The Gujjar Mutiny - the negative role of Meenas and a proposed solution


What the Meena-Gujjar conflict is about
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/01raj4.htm

Gujjar row: BJP's Meena MLAs threaten to quit
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/02rajriot1.htm

Why did the Meena's get involved in this row anyhow? The Meena's are
well represented in IAS, IPS etc. It seems they have a lot of MLAs as
well. They are protecting what they consider their own turf - the ST
list. But the Gujjar are tribal too, and usually nomadic. The Gujjars
deserve to be on the ST list, if they are underrepresented in public
sector service jobs.

A better solution would be to _merge_ the ST quota with the proposed
OBC quota. Both Gujjars and Meenas would be on equal keel then. There
would be one segment of quotas for the SC, and just one other for OBC
+ST. Regional disparities in filling quotas, if they persist over
time, can be addressed by adding a random factor that rewards
underrepresented regions.

Merging the ST and OBC quotas into "underrepresented people quota"
would also blunt the threats coming from the Meenas, which is what
most politicians are afraid of. This would benefit no single party and
it can be sold to the ST as an opportunity to get benefits from a
larger quota magnitude.

Then put a 75 year limit before the whole quota system starts to wind
down, slowly over 25 years to zero. Hopefully, economic activities
would have lifted most Indians into some sort of financial and social
security by then.


Adi Anant

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