Parliament’s unanimous approval of the 104th Constitution Amendment Bill which clears the ground for restoration of caste-based, state government determined quotas in private unaided institutions of professional education- and perhaps extends them to private schools- on December 21, is a severe setback for the orderly growth and development of education in India.

In Inamdar’s Case (August 2005) the learned judges of the Supreme Court upheld the 2002 judgement of a 11-strong bench of the apex court in T.M.A Pai Foundation & Ors vs. State of Karnataka & Ors (2002 8 SCC 481) which decreed that all citizens have a fundamental right to “establish and administer educational institutions of their choice” without harassment and interference from the Central and/ or state governments.

Regrettably this well reasoned commonsense (majority) judgement attracted widespread criticism from the nation’s pampered, subsidies-addicted middle class, and even from within the court itself. Consequently the then chief justice of India V.N. Khare, constituted a five-judge bench to “clarify” the apex court’s judgement in the T.M.A Pai Foundation case. In the Islamic Academy Case (2003 SCC 697), a five-judge bench decreed separate state-level committees headed by retired high court judges to ensure transparency and merit in the admission processes of colleges of professional education, and to ensure that tuition fees levied were reasonable.

Following the judges’ committees sanctioning the re-imposition of government decreed quotas and adjudicating unreasonably low tuition fees, managements of unaided professional colleges appealed again to the Supreme Court for justice. In its well-considered judgement in Inamdar’s Case delivered on August 12, the seven-judge bench of the apex court upheld the ratio decidendi of the T.M.A Pai Foundation Case. It is the considered judgement of two full-strength benches of the Supreme Court of India which Parliament has nullified through the 104th Amendment.

Quite obviously in their haste to enact populist legislation, honourable members of Parliament have given insufficient consideration to two issues of overwhelming importance which portend a grave threat to constitutional stability and the future prospects of a growing number of young citizens countrywide readying to acquire professional qualifications.

In its landmark judgements in the T.M.A Pai Foundation and Inamdar cases, the learned judges of the Supreme Court implicitly reaffirmed that contemporary India is not a communist dictatorship in which government(s) can ride roughshod over the rights and liberties of individuals. To enact overriding legislation which would abridge a fundamental right through imposition of government mandated quotas and tuition fees upon education institutions promoted by citizens from their own legitimate savings, is a shocking denial of constitutionally mandated individual rights and freedom, and a clear case of an attempt to subvert the basic structure of the Constitution. 

Constitutional legalities apart, it’s crystal clear that the 104th Constitution Amendment Act which gives the green light to backdoor nationalisation, will discourage future private initiatives in professional education and exacerbate existing capacity shortages. 

 

Confronting irrational colour prejudice
Rooted in colonial history and proclaiming a national inferiority complex, contemporary India’s unapologetic colour prejudice is becoming a global embarrassment. Hitherto the subject of wry humour and social comment, the boldly stated preference of middle class India for pale, light-skinned brides, daughters-in-law and fashion models, has spawned an entire new industry which is setting new benchmarks in servility to western norms and insensitivity to the mass of the population.

Initial broadcasts of a new television serial Saat Phere (“Seven Circles”) detailing the trials and tribulations of a beautiful and accomplished young woman of Rajasthan unable to find love or marriage because of her dark complexion has attracted sarcastic comment in the US-based weekly Time (December 5), the world’s most widely read magazine with a global circulation of 5.5 million.

Unfortunately, the dismissal of this irrational colour prejudice as a non-issue by the intelligentsia has encouraged unthinking regressives in the film, television, advertising and glamour and fashion industries to force their traditional colour preferences and prejudices down the collective throat of Indian society. Moreover western consumer multinationals projecting western lifestyles and norms have been quick to cash-in on unchecked colour bias by introducing a range of fairness creams and skin-lightening products and services.

Almost a century after the end of the American civil war which was fought on the issue of slavery, in the 1960s prompted by two great presidents- John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson- the liberal intelligentsia and the teachers’ community in the United States became actively engaged in the Civil Rights movement to oppose widespread colour prejudice and discrimination against the Afro-American community in that country. This encouraged black Americans to raise their collective self-esteem and propagate their own standards and norms of beauty and socially acceptable behaviour. Since then mainstream America has been forced to revise its glamour and fashion norms and accommodate Afro-American fashion models, and mass media stars.

Actually across this subcontinent numerous communities, tribes and castes woo, win and marry compatriots of all skin tones and complexions without self-consciousness. The throwbacks who refuse to celebrate the diversity of Indian society, and have spread the poison of colour prejudice are the brain-dead badshahs of Bollywood and Indian television who are given not only to wholesale plagiarisation of western cinema, but of western glamour and beauty norms as well. 

From the viewpoint of developing national self-confidence, every mature society needs to set its own norms and standards of fashion, glamour and beauty to raise the self-esteem of its people. In multi-lingual, multi-ethnic Indian society, teachers need to teach children to celebrate the diversity and rainbow colours of the subcontinent rather than perpetuate the obsolete colour prejudices of the mimic men of Bollywood.

Also read: Shattering stereotypes