Mandal way of democratization

(Mains GS 2 : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.)

Context: 

From a secular perspective, the socio-political movement resulted in ‘India’s Silent Revolution’, identifying socially and educationally backward castes and communities by not letting religion become a barrier.

Social justice discourse:

• The social justice discourse in modern India can be traced to the initiatives of social revolutionaries such as Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Sahuji Maharaj and Periyar during colonial rule. 
• But a sustained intervention with a concrete outcome in terms of policy prescriptions surfaced only with B.R. Ambedkar arrived on the national scene. 
• The “depressed classes” (Dalits) and “tribals” (Adivasis) were already listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, respectively, by 1935. 
• The benefits of reservation in education and employment for these social groups in proportion to their population were adopted as soon as the Constitution of India came into force. 
• But a large section of the “backward classes” and occupational caste groups remained socially and educationally backward; hence, their presence in the bureaucracy, the judiciary, academia or the media remained abysmal.

The “Mandal moment”:

• The Constituent Assembly had debated caste-class dichotomy and envisioned that backward classes would be backward communities. 
• Article 340 of the Constitution entailed egalitarian possibility that resulted in two Backward Classes commissions, the Kalelkar Commission (1953-1955) and the Mandal Commission (1978-80). 
• The announcement of implementing one of its recommendations, of 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the central services on August 7, 1990, was the “Mandal moment”. 
• The 73rd and 74th Amendments have furthered the idea of social justice by extending reservation benefits to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs and horizontal reservation was also extended to all women.

Towards fraternity:

• The term “Secular” means being “separate” from religion or having no religious basis. Religion is open to one and all and is given as a personal choice to an individual without any different treatment to the latter.
• Secularism calls for a doctrine where all religions are given equal status, recognition and support from the state or it can also be defined as a doctrine that promotes separation of state from religion.
• However, the real test of secularism and social democracy is hinged on mutual co-existence of communities. 
• Thus, secularism needs to be situated within the perspective of “Fraternity” as enshrined in the ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution and this entails instilling confidence and camaraderie in the minority communities too.

Conclusion:

• “Mandal '' has been the identifying of socially and educationally backward castes and communities by not letting religion become a barrier thus helping them to become mainstream in socio-economic and political development.