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Guess who failed their board exam – Madhya Pradesh government scores low on caste

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Yashee
YasheeMay 23, 2018 | 19:08

Guess who failed their board exam – Madhya Pradesh government scores low on caste

In the recent protests that rocked the country over the “dilution” of the SC/ST atrocities Act, the most number of deaths were from MP.

The Class 10 and Class 12 report cards of the Madhya Pradesh education board contain more than just students’ marks. According to a Times of India  report, they also contain the candidates’ caste.

The report says: “The official result kit, handed to reporters on May 14, reveals that successful examinees were segregated into four categories: OBC, SC, ST and General. The result sheet clearly mentions the line “Vargvaar Niyamit” (in accordance with category).”

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In April, candidates for police recruitment exams in MP had their castes stamped on their chests.
In April, candidates for police recruitment exams in MP had their castes stamped on their chests.

This comes barely a month after the state witnessed a row over candidates for police recruitment exams having their castes stamped on their chests.

One would assume that a state administration, embarrassed by one such incident, would be more careful. However, neither was the recruitment exam case the first such, nor does the education board official as quoted by TOI sound too embarrassed.  

The explanation offered is that mentioning the students’ caste was necessary so that they could avail benefits under the government’s various welfare schemes. A similar reason was proffered during the police recruitment row – that chest measurement specifications were different for “general candidates” compared with those for reserved categories.

The explanation, of course, beats logic. The government can very well maintain a record of candidates’ castes without displaying them on their report cards, or indeed, their bodies. However, it is symptomatic of a deeper problem: the institutionalisation of caste bias, where the very tools to empower the weaker communities – education, reservations, special benefits – become a means to segregate and humiliate them, and where such a mentality is so normalised that the government seemingly finds nothing wrong in openly profiling its citizens.

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Before this, in 2017, students of a Madhya Pradesh school had refused to eat midday meals because they were prepared at a Dalit cook’s home. The principal had backed the upper caste students’ stand.

In 2016, it had been bags that carried the caste burden.
In 2016, it had been bags distributed by the government that carried the caste burden.

A year before that, schoolbags distributed to the weaker castes under a government scheme had come with “SC/ST” branded on them.

Another year ago, in 2015, upper caste residents of a village had banned Dalits from using the community borewell. The government’s neat solution was to construct a separate well for the lower castes.

In India, caste is an entrenched social reality. People learn to accept the inherent “lowliness” of certain castes from traditions, social conventions, and religion. However, the Republic of India that took form on January 26, 1950, has no place for this. The Constitution guarantees equality to every citizen, and it is the government’s responsibility to uphold and enforce this Constitution.

When the government fails in this duty, the most vulnerable sections, battling millennia of prejudices, humiliation and discrimination, lose their strongest ally.

The costs of this are glaring. In the recent Dalit protests that rocked the country over the “dilution” of the SC/ST atrocities Act, the most number of deaths were from MP.

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According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the highest number of crimes against STs in 2016 was reported from Madhya Pradesh, and in terms of crimes against SCs, the state was behind only Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

However, the increase in crime against both the communities from the previous year was the sharpest in MP – 49.4 per cent against SCs and 15.6 per cent against STs.

To add to this, conviction rate in such cases remains dismal – according to IndiaSpend, Madhya Pradesh had the most number of cases – 4,839 – of crimes against STs that were pending trial. The state also had the highest crime rate against Dalits – at 43.4 per cent – while the conviction rate was 31 per cent.

The figures are not a coincidence. They are proof of what happens when a state government is either too inefficient or too unwilling to discharge its duty of protecting the vulnerable.

The benefits that students or job aspirants from the so-called lower castes get from the government are their right, not a favour bestowed upon them. The purpose of these welfare schemes is to bring in equality, give the weaker sections the extra push needed to bring them at par with the traditionally advantaged. That will not happen while the state itself is unable to look beyond their “Dalit” identity, and its schemes for empowerment continue to be served with a dose of humiliation and condescension instead.

Last updated: May 23, 2018 | 19:12
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