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Source: The post is based on an article “The democratisation of India, the Mandal way” published in The Hindu on 14th October 2022.
Syllabus: GS 2 – Social Justice
Relevance: history of social justice in India
News: The article discusses how the changes were made for the depressed classes in India.
‘Mandal’ was a socio-political movement that changed the demographic diversity of people’s representatives in India. It was also known as ‘India’s Silent Revolution’ by Christophe Jaffrelot.
How did the concept of social justice transformed from the colonial era?
The path to social justice in modern India was started by social revolutionaries such as Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, etc. during the colonial rule.
But the policy for depressed came only after B.R. Ambedkar brought the issue at the national level.
The “depressed classes” (Dalits) and “tribals” (Adivasis) were listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively by 1935.
Later, the Constitution of India recognized these depressed classes and came with the benefits of reservation in education and employment.
However, a large section of the backward classes and occupational caste groups remained socially and educationally backward and their presence in elite services remained dismal.
The post-independence years was dominated by Nehruvian socialism but the polity and governance remained in the hands of upper castes.
Moreover, caste-class division was debated in the Constituent Assembly and it was thought that backward classes would be backward communities.
But B.R. Ambedkar was against this view of the Constituent Assembly and he said: “…a backward community is a community which is backward in the opinion of the government….”
Further, the Mandal report stated that a caste can be a social class in India.
How did the Constitution of India bring social justice?
Article 340 of the Constitution led the formation of two backward class commissions namely – the Kalelkar Commission (1953-1955) and the Mandal Commission (1978-80).
The Mandal Commission submitted a report that changed the scenario of the backward class in India and it led to “Mandal movement”. It was a campaign for implementing the recommendations of the Mandal Commissions.
The announcement of the implementation of one of the recommendations (27% reservation for the OBC in the central services) of the Mandal Commissions led the “Mandal moment”.
Further the 73rd and 74th Amendments took the idea of social justice by extending reservation benefits to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs and Horizontal reservation to all women.
In 2006, reservations were extended to OBC candidates in institutions of higher learning which was popularly known as Mandal II.
How did Mandal commission report helped in bringing social justice in other religions?
Mandal recognized socially and educationally backward castes and communities irrespective of their religion.
Pasmanda (backward in Persian) movement emerged among backward Muslims demanding democratisation and representation.
Further, the Mandal report recognised a large section of Muslims and Christians who converted from Hinduism and a majority of them were continuing with their earlier caste-based occupations.
