they achieved with their collective bargaining. It was another device like vote banks of the minorities where the unorganized groups had no champions. How the lure of a government job became wide spread. It was not competence for a job but the salaries that mattered and the quality of governance came down.
As everyone knows corruption, nepotism and inefficiency are the hallmarks of government employees now. Who get paid by the common man. Thanks to the past commissions Indian beurocracy is the most lethargic and inefficient, Kerala is perhaps the most rotten. Reservations also helped in this as these bring the most unsuitable people to various posts. To many it is a means of making money. What is to further aggravate with the new quotas. Thus it is a systemic collapse that has resulted and the new run for the meat will see further erosion. Where the common man, often the poor Hindus who throng the government agencies, shall be the sufferers. Interestingly the various political parties and organizations like the Nair Service Society (NSS) have given the green signal to the new demands. NSS leaders tell that the Narendran Commission is illegal, also that the new package announced based on that is welcome. Power, money and other baits keep individuals in control. Where the common man suffers. Post-colonial India calls for fundamental changes.
Forget for now that India is the only country where there are provisions for reservations based on one’s birth. What was initiated by the colonial British to favour the minority Christian community as history tells. A policy accepted by the Indian republic to see that the disadvantaged sections of society, like the low castes, gets adequate representation in government jobs. Originally meant to have been in force for few decades this later got extended in time, also the number of communities in the bracket went up. It was an anomaly of the democratic electoral system and its vote banks, where quality governance suffered. In states like Kerala huge populations of the so called minority communities, who do not deserve to be called minorities by any definition, started taking advantage of the scene with abandon. Ill educated dalits and tribals remained where they were.
The main group now in the forefront for this demand is the Muslim community, majority of whom are now extremely rich, thanks to their links to West Asia and their traditional skills in trade and commerce. Those without such skills went for employment in government and it is this terrain that they are now eating in to. Thus a maid servant in a Malappuram Muslim household from the former upper castes like Nayars will be treated as privileged and the Muslim given government support. The Muslim rich man’s children, who do not need any state patronage, getting advantage and the poor driven to ruin. With their vote banks, media clout and money they are now making aggressive demands. Achieved quite a bit already. The silent lot are put to suffering. Have no media clout or vote banks to counter the threat. They have no money to print colour posters and organize mass rallies.
That the Muslims and Christians were traders from olden times, skilled in that, is forgotten. There is no commission as yet to see what percentages of traders and are from these communities, no demands to give reservations there. There are also no commissions to see how many from the Muslim and Christian communities are abroad, how much money they have been sending home, how much of the state’s common resources they have captured. There is no proportionate sharing there. There are no commissions to see how much community representation is there, apart from trade, say in fishing in the seas or similar other vocations. If a demand is made to have reservations in deep sea fishing or in granting of visas abroad there was justice. It is only about the few government jobs, what was traditionally the only skill that communities like the Nayars had. Commissions and omissions help the clever ones.
They knew agriculture but the huge international receipts and the resultant rise in cost of life destroyed agriculture in Kerala. They also lost their lands. Those in traditional sectors like coir are also out on the roads job hunting for at least one meal a day. The few jobs in government are their only solace. It is here that the attack is targeted. The already high rates of suicides in these communities will go up manifold. Wait for more juicy ‘pen vanibham’ stories as well. There will be more and more decay in families and they shall be totally enslaved in another generation. More silenced. This will also affect the other Hindus who have no support from abroad and the real low castes are not going to make a big gain anyway. Taking tribals for instance there are no suitable candidates for many posts. So who is to gain can be easily predicted. With large number of professional and non-professional educational institutions in the minority sector the big kill is to come as days go by.
There are few other areas which needs to be analyzed here. One, the sabotage of a statewide Economic Survey, of various communities, initiated together with the Narendran Commission, by the same government few years back. This was cleverly blocked, presumably by the minority communities, what could have brought out the real scene in Kerala. How much destitute the vociferous minority communities are. How a parallel minority economy is flourishing in Kerala, how a new minority feudalism has come to rule Kerala. Which has took over almost every sector of public life. So it is a calculated move, divisions in the Hindu society were used to gain advantage. The majority Ezhava community, now dissociated from the lobby after their having been judged by the commission as having got more than their due, helped make this lop sided issue vicious. Some freak Muslim groups have taken over from them. But will the rich among them support the poor, no way, it is a game to fool the naïve.
The greed for government jobs in a country suffering from chronic unemployment is understandable. What is due to wrong economic policies and western colonization, what is to aggravate in the days of globalisation. Where even the few jobs are to be cut down, only the capital rich will have investments and jobs shall go for their own people. Yes, the minorities are to gain there also. From within also there are problems, like the high salaries offered to the government employees, what they achieved with their collective bargaining. It was another device like vote banks of the minorities where the unorganized groups had no champions. How the lure of a government job became wide spread. It was not competence for a job but the salaries that mattered and the quality of governance came down.
As everyone knows corruption, nepotism and inefficiency are the hallmarks of government employees now. Who get paid by the common man. Thanks to the past commissions Indian beurocracy is the most lethargic and inefficient, Kerala is perhaps the most rotten. Reservations also helped in this as these bring the most unsuitable people to various posts. To many it is a means of making money. What is to further aggravate with the new quotas. Thus it is a systemic collapse that has resulted and the new run for the meat will see further erosion. Where the common man, often the poor Hindus who throng the government agencies, shall be the sufferers. Interestingly the various political parties and organizations like the Nair Service Society (NSS) have given the green signal to the new demands. NSS leaders tell that the Narendran Commission is illegal, also that the new package announced based on that is welcome. Power, money and other baits keep individuals in control. Where the common man suffers. Post-colonial India calls for fundamental changes.
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Reservations are a means of making people perpetually indebted, what keeps the 'low castes' low. They do not realise this clever piece of white Christian mind. Let us dump the whole idea of 'reservations' which make those getting reservations loyal to those who give it. It is more than anything dehumanising.
Let Reservation become only on the basis of economic status and income level.
And not on the basis of religion or caste.
If it is based on income level,it will help the poor in all sections of society.Also,if any community is particularly backward,they will thus get the most advantage from this policy.
It seems the Indian State is too much involved with religion and communal affairs,..and less concerned with economic development and social justice.
And not on the basis of religion or caste.
If it is based on income level,it will help the poor in all sections of society.Also,if any community is particularly backward,they will thus get the most advantage from this policy.
It seems the Indian State is too much involved with religion and communal affairs,..and less concerned with economic development and social justice.
Dear NSS friends,
Just as reservations spoil the lower caste people, does not the disproportionate access to government employment in State services through nepotic networks spoil, equally or more, the "former upper caste", Nairs? Why don't they rather compete with the other communities in other fields so that they could eventually acquire alternative skills and become more enterprising? Globalisation has deteriorated the conditions of not only Nairs, but the lower classes without skills and resources in all communities. Why not the lower classes among Nairs make a common cause with the lower classes of other communities in a common fight against Globalisation, instead of engaging in an exclusive fight against other communities for resources?
You say reservations has undermined merit and reduced efficiency in services. The ultimate merit, I suppose, is to be accessible to the lower sections, which those hailing from the deprived sections may do better. You also say that Kerala's bureaucracy is among 'the most lethargic and inefficient, and perhaps the most rotten one'. By the same token, has it not been historically so and are not Nair employees who have traditionally been dominant in the government services of the state primarily culpable for this state of affairs? Rhetorically, you propose reservations in trade, issuing visas and fishing on the seas. These are private activities formally open to all and the government does not have exclusive control over these activities, unlike in the case of government jobs where government could and should fulfil its social responsibility. So the parellel does not hold. Remember that those who have 'captured the common resources of the state' include elites from within the minority communities, but not the poor Christians or the poor Muslims. Your claim, "a new minority feudalism has come to rule Kerala" is highly questionable. No community is a homogenous category and should not be portrayed as such. Or else, it could lead to communal riots that most often, affect the poor, worst of all.
The aggrieved Backward Communities are Muslims who deserved another 7,353 posts, Dheevaras 1,256, Nadars 2,614, Ezhavas 460, Latin Catholics 4,370 and Converted Christians 2,290 as in 2000. They are not merely minority communities, as you claim. Dalits and tribals are also provided reservations. Who is to blame that this provision is not properly implemented even after 56 years of the Constitution?
Protective discrimination through Reservations is for the amelioration of caste disabilities suffered for several millenia. What if the historically deprived castes demand retributive justice, saying, 'You have enjoyed for so long, now let us'? Drawing comparisons between the Nair maid servant and rich Muslim has to do with the class question. Let us resolve the class question through class struggle. After all, the amelioration of caste inequalities could help greater class solidarity among the deprived across various castes/communities.
I suppose, a consensual attitude for the sake of social justice would be helpful to the Nair community itself in the long run.
- A Concerned Citizen
Just as reservations spoil the lower caste people, does not the disproportionate access to government employment in State services through nepotic networks spoil, equally or more, the "former upper caste", Nairs? Why don't they rather compete with the other communities in other fields so that they could eventually acquire alternative skills and become more enterprising? Globalisation has deteriorated the conditions of not only Nairs, but the lower classes without skills and resources in all communities. Why not the lower classes among Nairs make a common cause with the lower classes of other communities in a common fight against Globalisation, instead of engaging in an exclusive fight against other communities for resources?
You say reservations has undermined merit and reduced efficiency in services. The ultimate merit, I suppose, is to be accessible to the lower sections, which those hailing from the deprived sections may do better. You also say that Kerala's bureaucracy is among 'the most lethargic and inefficient, and perhaps the most rotten one'. By the same token, has it not been historically so and are not Nair employees who have traditionally been dominant in the government services of the state primarily culpable for this state of affairs? Rhetorically, you propose reservations in trade, issuing visas and fishing on the seas. These are private activities formally open to all and the government does not have exclusive control over these activities, unlike in the case of government jobs where government could and should fulfil its social responsibility. So the parellel does not hold. Remember that those who have 'captured the common resources of the state' include elites from within the minority communities, but not the poor Christians or the poor Muslims. Your claim, "a new minority feudalism has come to rule Kerala" is highly questionable. No community is a homogenous category and should not be portrayed as such. Or else, it could lead to communal riots that most often, affect the poor, worst of all.
The aggrieved Backward Communities are Muslims who deserved another 7,353 posts, Dheevaras 1,256, Nadars 2,614, Ezhavas 460, Latin Catholics 4,370 and Converted Christians 2,290 as in 2000. They are not merely minority communities, as you claim. Dalits and tribals are also provided reservations. Who is to blame that this provision is not properly implemented even after 56 years of the Constitution?
Protective discrimination through Reservations is for the amelioration of caste disabilities suffered for several millenia. What if the historically deprived castes demand retributive justice, saying, 'You have enjoyed for so long, now let us'? Drawing comparisons between the Nair maid servant and rich Muslim has to do with the class question. Let us resolve the class question through class struggle. After all, the amelioration of caste inequalities could help greater class solidarity among the deprived across various castes/communities.
I suppose, a consensual attitude for the sake of social justice would be helpful to the Nair community itself in the long run.
- A Concerned Citizen
Social justice is what all of us should strive for. But what we have in communist Kerala today is minority feudalism. Just look around my friend, compare the dalits and tribals of Kerala, are the Muslims in that plight. Because the Muslim community has enough money and muscle power they are vociferous in making demands for reservations. And if indeed there are poor people in the Muslim community will they get the real support or the well off ones.
Historically some communities were traders, many others have no such skill, it needs an amount of deceit to be traders, what everyone will not have. Certainly not the rainforest cultures, like tribals. Christians and Muslims are born traders, they are now eating in to the others areas, armed with money and vote bank clout. That cannot be tolerated. And those with international links have become too powerful in Kerala, they are now dictating terms to others.
How poor the Kerala Muslims are is visible to all, go to any Muslim pocket and you will see. Make no mistake, threats and attempts to take undue advantage will see a precipitation, a new Kerala. Veiled minority feudalism has marginalized a big population in this state. Being generous they are not hitting back, they are suffering in silence, some killing themselves. Time things changed.
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Historically some communities were traders, many others have no such skill, it needs an amount of deceit to be traders, what everyone will not have. Certainly not the rainforest cultures, like tribals. Christians and Muslims are born traders, they are now eating in to the others areas, armed with money and vote bank clout. That cannot be tolerated. And those with international links have become too powerful in Kerala, they are now dictating terms to others.
How poor the Kerala Muslims are is visible to all, go to any Muslim pocket and you will see. Make no mistake, threats and attempts to take undue advantage will see a precipitation, a new Kerala. Veiled minority feudalism has marginalized a big population in this state. Being generous they are not hitting back, they are suffering in silence, some killing themselves. Time things changed.
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