Quotas

There seems to be an obsession with quotas everywhere I look. Just this week, I’ve seen articles about quotas for Muslims, for SMEs, for SC/ST/OBCs. There are quotas in education and employment, in government procurement.

These quotas concern me on several levels and for a variety of reasons.

1. Quotas don’t make economic sense. Quotas say that, instead of spending taxpayers’ money on the best quality at the lowest price, we should instead use it to spread wealth around based on caste, religion, gender, or other factors. That means we spend more but get less. If people want to do that with their own money, that’s fine. But when the government spends, it’s not using its own money; it’s using my money and your money. Not only that, but the government uses money it’s taken through taxation by force. Of course, governments need money to function, but they should be careful that they get the best possible value for my and your money. Quotas make that impossible.
2. Quotas define people by their differences. In 1949, Nehru said, “If you seek to give safeguards to a minority, you isolate it… May be, you protect it to a slight extent but at what cost? At the cost of isolating and keeping it away from the main current.” He was right. India is a remarkably diverse society. Indians come from scores of ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural groups. In some societies, those differences become divisive and cause all sorts of tensions — even violence. However, in India most of the time, people live together peaceably, united by their common nationality. If we want that to continue, then defining people by their differences is counterproductive. Quotas are supposed to be about inclusion, but they actually perpetuate the opposite.
3. Quotas undermine people’s ability to achieve based on merit. When people are given advantages based on anything like caste or religion, it necessarily means that the importance of merit is reduced. People can’t necessarily count on getting the contract, or the job, or the place in college because they’ve worked hardest and done the best. They also have to hope that there are enough places left that are allocated to their particular group. And the reverse is also true, which leads to my next point.
4. Quotas make people suspicious of those they are supposed to benefit. Since it’s not just about merit any more, there are always questions about why people have the things they do. If we have a quota for Scheduled Castes, then anyone from a Scheduled Caste who goes to college has to face suspicion that maybe he didn’t really earn the right to be there. And those questions aren’t limited to the people around him. Even the student himself may question whether he really deserves to be there. That isn’t good for people, and it doesn’t encourage respect.
5. Quotas are tools of reverse discrimination. Governments should not discriminate based on ethnicity, religion, caste, or gender. They should be in the business of ensuring that all people have equal opportunity, not of granting advantages to one group over another. If it was wrong to discriminate against SC/ST/OBCs in the past, then it is also wrong to discriminate against everyone else now. If it is wrong to discriminate against a Muslim minority, then it is also wrong to discriminate against the Hindu majority. Discrimination isn’t ok because it’s against the larger, more powerful group. It’s still wrong for governments to choose some to have special advantages.

So whether it is quotas for religious groups in employment, quotas for SMEs in government procurement, or quotas for certain castes in education, I hope the government will rethink its policy. Only then can India hope to become a society in which all people, whatever their caste or creed, are free to live up to their full potential.