Implementation of the Mandal Commission Report

The Mandal Commission appointed during the Janata party rule had submitted its report in December 1980. The Congress governments under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had quietly shelved the report.

The Mandal Commission or the Backward Classes Commission – to give it its official name – said that caste and backwardness were linked, and that the other backward castes, despite forming a significant proportion of the country’s population, had very low representation in the administration, especially at the higher levels. In this context, the main recommendation made by the commission was that 27 per cent of jobs in the central government be reserved for these castes beyond the percentage reserved for the

scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The same kind of relaxation in age was also to be made for the OBCs as existed for SC/ST in being considered for posts.

V.P. Singh thought it would be a good idea to implement the Mandal Commission recommendations to gain popularity with the decidedly large group of OBCs whose importance as a ‘vote bank’ was not to be ignored. There were rising politicians from the group, Lalu Yadav in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, the two states that had a decisive say in most elections in India. A move forward on social justice-related issues, Singh calculated, would consolidate the caste coalition that formed the support base of the Janata Dal in northern India. In this context, it might be worth noting that in the southern states a large proportion of government jobs were reserved for the non-brahmins and, it was pointed out by those who agreed with the Mandal recommendations, efficiency had not suffered.

On August 7, 1990, V.P. Singh announced in Parliament

that his government had accepted the Mandal Commission report and would implement 27 per cent reservation at all levels of central government services for the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes as identified by the Mandal Commission.

Large scale protests greeted the government’s order. There were self-immolation bids and even suicides by youngsters from the upper castes, as these people felt their chance of getting government jobs had become more difficult. The protests were intense in the northern part of the country while the south was not affected. In the south, with the reservation policy being in place for quite some time, youngsters over time had become less dependent on government for their livelihood as the industrial sector offered a good alternative for jobs. Also, the proportion of upper castes in the population in the south was less compared to the north.

[The matter had been taken to the Supreme Court which stayed the order. But it was only in November 1992 that the

court gave its decision. Seven judges upheld the constitutionality of the Mandal Commission as well as the government order based on its recommendations. Three

judges offered a dissenting view that impersonal criteria like rather than caste should be used in deciding who was disadvantaged. The apex court, however, laid down two conditions: reservations in toto should not exceed 50 per cent and that caste criterion should be restricted to the recruitment level and not apply in case of promotions. By the time the judgement came, most political parties were reconciled to the reservation order; they realised that opposing it would prove to be politically harmful. Even the Congress which had been lukewarm to the matter had realised the importance of the OBC factor in winning elections in the north. The Narasimha Rao government which came to power in 1991had already issued a fresh order in September 1991 in favour of the Mandal recommendations, with a condition attached that within the 27 per cent reservation preference would be given to the poorer sections of the OBCs.]