Gurjjars are now demanding a greater share of the public sector employment pie. This community is not the first in asking for either a greater share or a ‘better’ categorisation. And with the Rajasthan chief minister convincing them to call off the stir, one can be certain that the Gurjjars will not be the last in making these demands. Some communities such as the Meenas may have made good use of the opportunities that came their way via reservation, but many others are yet to do so.

Either way, this is the start of an interesting socio-political churn. The beneficiaries will attempt at ensuring that such benefits continue and the non-beneficiaries will try to ensure that they also hop onto the bandwagon. If the two groups are competitors, then each may also try to prevent the other from benefiting. But why does this happen? In this era of rapid growth and ever-increasing employment opportunities, why should anyone want to battle it out to get a government job?

The answer is surprisingly quite unambiguous. Monetary and non-monetary benefits received from government jobs are far higher than those received by private sector employees in a range of occupations. And this difference is so large that it is well worth the effort of fighting street battles for preferential treatment.

Of course, not all government or public sector jobs pay more than similar private sector jobs. Take, for instance, the CEOs of SBI and Citibank. The former earns much less. And therefore rarely will you see senior managers or bureaucrats fighting for reservations. But the lifetime benefits earned at the middle and lower levels in the hierarchy are far higher in the government than those earned in the private sector.

... contd.