COUNTER VIEW: Minorities deserve targeted schemes

This was bound to happen an outcry, led by BJP, against targeted policies, in the form of jobs and credit, for Muslims. The Sachar report has, through data, established a fact that no one wanted to acknowledge that the economic status of most Muslims is on a par with SCs and STs. Since less than per cent of Muslims are SCs, it follows that Muslims require policy focus.
Targeted policies are opposed on two grounds: First, such policy compromises an individual's right to a level playing field and second, they do not work anyway, so might as well focus on economic growth, which will lift everyone.Both arguments are flawed. An individual's right to access jobs and education should be circumscribed by the social context.
Therefore, if a 'meritorious' candidate loses out to someone in the reserved category, it is because he must bear the cost of redressing a larger imbalance. This is the basic principle of collective responsibility, in this case called social justice.
The view that reservations have been around for too long, or that the upper castes cannot indefinitely bear the costs of social justice, does not wash either. After 59 years of Independence and 50 years of 'secular' governments, the gap between SCs, STs and Muslims on the one hand and the rest on the other still stares us in the face.
Therefore, a targeted approach for those who have been bypassed by development will have to continue. Those against affirmative action expect growth to take care of disparities. This is not borne out by the development experience anywhere in the world.
Europe and the US would not have reached current levels of development without investing in equity-oriented policies such as social security.
Hence, an approach that effectively focuses on India's backward and minority regions in India cannot be easily dismissed. A focus on Muslims can evoke a communal backlash only if the BJP wants that to happen. Muslims deserve special policy focus as a matter of right. The state is not doing the community any favour.