Karnataka govt puts ball in Centre’s court on SC sub-quotas. What is the issue & politics behind it

Karnataka govt puts ball in Centre’s court on SC sub-quotas. What is the issue & politics behind it

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to approach the Centre to bring a constitutional amendment to enable states to provide internal reservations to Scheduled Castes (SC); that is, carving out sub-quotas for specific groups within the SC quota.

The demand for such sub-quotas is rooted in the fact the SC category is not homogeneous in terms of socio-economic status, and various communities believe that some sections are taking away all the benefits of reservations, leaving little for others, especially the most marginalised.

The Karnataka government’s move comes even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government has formed a five-member committee of secretaries to evaluate a method for equitable distribution of benefits, schemes and initiatives to the most backward communities among the more than 1,200 Scheduled Castes across India. The Centre’s move followed demands for sub-categorisation of SCs by the Madiga community.

“The central government has formed a high-level committee under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary to review the internal reservation for Scheduled Castes. This seems to be nothing more than a ploy to mislead the Dalit community as it is clear that the BJP has no genuine concern behind it,” according to a statement from the Karnataka Chief Minister’s Office, issued Saturday.The statement added that if the central government “truly intends” to fulfil the demand for internal reservation for SCs, it should present a bill to amend Article 341 of the Constitution in Parliament, get it approved, and implement the reservation quickly.

The Karnataka cabinet also announced Thursday that it would urge the Centre to introduce an amendment to Article 341 to circumvent the seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court that is currently hearing the matter of sub-categorisation of SCs.

The existing two clauses of Article 341 authorise the President to declare certain castes and classes to be SC in a state or Union Territory through a notification, and also empower Parliament to include or exclude any “caste, race or tribe” mentioned in such notifications from the SC list.

The amendment seeks to provide power to state governments to provide internal reservation.

Following the Karnataka government’s move, the Centre will be in the spotlight to find a solution to the issue that can potentially help consolidate the votes of a section of Dalits ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“Unless article Article 341(3) is added, whatever is our concern, whatever help we want to give any section, we can’t do anything because of that constraint. That is why we are taking it up constitutionally and legally,” H.K. Patil, Karnataka’s minister for law & parliamentary affairs, told reporters in Bengaluru Thursday.

According to the 2011 Census, SCs make up 17.5 per cent of Karnataka’s population, while the Scheduled Tribes (STs) account for 6.95 per cent. Of the state’s 224 assembly constituencies, 36 are reserved for SCs and 15 for STs.

ThePrint decodes the issue of internal reservations in Karnataka.

Justice Sadashiva Commission

After several years of protests by several SC groups demanding reservations within reservations, in 2005, the then Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government in Karnataka appointed a commission led by retired high court judge A.J. Sadashiva to enquire into the equitable distribution of reservation benefits among SCs.

The commission took seven years to file the report and presented it in 2012, when D.V. Sadananda Gowda was CM. It reportedly recommended dividing the 101 caste & sub-caste groups among the SCs in Karnataka into ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘touchables’ and ‘others’.

The ‘left-right’ dichotomy, found in Karnataka and other parts of south India, is rooted in historical divisions among SC groups.

The term “touchables”, meanwhile, refers to historically disadvantaged communities — the major groups being Banjaras, Bhovis, Korachas and Koramas — who were included alongside “untouchables” in the depressed classes list of the erstwhile state of Mysore, and later incorporated into the SC list.

The Sadashiva Commission’s survey — assessing the socio-economic situation of 96.6 lakh SC people — reportedly found that the ‘left’ communities account for about 33.47 per cent of the SC population, ‘right’ communities for 32 per cent, ‘touchables’ for 23.64 per cent and ‘others’ for 4.65 per cent. Many survey respondents reportedly refused to answer, so the figures don’t add up to 100 per cent. It estimated that there are about 25 “right-hand” communities and 20 “left-hand” ones.

This report has not been tabled in the assembly, even though both the Congress and BJP have promised that it would be.

Subsequently, the Congress-JD(S) coalition between 2018 and 2019 set up the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission to examine the demand for hike in reservation among both SCs and STs in the state.

The panel submitted its report to the government in July 2020, recommending hiking the quota for SCs from 15 percent to 17 percent and for the STs, from 3 percent to 7.5 percent.

In October 2022, then Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai announced a 2 per cent increase in reservation for the SCs and 4 per cent for STs, taking the quotas to 17 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

BJP government’s stand on sub-quotas 

In March 2023, Bommai had announced internal reservations for four groupings of SCs ahead of the assembly elections.

The SC (Left) category was entitled to get 6 per cent, SC (Right) 5.5 per cent, 4.5 per cent for “touchables”, and 1 per cent for “others”, Bommai had said.

The SC (Left) is a grouping that’s generally seen to side with the BJP. According to experts, those now considered ‘left’ were historically among the most oppressed, compared to others (now ‘right’) who had somewhat greater privileges and traditionally backed the Congress.

However, the Bommai government had based its decision on a cabinet sub-committee report and not the Justice Sadashiva Commission report, which it described as “irrelevant”.

On Friday, Bommai said the Congress had been misleading people since 2013 and that the state government should implement the Sadashiva Commission report “if they have the commitment”.

“They talk of forwarding it to the Government of India, recommending the amendment to the Constitution. But on the other hand, they talk of implementing the report. If they have commitment, they must not only implement the report but also… give promotion on the basis of internal reservation,” the former CM said in a statement to the media.

How are decisions of Congress and BJP governments different?

The Centre on 8 June, 2023 responded to Bommai’s announcement, saying that the issue of internal reservation could not be looked into since a seven-bench Constitution Bench of the apex court was already seized of the matter, a senior Karnataka government official told ThePrint last week.

The official, requesting anonymity, said that only the central government via Parliament could bring any amendment to the existing provisions of Article 341.

With no constitutional basis, internal reservation has largely remained a political assurance, especially around elections.

Karnataka’s Congress government has now asked the Centre to circumvent the seven-bench Constitution bench and bring in an amendment to Article 341 by inserting a clause 3, effectively putting the ball in the Centre’s court.

“341(3) Parliament may by law provide for sub-categorisation or de-sub-categorisation of caste, race or tribe or part of or groups within any caste, race or tribe specified in a notification issued under clause (1) or by law made by Parliament under clause (2), upon receiving the appropriate recommendation from State/UT governments (or resolution from legislature of a state/UT passed unanimously),” said a government note shared with the media Thursday.

What are political implications of Congress govt recommendation? 

The SCs are not a homogenous group and are splintered into several factions. Political analysts and observers believe that the SC (Left) backs the BJP to an extent and SC (Right) has remained with the Congress, at least in Karnataka. Both groupings have attempted to reach out to the other in the hope to secure backing.

Siddaramaiah has long depended on backward and marginalised groups for political capital and has largely relied on the AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits). He has also challenged the dominant caste status enjoyed by groups like the Lingayats and Vokkaligas, prompting the 2015 socio-economic and educational survey (Karnataka caste census), according to observers.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is from the Holeya community, classified as SC (Right). Former Union minister and incumbent minister for food & civil supplies in Karnataka K.H. Muniyappa is from the Madiga community, classified as SC (Left).

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)