Bulwark of Constitutional Rights

In India, there is a constitutional  provision for affirmative action through  reservation in legislatures, government  jobs and  enrolment in higher educational institutions for  Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes , Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and also the economically backward classes. Though introduced for a limited period initially, this policy has been continued with more and more sections of society brought under reservation

In the recent few years, however, a debate is taking place on the desirability of continued of reservation .  As the demand - supply gap has widened in higher/ professional education  and government  jobs, the protagonists of  reservation  are agitating  for more and more sections of the society. The counter-  view  in the debate is reservation and lowering of  qualification standards  for seats and jobs promotes and perpetuates anti-meritocracy .

Caste/ community based reservation being not enough, there is also  growing demand for reservation in jobs  in some states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra  and Karnataka , accounting for about a third of the country’s geographical area,  for “ locals” i.e  those who have been living within the boundaries of these states respectively  for a certain period. This is in total negation of a basic tenet of our Constitution viz no discrimination based on place of birth or domicile. In his insightful article titled “One Nation, One Constitution?”  ( The Times of India Mumbai , 7/9/2019) , Robin David says “ In the end, it all boils down to populism versus Constitution. Will any political leader or party have courage to stand up for the Constitution against this popular move?”

Who then would protect constitutional rights of citizens?  “ If human beings have rights, is there a court which is duty bound to protect them the moment those rights are violated? Is this court the Supreme Court?” asks Dushyant in his Edit Page  article in Mumbai Times dated 6/9/2019