Article
appeared
in
People's
Democracy
dated
September
9,
1990
A
decade
after
its
submission,
a
part
of
the
recommendations
of
the
Mandal
Commission
report
has
been
implemented
by
the
announcement
of
27
per
cent
reservation
for
the
Other
Backward
Classes
in
jobs
in
Central
Services
and
public
sector
undertakings.
While
there
were
periodic
agitations
for
and
against
implementation
of
the
Mandal
report
after
1981,
now
the
decision
of
the
National
Front
Government
has
sparked
off
widespread
student
protests
against
it
in
different
States.
They
have
the
backing
of
a
considerable
section
of
the
intelligentsia
and
practically
the
entire
media
controlled
by
big
business.
RETROGRADE
The
vociferous
protest
against
reservation
for
Other
Backward
Classes
(OBCs)
and
the
growing
unease
about
reservations
for
scheduled
castes
and
scheduled
tribes
reflects
the
sharp
conflicts
which
are
erupting
in
Indian
society
over
the
distribution
of
a
limited
number
of
Government
jobs
and
educational
resources.
It
should
be
noted
that
the
vocal
opposition
to
the
reservations
for
OBCs
goes
hand
in
hand
with
a
more
disguised
resentment
against
reservation
for
the
scheduled
castes
and
tribes.
One
has
only
to
recall
to
the
Gujarat
anti-reservation
movement
of
1981
and
the
recent
December,
1989
U.P.
agitation
against
the
Parliament
extending
the
reservation
of
seats
in
legislatures
for
the
scheduled
castes
and
scheduled
tribes
for
another
ten
years.
The
movement
against
reservations
in
the
present
Indian
context
is
definitely
retrograde
and
objectively
serves
the
interests
of
those
who
seek
to
preserve
the
dominance
of
the
upper
castes.
The
plea
against
reservations
is
advanced
on
the
basis
of
equality
of
opportunity
and
merit.
In
an
unequal
society
like
India,
where
scheduled
castes,
tribes
and
shudras
(the
bulk
of
whom
are
the
OBCs)
have
been
discriminated
against
in
choice
of
occupation,
social
mobility
and
control
over
the
means
of
production,
all
talk
of
equality,
without
taking
into
account
this
reality,
reduces
equality
to
the
concept
of
formal
equality.
As
for
merit,
it
is
perfectly
possible
in
India
to
discriminate
in
recruitment
and
promotions,
on
the
basis
of
caste
prejudices
or
preferences,
militating
against
merit.
Further,
merit,
as
the
Mandal
Commission
and
a
host
of
other
commissions
and
Supreme
Court
judgements
have
pointed
out,
must
be
seen
in
the
context
of
achieving
real
equality
of
opportunities,
social
environment
and
compensatory
discrimination
to
ensure
social
justice.
RESERVATION
FOR
The
CPI(M)
has
viewed
reservations
for
scheduled
castes
and
scheduled
tribes
as
the
minimum
relief
extended
by
the
Indian
State
to
those
sections
of
society
who
have
historically
and
socially
suffered
the
worst
oppression
over
the
centuries.
While
supporting
this
reservation
(totalling
22.5
per
cent
at
the
Centre
and
varying
in
States
according
to
the
proportion
of
population
of
SCs
and
STs),
the
CPI(M)
has
also
held
that
this
is
limited
concession
which
does
not
tackle
the
roots
of
the
problem
necessary
for
their
social
and
economic
emancipation.
The
history
of
four
decades
of
reservations
for
SCs
and
STs
amply
confirms
this
fact.
Only
a
thin
stratum
(not
more
than
five
to
ten
per
cent)
of
the
SC
population
has
benefitted
from
the
reservations.
Even
in
education,
they
are
unable
to
fully
utilise
the
quotas
allotted
to
them.
The
untouchables
are
still
not
"touchable"
despite
the
four
decades
of
constitutional
sanction
against
this
evil
practice.
They
are
subject
to
lynchings,
rape
of
women
and
arson
when
they
seek
to
stand
up
for
their
rights.
Altogether
28,736
cases
of
atrocities
against
scheduled
castes
were
reported
in
1987
and
1988.
The
reason
for
this
is
the
lack
of
change
in
the
material
conditions
of
the
vast
mass
of
the
scheduled
castes
people
living
in
the
rural
areas.
Land,
the
main
means
of
production,
is
outside
their
control.
The
failure
of
the
Indian
bourgeoisie
to
complete
the
democratic
tasks
of
the
first
stage
of
our
revolution
due
to
their
compromise
with
landlordism,
has
led
to
the
landless
scheduled
castes
and
tribals
remaining
not
only
at
the
bottom
of
the
social
ladder
but
also
at
the
bottom
of
the
economic
ladder.
That
is
why
the
CPI(M),
while
firmly
supporting
reservations
in
jobs
and
education
for
the
SCs
and
STs
as
offering
some
openings,
consistently
demands
radical
land
reforms
and
building
of
the
unity
of
agricultural
labourers
and
poor
peasants
of
all
sections
to
provide
the
basis
for
a
powerful
agrarian
movement
to
achieve
the
same.
The
Mandal
Commission
report
itself
recognises
this
basic
truth
and
notes:
"unless
these
production
relations
are
radically
altered
through
structural
changes
and
progressive
land
reforms
implemented
rigorously
all
over
the
country,
OBCs
will
never
become
truly
independent.
In
view
of
this,
highest
priority
should
be
given
to
radical
land
reforms
by
all
the
States.
THE
QUESTION
Reservation
for
the
OBCs
has
existed
in
many
States
for
a
long
time.
In
the
four
southern
States
there
has
been
some
form
of
reservations
from
the
pre-independence
period.
The
other
States
where
reservations
exist
in
varying
degrees
are:
Gujarat,
Maharashtra,
Bihar,
U.P.,
Punjab
and
Himachal
Pradesh.
In
West
Bengal,
Orissa,
Assam
and
most
of
the
north-eastern
States,
such
reservations
do
not
exist
due
to
the
nature
of
the
historical
evolution
of
the
caste
pattern,
and
in
West
Bengal
due
to
the
major
socio-economic
changes
which
were
brought
about
through
prolonged
struggles.
It
is
a
fact
that
the
bulk
of
those
who
are
categorised
as
OBCs
in
the
States
belong
to
the
rural
poor.
They
are
sharecroppers,
small
tenants
or
poor
peasants
with
small
holdings.
Further,
in
the
rural
areas
the
OBCs
are
in
occupations
which
are
still
based
on
the
traditional
caste
hierarchy
such
as
dhobis,
barbers,
cattlerearers
and
artisans.
Their
lowly
caste
status
prevents
their
entry
into
education
and
new
occupations.
These
are
the
facts
confirmed
by
detailed
studies
conducted
by
the
Havanur
Commission
in
Karnataka
(1975);
the
Backward
Classes
Commission
in
Tamil
Nadu
(1971);
the
Backward
Classes
Reservation
Commission
in
Kerala
(1971);
the
Socially
and
Educationally
Backward
Classes
Commission
in
Gujarat
(1976)
and
the
Backward
Classes
Commission
in
Andhra
Pradesh
(1970);
that
within
OBCs
there
are
many
sub-castes
which
are
educationally
and
economically
backward
judged
by
a
number
of
socio-economic
indicators.
SUPPORT
FOR
Therefore,
where
the
caste
status
contributes
to
the
backwardness
of
communities
under
the
OBC
category,
and
where
anti-caste
movements
have
not
been
able
to
cut
across
caste
barriers
and
build
powerful
class-based
mass
organisations,
there
is
a
justification
for
providing
reservations
to
such
communities.
This
is
the
basis
on
which
the
CPI(M)
supported
the
implementation
of
the
Mandal
Commission
report
since
1981-82
and
earlier
in
States
where
due
to
prolonged
movements
the
OBCs
were
accorded
reservations.
NEED
FOR
The
CPI(M)
has,
however,
qualified
this
support
on
two
counts.
Firstly,
it
has
argued
for
an
economic
criterion
within
the
reservation
for
OBCs.
This
is
a
demand
distinct
from
the
blanket
reservation
for
the
SCs
and
STs
for
whom
no
economic
criterion
is
necessary.
Four
decades
of
socio-economic
developments
and
growth
of
capitalism
have
led
to
class
differentiation
within
the
caste
structure.
In
the
case
of
OBCs,
it
is
well
known
that
there
are
a
few
castes
in
different
States
which
contain
influential
strata
who
own
land
and
other
means
of
production.
They
are
well
represented
in
the
political
power
structure
also.
The
complexity
of
the
OBC
problem
lies,
thus,
in
the
fact
that
within
some
communities
of
the
OBCs
there
is
a
great
economic
(inter-caste)
differentiation
and
also
there
is
inter-caste
differentiation,
i.e.,
compared
to
a
few
better-off
communities
there
are
a
number
of
more
backward
communities.
In
order
to
see
that
the
landless
as
compared
to
the
richer
landed,
the
poor
as
compared
to
the
affluent,
the
more
backward
as
distinct
from
the
strata
of
the
developed
--
i.e.
the
majority
of
the
poor
and
deprived
of
these
communities
--
benefit
from
reservation,
the
CPI(M)
wants
an
economic
criterion.
This
criterion
need
not
necessarily
be
just
an
income
ceiling,
but
can
be
a
package
in
which
income
tax
assessments,
extent
of
landholding,
professional
status
of
parents,
etc.,
can
be
taken
into
consideration.
EXPERIENCE
The
concept
of
an
economic
criterion
is
not
a
new
proposal.
As
early
as
1958,
the
Administrative
Reforms
Committee
in
Kerala
headed
by
E.M.S.
Namboodiripad,
Chief
Minister,
suggested
such
a
criterion
for
backward
classes
reservation.
The
Nettoor
Damodaran
Commission
report
of
1971
also
made
a
similar
suggestion.
The
Justice
Chinnappa
Reddy
Commission
report,
the
most
recent
in
Karnataka,
has
recommended
that
from
the
OBC
reservations
those
whose
parents
are
income
tax
or
sales
tax
assesses,
hold
land
upto
eight
acres
or
are
Class
I
officers
can
be
excluded.
In
Kerala
reservation
in
admissions
to
medical
colleges
is
governed
by
an
income
criterion.
Only
those
whose
parents
draw
less
than
Rs,
20,000
per
year
are
entitled
to
benefit
from
OBC
reservation.
In
some
other
States
like
Tamil
Nadu
and
Karnataka,
there
are
two
or
three
categories
of
backward
classes,
with
the
more
backward
either
getting
more
fee
concessions
and
other
facilities
or
getting
a
greater
quantum
of
reservations.
The
difficulty
is
that
wherever
OBC
reservations
already
exist,
the
introduction
of
an
economic
criterion
meets
with
strong
resistance.
Only
when
a
broad
consensus
is
reached
can
it
be
implemented.
In
Kerala,
it
has
not
been
implemented
so
far
as
there
is
no
such
agreement.
In
the
case
of
Bihar,
when
OBC
reservations
were
being
introduced
for
the
first
time
in
1978,
it
was
possible,
after
a
destructive
anti-reservation
movement,
to
arrive
at
a
formula
which
has
been
working
since
then.
The
26
per
cent
reservation
consists
of
12
per
cent
of
the
most
backward
category
listed
in
Annexure
1;
eight
per
cent
for
other
backward
classes
listed
in
Annexure
II
with
an
income
ceiling
of
Rs
12,000
per
annum;
three
per
cent
for
women
and
three
per
cent
for
the
poor
of
the
forward
castes.
The
National
Front
Government
at
the
Centre
should
consider
the
Bihar
Experience
which
brought
about
some
stability
in
the
tense
caste
situation.
In
this
connection,
the
proposal
of
the
Prime
Minister
for
additional
reservation
of
five
to
ten
per
cent
for
those
economically
backward
can
be
accepted
provided
that
this
is
allotted
to
those
who
do
not
fall
within
the
reserved
categories.
This
may
help
in
alleviating
the
fears
of
those
economically
deprived
amongst
the
forward
castes.
NEED
FOR
CONSENSUS
There
is
a
second
qualification
with
respect
to
OBC
reservations.
While
the
CPI(M)
has
been
supporting
the
demand
for
the
implementation
of
the
Mandal
Commission
report,
it
has
also
been
asking
for
a
consensus
to
be
evolved
on
the
sensitive
question.
Only
by
taking
care
to
see
that
substantial
sections
are
convinced
on
the
justification
and
reasonableness
of
the
scope
of
reservations
can
be
divisive
anti-reservation
movement
be
avoided
or
limited.
That
is
why
the
Party
criticised
the
sudden
announcement
without
proper
consultations.
That
an
all-party
meeting
has
now
been
proposed
to
held
on
September
3,
shows
how
such
an
exercise
earlier
could
have
been
helpful.
Anyway,
after
the
rich
and
varied
experience
of
OBC
reservations
in
the
States,
it
is
clear
that
there
has
to
be
periodic
reviews
of
the
status
of
those
on
the
reserved
lists
and
for
identification
of
those
who
continue
to
remain
backward.
Here
a
good
example
is
the
Chinnappa
Reddy
Commission
(the
third
in
Karnataka
in
the
space
of
15
years(
which
has
further
defined
the
identification
of
backward
status
apart
from
keeping
in
mind
the
caste
factor
and
computing
other
criteria
along
with
it
such
as
access
to
education,
economic
status,
occupation
and
employment
pattern.
HISTORY
OF
ANTI-CASTE
But
reservations
for
the
OBCs
have
come
to
stay.
Unlike
the
superficial
portrayal
which
depicts
V.P.
Singh
as
the
villain
who
has
suddenly
opened
the
Pandora's
box
of
reservation
for
the
OBCs,
the
social
and
political
implications
of
the
aspirations
of
those
downtrodden
in
Indian
society,
has
been
with
us
before
independence
and
during
the
past
four
decades.
These
facts
of
history
are
deliberately
suppressed
by
the
likes
of
Arun
Shourie
who
have
railed
against
reservations.
He
is
only
being
consistent
in
his
Hindu
upper-casteist
outlook.
Advocating
the
"shifting"
of
Babri
Masjid
from
its
site
in
Ayodhya
and
pouring
scorn
over
the
aspirations
of
the
lower
castes,
are
both
of
one
piece.
An
aspect
of
the
prolonged
struggle
against
upper-caste
domination
was
the
non-Brahmin
movements
in
the
south
and
in
Maharashtra
for
well
over
a
century.
In
the
north,
the
anti-caste
social
reform
movements
had
a
belated
start.
Bihar
saw
this
phenomenon
earlier
than
in
other
north-Indian
States.
In
the
pre-independence
period,
these
anti-caste
movements
spearheaded
the
fight
against
the
upper
caste
domination.
Their
main
weakness
lay
in
their
alienation
from
the
anti-imperialist
movement
a
feature
due
also
to
the
approach
of
the
Congress
party.
It
sought
to
fight
caste-domination
not
by
advocating
a
thorough-going
agrarian
revolution
which
could
have
altered
the
relations
of
production
in
agriculture,
but
by
an
upper-caste
approach
of
reformism
which
was
exemplified
by
Gandhism,
both
before
and
after
independence,
with
its
reliance
on
preaching
against
untouchability
by
inter-caste
dining,
inter-caste
marriages,
and
of
course
reservations.
NEED
OF
AGRARIAN
The
Marxist
analysis
of
contemporary
reality
holds
that
the
anti-caste
movement,
if
it
is
to
be
successful
in
eliminating
caste
domination,
requires
linking
the
anti-caste
movements
with
the
movement
for
agrarian
revolution,
for
building
the
unity
of
the
working
people,
and
advancing
the
democratic
movement.
Where
this
task
remain
unaccomplished,
or
where
this
impulse
is
weak,
the
consciousness
of
the
oppressed
mass
within
the
lower
caste
considers
reservations
as
the
only
safeguard
for
their
advancement.
The
working
class
party,
therefore,
while
supporting
reservations,
seeks
to
strengthen
its
links
with
the
rural
mass
which
will
be
a
main
force
of
the
agrarian
revolution.
At
the
same
time,
it
also
considers
the
building
of
unity
of
the
toiling
people
of
all
castes
to
be
the
crucial
question.
Unfortunately,
some
sections
of
the
intelligentsia
with
democratic
inclinations
are
opposing
reservations
for
the
OBCs
on
the
plea
that
it
perpetuates
casteism
and
fragments
society.
This
is
to
ignore
the
fact
that
it
is
the
casteism
of
the
upper-castes
attendant
with
the
monopoly
of
the
means
of
production,
which
has
perpetuated
backwardness.
If
with
capitalist
development,
class
and
caste
alignments
are
getting
redefined
and
divergent,
the
end
to
casteism
and
building
class-based
movements
requires
a
dual
approach.
The
CPI(M)
recognises
that
a
big
section
of
the
working
people
come
from
castes
and
communities
who,
though
not
belonging
to
the
SCs
or
OBCs,
are
economically
exploited
and
suffer
from
social
deprivation.
They
constitute
an
important
and
advanced
section
of
the
democratic
movement.
The
modern
working
class
and
the
organised
movement
of
the
working
people
can
advance
only
the
basis
of
the
unity
of
both
sections
of
the
working
people
--
the
advanced
sections
of
the
urban
working
people
and
rural
mass
who
suffer
from
both
caste
and
economic
oppression.
Those
who
advocate
reservations
without
any
restrain
and
recklessly
compete
to
hike
up
quotas
for
the
backward
classes
and
scheduled
castes
are
not
mindful
of
the
vital
need
for
unity.
Their
stand
mirrors
the
approach
of
those
upper
caste
sections
who
seek
to
oppose
any
increase
in
reservations
as
a
threat
to
their
interests.
Both
the
pro-reservationist
and
the
anti-reservationist
leaders
work
within
the
bourgeois
mould
and
foster
the
illusion
that
the
distribution
of
the
limited
number
of
jobs
at
stake
is
a
life
and
death
question
for
the
advancement
of
their
communities.
Both
these
approaches
have
to
be
countered
and
the
working
people
of
both
sections
mobilised
on
a
common
platform.
let
it
be
emphasised
that
reservations
alone
cannot
solve
any
of
the
basic
problems
facing
the
socially
and
economically
oppressed.
PROTECT
The
CPI(M)
attitude
to
OBC
reservation
stems
from
its
class
standpoint.
It
seeks
the
unity
of
the
toiling
people,
of
all
castes,
both
urban
and
rural,
against
the
main
exploiters
who
perpetuate
a
social
system
which
is
retrogressive.
This
unity
is
necessary
to
fight
monopoly
capital
and
concentration
of
wealth
which
should
unite
both
the
forwards
and
backwards
who
comprise
the
working
class.
It
is
necessary
to
fight
landlordism,
for
which
the
entire
rural
poor
has
to
be
mobilised
breaking
caste
oppression
and
divisions.
The
democratic
sections
amongst
the
toilers
not
covered
by
reservations,
both
working
class
and
peasantry,
have
to
accept
the
necessity
for
reservations,
so
that
overall
unity
can
be
cemented.
CALL
OF
THE
Unlike
the
past,
the
CPI(M)
cannot
see
the
anti-caste
struggles
as
only
a
sphere
for
social
reform.
The
Left
has
to
channelise
this
anti-feudal
current
into
its
agrarian
movement.
The
Thirteenth
Congress
of
the
CPI(M),
in
its
Political
Resolution,
addressed
itself
to
the
situation
of
the
masses
belonging
to
these
downtrodden
castes
and
state:
"Large
sections
from
these
masses
often
stand
alienated
from
the
democratic
and
working
class
movement,
and
are
swayed
by
sectional
leadership
which
diverts
their
discontent
and
anger
into
narrow
channels.
The
period
since
our
last
Congress
has
witnessed
a
new
militant
awakening
among
these
sections
--
the
adivasis,
harijans
and
backward
classes.
It
is
necessary
to
make
all
efforts
to
draw
this
new
awakening
to
the
common
struggle
developing
a
correct
attitude
and
tactics
towards
their
organisation".
The
resolution
proceeds
to
point
out
that
the
successive
Congress
Governments
have
attempted
to
rally
these
sections,
tempting
them
with
the
promise
of
reservation
of
jobs
in
Government
service.
"This
was
also
a
device
to
bypass
the
question
of
land
reforms
and
redistribution
of
land".
Since
reservations
cater
only
to
a
small
minority
amongst
them,
"the
growing
misery
of
the
uneducated
mass
is
bursting
forth
in
militant
protest
and
action.
These
protests
against
social
discrimination,
caste
tyranny,
police
repression,
are
at
present
carried
out
under
the
leadership
of
their
caste
leaders.
They
represent
the
anti-feudal,
anti-landlord
discontent
of
these
agrarian
masses."
The
resolution
exhorts:
"The
Party,
the
democratic
movement
and
class
organisations
should
led
support
to
their
struggle
against
caste
tyranny
and
repression,
and
enable
them
and
their
organisations
to
join
the
common
struggle."
This
applies
to
the
SC
and
ST,
toiling
sections
as
well
to
the
oppressed
in
the
OBCs.
BJP's,
CONG(I)'s
The
RSS
has
come
out
openly
against
the
declared
reservations
for
the
OBCs.
Denouncing
V.P.
Singh,
the
Organiser
stated:
"He
wants
to
undo
the
great
task
of
uniting
Hindu
society
from
the
days
of
Vivekananda,
Dayanand
Saraswati,
Mahatma
Gandhi
and
Dr
Hedgewar."
The
RSS
view,
not
surprisingly,
is
governed
by
its
Hindu
chauvinist
upper-caste
bias.
Notwithstanding
the
official
position
of
the
BJP
leadership,
that
reservation
should
be
there
with
an
economic
criterion,
its
ranks
are
active
in
the
student
agitation.
One
of
its
M.P.s,
Dr.
J.K.
Jain,
went
on
a
hunger
strike
against
the
announcement.
Both
the
BJP
and
Congress(I)
activists
are
actively
competing
to
lead
the
anti-reservation
agitation.
Their
representatives
in
the
executive
of
the
Delhi
University
Teachers
Association
have
ganged
up
to
try
and
pass
a
resolution
condemning
the
implementation
of
the
OBC
reservations.
From
these
activities
it
seems
that
for
these
parties,
(unlike
the
CPI(M),
the
demand
for
an
economic
criterion
is
not
meant
to
improve
the
scheme
of
reservations,
it
is
a
ploy
to
try
and
scuttle
its
implementation.
RESPONSIBILITY
OF
One
has
to
condemn
the
manoeuvrings
of
bourgeois
political
leaders
who
seek
to
make
reservation
a
device
for
consolidating
their
influence
and
thereby
fan
caste
divisions
and
divide
the
people.
This
is
a
cynical
manipulation
of
the
aspirations
of
the
most
oppressed
sections
in
the
downtrodden
castes.
At
the
same
time,
the
advanced
democratic
movement,
the
fighting
organisations
of
the
different
sections
of
the
people
have
a
heavy
responsibility
before
them:
1.
To
oppose
movements
against
reservations.
2.
At
the
same
time,
explain
to
the
democratic
sections
not
entitled
to
reservations,
the
necessity
to
accept
this
limited
concession
to
those
deprived
of
the
capacity
for
equal
competition
due
to
historical-social
conditions.
3.
Counter
caste-exclusive
movements
which
stress
only
reservations
and
seek
to
keep
the
SC
or
reserved
categories
of
employees
and
workers
away
from
the
common
movement.
This
requires
championing
their
special
demands
and
problems.
STRENGTHEN
THE
All
efforts
must
be
made
to
see
that
people
do
not
get
divided
on
the
reservation
question.
For
this,
it
is
essential
that
the
struggle
to
change
the
present
direction
of
policies
is
stepped
up.
The
National
Front
Government
has
promised
the
right
to
work
in
the
Constitution;
it
is
yet
to
be
implemented.
The
struggle
to
expand
employment
and
ensure
the
right
to
work
can
be
the
basis
of
the
broadest
unity
encompassing
the
crores
of
the
unemployed.
In
the
sphere
of
land
reforms,
the
fight
to
distribute
land
already
identified
as
surplus
(63
million
acres)
but
not
taken
over
the
distributed
by
the
Government
(58.5
million
acres),
provides
the
basis
for
uniting
the
rural
poor.
The
right
to
education
and
expansion
of
education
facilities
to
make
them
accessible
to
all
is
vital
in
view
of
the
continuing
trend
to
restrict
higher
education
and
neglect
the
primary
school
sector.
If
increased
reservations
in
educational
institutions
are
there,
it
must
go
hand
in
hand
with
compensatory
increases
in
seats
in
higher
education,
so
that
no
one
deserving
is
deprived
of
higher
education.
The
National
Front
Government
has
been
unable
to
make
a
radical
break
with
the
old
economic
policies
of
the
Congress.
It
has
no
plan
to
revive
the
over
two
lakh
sick
units
which
are
closed
in
the
industrial
sector;
its
industrial
policy
pronouncements
with
a
bias
to
foreign
capital
and
privatisation
will
restrict
the
scope
of
employment.
It
has
not
withdrawn
the
ban
on
recruitment
in
Government
services
and
public
sector
undertakings.
Many
State
Governments
do
not
want
to
proceed
of
land
reforms
on
the
specious
plea
that
its
implementation
is
completed.
All
these
policies
have
to
be
reversed,
and
this
requires
the
broadest
unity
of
all
sections
of
the
people.
The
stand
taken
by
the
CPI(M)
Politbureau
and
Central
Committee
on
the
OBC
reservations,
in
practice,
is
the
way
the
unity
of
the
people,
the
toiling
sections
can
be
maintained
and
strengthened
to
see
that
the
main
struggle
against
the
bourgeois-landlord
system
further
advances.