Latasinha's Weblog

Pr. Beteille on job reservation in public instirutions

Pr. Beteille, an eminent anthropologist, says, ‘Those, who see oppression everywhere – at school, in office and workplace, at home, in places of entertainment, indeed in every image on the Tele-screen, end by making non-sense of the very idea of power or society.’ⁱ

He further says, “Once the uneven distribution of caste in public institutions comes to be perceived as a problem of distributive justice, institutional well being takes the back seat…Job Reservations in public institutions are required to protect the interest of SC/ST/Backward Classes and minorities. If this argument is believed to be right and acted on, then our institutions can not function, as they ought to, their well-being will be irreparably damaged…

The best course would be to expand the pool of qualified candidates at the lower level, but this would call for patience, which no Government in India has so far shown…A quicker course, whose effect would show immediately in official statistics, would be to alter the proportions directly through Reservation of jobs.” ⁱⁱ

September 28, 2009 - Posted by latasinha | Reservation/Affirmative action program