The reservation debate so far has steadfastly refused to move out of the set parameters of quotas. The supporter would not have anything less than that and the opponent will have none of it. Can’t we experiment with something more complex? Last year, in the course of the quota debate, Yogendra Yadav and Satish Deshpande proposed a scheme (EPW, June 18, 2006) of developing a composite index for assessing the non-access to equal opportunity and the means for offsetting the lack of fair access. This writer was a signatory to that proposal. It was drowned in the enthusiasm of the quota supporters and the wrath of the quota opponents. It is necessary to debate the need for a composite EOI and for an integrated policy option.

Finally, the last one year has showed up our collective confusion on matters related to social identity. While the debates about caste and caste-based policies continue, the Sachar committee report pointed out the other side of the issue, namely, the hollowness of our claim to be a nation of diversities.

Both the OBC debate and the Sachar report have shown that our diversity does not get reflected in the social composition of the elites. At the same time, the Sachar committee is itself another instance of a piecemeal and ad hoc approach to the issue. The government took the soft option of appointing a committee only for investigation into the status of the Muslim community. Predictably, now the Minorities Commission is taking the cue and planning to investigate the condition of ‘other minorities’. It is necessary that the government shifts the paradigm of the debate from the ‘condition of minorities’ to the issue of diversity.

... contd.