Opinion No Lokpal,no reservations

The BJP,and perhaps Team Anna,find a lot to object to the reservation of minorities in the Lokpal board. But why aren’t reservations made by them to the quota for SCs and STs? And women? Is it just political correctness that leads them to not object? They have a constitutional fig leaf with reference to the correctness involved with SCs and STs,but the Constitution as yet,thankfully,has not made quotas mandatory for women. So why were the BJP,and Swaraj,not objecting to the requirement of women? This is where the run out occurred. By not objecting to the inclusion of women,the BJP confirmed the suspicions of many. It is a party allergic to the M word; it is a party associated with Hindu chauvinism,a party that never met a Hindu who could do any wrong — and a party that never met a non-Hindu who could do any right.

Let me make my position absolutely clear. I think a liberal society,which I hope and want India to be,has absolutely no place for reservations of any kind. The Neanderthal way in which unthinking apologists bring about the reason for reservations — centuries,if not thousands of centuries of oppression,etc — to defend quotas on the basis of gender or caste or religion or age or whatever,betrays their confusion about history,philosophy,and the principles of fairness and justice. It is every man’s argument that the poor and the downtrodden should be helped,and helped by the state. Private philanthropy cannot take care of the existing injustices. The state has to provide for equality of opportunity. This means subsidies — cash transfers — for the poor to go to school,obtain decent health care and obtain a decent standard of living. This does not mean that quotas have to be provided for the underprivileged and the past discriminated against. And Swaraj should know that the Constitution itself suggested that the entire reservation quota system should be reviewed after a decade. Now has been 61 years and counting,and all the Indian Parliament has to show is that it believes reservation should be there for all and sundry.

If the Congress has brought in reservations for all (what about reservations for the people who do not believe in reservations?) it is doing everything within its moral,political and perhaps even legal right to do so. Until reservations are removed,each political party has the right to invoke it whenever it suits them. And if UP elections are around the corner,and if the state has a large Muslim population,and if a large political party is politically dumb enough to object,so much the better.

But there is more at stake here. The Lokpal bill is meant to curb,reduce and eliminate corruption. But is the Lokpal bill the right instrument to reach the target? Good sense will tell you that corruption is made possible by bad policies,not bad people. So we should change our property tax laws,introduce the GST and DTC,introduce FDI in retail,etc. if we are serious about reducing corruption. Passing another bill,Lokpal or otherwise,is like passing yet another anti-poverty programme like NREGA. These programmes are meant for the poor,but really meant to enhance corruption.

The Lokpal bill is not the right instrument to reduce corruption. Team Anna will likely be shown the door soon,by the Parliament and by the electorate. Everyone is entitled to their 15 minutes of fame; the luckier ones have a few months in the sun. And reservations is not the right policy to enhance the well-being of the poor. Maybe after the noise has settled,Parliament will sponsor the creation of a new Constitution,one based on the principles of rights and justice,and not on the ad hoc principles of state intervention.

The writer is chairman of Oxus Investments,an emerging market advisory firm