Some Statistics on the Distribution of Different Communities in Various Professions in India, and the Effects of Reservations
While
reservations cannot take the place of comprehensive societal changes,
they constitute a very important and necessary step in the process of
compensating for centuries of (and ongoing) discrimination. They
promote integration in the upper strata of society by increasing the
access of highly disadvantaged and under-represented communities to
elite occupations and decision-making positions. For example, in
central government services, reservations for SCs and STs have been
operational for a few decades, and this has resulted in a rise in SC
representation in all four categories of central services.
However, upper castes continue to disproportately occupy the more
prestigious Class I services, while SCs/STs/OBCs have been
relegated to jobs lower in the hierarchy. Furthermore, the cumulative
percentage of SC/ST employees in Central government services continues
to be
below their percentage in the general population.
| Depts/Bodies |
Class I |
Class II |
Classes III & IV |
All Classes |
| SC/ST |
OBC |
SC/ST |
OBC |
SC/ST |
OBC |
SC/ST |
OBC |
| Ministries / Departments |
7.18 |
2.59 |
13.66 |
3.98 |
30.95 |
8.41 |
16.83 |
4.83 |
| Autonomous Bodies |
6.64 |
5.09 |
18.16 |
11.74 |
20.78 |
20.98 |
18.06 |
14.43 |
| Public Sector Undertakings |
4.51 |
4.59 |
18.74 |
9.91 |
31.72 |
15.77 |
19.95 |
10.61 |
| Total |
5.68 |
4.69 |
18.18 |
10.63 |
24.40 |
18.98 |
18.72 |
12.55 |
Table 1: Representation of Lower Castes in Central Government Services [All numbers in %]
Source: Report of the Backward Classes (Mandal) Commission, 1980, Vol II, p.92. Also available at UNDP.org
| Position |
Total
Employees |
SC
Employees |
%SC
Employees |
| Professor |
1155 |
2 |
0.17 |
| Associate Professor |
1774 |
6 |
0.34 |
| Assistant Professor |
1491 |
35 |
2.35 |
| Research Associate |
257 |
3 |
1.17 |
| Grade A, Non-Teaching |
756 |
26 |
3.44 |
| Grade B, Non-Teaching |
1525 |
49 |
3.21 |
| Grade C, Non-Teaching |
9001 |
414 |
4.60 |
| Grade D, Non-Teaching |
10635 |
2368 |
22.27 |
Table 2: Representation of Scheduled Castes in Educational Institutions. [Excludes Indira Gandhi National Open University, for which figures were not available]
Source:
National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Annual
Report: 1993-94, p 103. Also available at Ambedkar.Org.
| State/Union Territory |
Total |
SC |
| Gujarat |
27 |
0 |
| Sikkim |
3 |
0 |
| Himachal Pradesh |
7 |
0 |
| Kerala |
25 |
1 |
| Tamil Nadu |
20 |
1 |
| Punjab & Haryana |
29 |
0 |
| Andhra Pradesh |
NA |
0 |
| Karnataka |
NA |
3 |
| Delhi |
28 |
0 |
Table 3: SC Representation in High Courts in Various States/Union Territories in 1996. [NA = Not Available]
Source:
National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Fourth
Report, 1996-97 & 1997-98, p.16. Also available at Ambedkar.Org
| Occupation / Landholding |
Castes/Communities |
| Brahmin |
Rajput |
Other Upper Castes |
Peasant OBCs |
Other OBCs |
SCs |
STs |
| Higher Professional |
3.8 |
0.6 |
3.5 |
0.5 |
0.8 |
0.3 |
0.5 |
| White Collar Employees |
34.7 |
21.3 |
21.2 |
7.5 |
9.0 |
10.0 |
7.2 |
| Large Business |
3.6 |
2.0 |
10.1 |
0.9 |
1.6 |
0.2 |
1.6 |
| Petty Business |
13.4 |
7.0 |
25.8 |
5.8 |
10.0 |
5.3 |
12.5 |
| Artisan / Blue Collar Workers / Service Providers |
9.0 |
8.7 |
9.5 |
14.6 |
34.1 |
25.5 |
23.7 |
Table 4: Occupational profiles of different caste categories. [All numbers are percentages]
Source: National Election Study, 1999, Center for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. Also available at UNDP.org
Cumulatively
tables 1-4 illustrate the continuing reality of occupational
segregation within Indian society and the pervasiveness of caste in
the bureaucracy, judiciary and educational institutions. Evidently,
casteism transcends the systematic opportunities and benefits
provided by reservations and continues to maintain a caste-segregated
labor market. The greater concentration of lower-caste employees in
low-paying jobs is yet another indicator of the intricate links
between caste and class in India.
| Category |
Rural (1999-2000) |
Urban (1999-2000) |
| HCR1 (%) |
PGI2 |
SPG3 |
HCR (%) |
PGI |
SPG |
| Scheduled Castes |
38.38 |
0.079 |
0.024 |
37.84 |
0.088 |
0.029 |
| Scheduled Tribes |
48.02 |
0.115 |
0.038 |
35.15 |
0.090 |
0.034 |
| Other Backward Classes |
29.04 |
0.055 |
0.016 |
28.99 |
0.062 |
0.020 |
Table 5: Poverty Measures by Household Type and Social Group. Source: UNDP.org
[1] Head Count Ratio (HCR) is the proportion of poor in the overall population.
[2] Poverty Gap Index (PGI) is a measure of the depth of poverty.
[3]
Squared Poverty Gap (SPG) is similar to PGI but with squared poverty
gaps (so as to give the highest weight to the largest poverty gap).
Note that the
location, i.e. whether rural or urban, makes only a slight difference
to the levels of poverty of lower caste groups and households. This
underlines the fact that poverty correlates better with caste than
with, say, geographical location (which in turn might determine
access to other opportunities and social services). The Mandal
Commission referred to similar empirical data in observing that there
is a strong correlation between social, educational, and economic
backwardness and membership in certain lower castes. See, for instance, PUCL.org.
| Class |
1959 |
1965 |
1974 |
1984 |
1995 |
| I |
1.18 |
1.64 |
3.2 |
6.92 |
10.12 |
| II |
2.38 |
2.82 |
4.6 |
10.36 |
12.67 |
| III |
6.95 |
8.88 |
10.3 |
13.98 |
16.15 |
| IV |
17.24a |
17.75 |
18.6 |
20.2 |
21.26a |
Table 6. Percentage of SC Employees in Central Government Services. [All numbers are percentages. a: Excludes sweepers]
Sources: National Commission for
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Seventh Report, April 1984
- March 1985, p.5; National Commission for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes, Sixteenth Report, 1966-1967, p.15; National
Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Fourth
Report, 1996-1997 and 1997-1998, Volume I, p.14. Also available
at Ambedkar.Org
As the data above
illustrates, reservations have slowly but certainly led to better
representation of SCs/STs in the bureaucracy (though primarily in the
lower rungs of the hierarchy)
|
|
