Publisher's Synopsis
This set of essays on the backward classes deals primarily with issues of public policy. The author begins with a sociological critique of the equality provisions in the Constitution of India. He argues that the problem is not simply of the contradiction between the principle of equality and the practice of inequality, but also of the tensions between divergent concepts of equality. He deals in particular with the problem of balancing the principle of equal opportunities with the principle of redress. The discussion dwells on the disparities beween groups that were such a striking feature of traditional India.;An analysis of the structure of Indian society shows that the social situation of the scheduled castes and tribes has been and continues to be markedly different from that of the other backward classes; it follows that measures of redress that are appropriate to the former are not appropriate to the latter.;The author argues that reservations in education and employment should be treated as matters of policy and not of right. In Indian society, the individual, and not caste of the community, is the fundamental bearer of rights and capacities. If caste quotas are treated as matters of right and extended indefinitely, there will be irrepairable damage to institutions such as universities, hospitals and banks that are governed by principles that are radically different from those governing the relations between castes.
