Gen Z, you’re not woke enough

A seat opens Two students walk through the same college gates One arrives carrying generations of familiarity with higher education The other is the first in the family to finish school let alone enter university There are no guidebooks at home no one to explain what a credit system is or how to navigate a campus that was never built with them in mind They may have reached the same classroom but they did not begin from the same starting line Today if you search up images of Dalit or Bahujan community on the Internet all of them will be indicative of poverty and stereotypical village persons proving that we are still not talking about the caste system in the right directionPiciStockThat is the gap reservation attempts to address For many Scheduled Caste SC Scheduled Tribe ST and Other Backward Class OBC students admission is not the finish line but the first step in breaking an inherited cycle of exclusion Gen Z believed to be more liberal and woke than the previous generations is now riding on the momentum of the Cockroach Janta Partyrsquos successful agitation with a new Instagram page called Reservation Hatao Andolan The page has amassed more than 59 lakh followers within 10 days making it one of the fastestgrowing issuebased movements in the country The campaign urges supporters to replace the slogan ldquoAbolish Reservationrdquo with ldquoSupport Meritrdquo arguing that reservations undermine equality and educational standards while insisting that caste no longer determines opportunityA cartoon satirises reservation politics PicInstagramsnehalpsanathananThe numbers however tell a different story According to the 1931 Census which remains the basis for estimating the OBC population and the Mandal Commission Report 1980 OBC constitute roughly 52 per cent of Indiarsquos population The 2011 Census places Scheduled Castes at 166 per cent and Scheduled Tribes at 86 per cent meaning these historically marginalised communities together account for well over threefourths of Indiarsquos population Yet the Central reservation framework provides 27 per cent reservation for OBCs 15 per cent for SCs and 75 per cent for STs in higher educational institutions and Central government employment It is a combined 495 per cent in line with the ceiling laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney 1992 judgmentDhanashree Tayade a 22yearold queer Dalit individual in Mumbai says the speed with which the antireservation movement has gained traction among young people has been one of the most disheartening realities of the past week ldquoWe had a lot of hopes from the youth of this countryrdquo they say adding ldquoPeople expected Gen Z to be more openminded and informed about how caste works But supporting an andolan that demands reservation be discontinued is in itself a casteist position The Ambedkarite community I am part of understands this as yet another form of discrimination coming our wayrdquoRecent protests drew criticisms for the use of classist slogansFor Tayade the problem is having a refusal to acknowledge caste privilege ldquoNobody is ready to give up their own privilege to help an oppressed community The entire argument shifts to saying reservation should only be for economically weaker sections completely ignoring that caste and class are not the same thingrdquoOne of the posts by the Reservation Hatao Andolan page on Instagram PicInstagramreservationhataomovementThe idea that caste discrimination exists only in rural India is one they reject almost instantly Growing up and studying in Mumbai they say prejudice has followed them into classrooms rehearsal spaces and college offices ldquoThe moment people realise yoursquore from a Dalit family their perception of you changes Irsquove been told lsquoYou donrsquot look like a Dalitrsquo and lsquoYoursquore smart for a Dalitrsquo I had a breakdown in class because of how insensitive that sounded I donrsquot feel safe among these people and wersquore talking about the youth here What the older generation has said to us is a different storyrdquoDhanashree TayadeEven claiming benefits guaranteed under the reservation system they say is anything but straightforward To receive a scholarship worth Rs 6000 Tayade had to obtain a caste certificate and validity certificate requiring decadesold family records including their grandfatherrsquos fourthgrade school documents ldquoThe process takes years We submit nearly 30 pages of documents for such a small amount And when was I finally able to claim it Five years laterrdquoGen Zrsquos casteism is also indirect in nature hidden in jokes and humour PicInstagramlibasohelThe experience did not end there At the scholarship counter in college they recall being met with hostility instead of assistance ldquoThere was literal dust on the counter Thatrsquos how many people have come to claim the scholarship I remember thinking lsquoYahan pe koi aur Dalit hai ki nahi Is there any other Dalit person here or notrdquo they say almost angrily ldquoHe wouldnrsquot even look me in the eye or tell me his name because he thought I didnrsquot deserve to know it I cried that day while trying to claim my own scholarshiprdquoWhat the young have been saying on the Internet about reservation PicInstagramThese experiences expose a contradiction at the heart of the ldquomeritrdquo debate ldquoIf there are so many students competing for so few seats why arenrsquot people asking why we donrsquot have more colleges and better infrastructure Instead theyrsquore blaming the most oppressed communities for taking away opportunitiesrdquo Reservation they argue is about uplifting entire families who come from similar conditions and backgrounds ldquoWhen one person from our community studies hundreds of younger children back home see that and believe they can do it too It builds confidence But if society keeps telling you that you donrsquot deserve to be there eventually you begin to believe it yourselfrdquoThis is exactly why the rise of the Reservation Hatao Andolan is a disturbing social media campaign Gen Z might seem to fight for the seemingly right and liberal causes but ldquothey lack the understanding of the caste structure and its realitiesrdquo Tayade concludes disappointedly52Percentage of our population that belongs to OBC categorylsquoWe have to sit in our discomfortrsquoAryaman Kumar from a Savarna background talks about how unlearning casteism is the first step to resolving itUnlike many voices dominating the online antireservation discourse 23yearold Aryaman Kumar a Savarna from Delhi now living in Ranchi believes the first step towards addressing caste is acknowledging onersquos own privilege For him that realisation began with an uncomfortable conversation and willingnessto changeldquoI used to casually use the word chamaarrdquo he admits ldquoIt was my best friend who belongs to that community who told me it was being used as a casteist slur Thatrsquos when I realised how deeply casteism is embedded in our everyday language We say these things without even recognising where they come fromrdquoThat discomfort resurfaced during the recent CJP protests where slogans such as ldquoChai wala chor hairdquo echoed through crowds ldquoIt made me uncomfortable because it implied that someone coming from that background is inherently incapable of leading the country There are many reasons to criticise the Prime Minister but why are we resorting to caste or a seemingly lowpaying job If we claim to oppose casteism why are we using it as weapons to target the oppositionrdquoKumar believes much of Gen Zrsquos criticism of reservation stems from a poor understanding of why it exists ldquoThe ideal solution is to end casteism altogether but until that happens reservation is the fairest system we have It simply helps marginalised communities get their foot in the door Once you recognise your own bias you have to sit with that discomfort Thatrsquos the only way you begin to move beyond itrdquo27Reservation for OBCs in public higher education instituteslsquoIndia is no more an agrarian economyrsquoAuthor Yuvraj Pokharna explains why he rejects the reservation system to build equality in societyYuvraj PokharnaOffering a contrasting perspective is Yuvraj Pokharnaan activist and author of Hindutva for Gen Z ldquoI am completely against any caste whether forward or backward I believe we should move towards a caste and religionagnostic society rooted in Hindutva and with that do away with the idea of reservation exponentiallyrdquoPokharna argues that reservation was intended to be temporary ldquoDr BR Ambedkar himself wanted reservation to be a temporary measure for the upliftment of the allegedly oppressed communities Constitutionally removing it today is not as easy as it sounds but that should remain the goal for a casteless societyrdquoRejecting the idea that reservation goes with equality ldquoThose who chant lsquoJai Bhimrsquo are also weighing in for reservations But if you want an equal society then why talk about reservations It is not fair to the Savarnas eitherrdquoldquoDiscrimination is a part and parcel of every society but you cannot paint an entire civilisation as casteist Yoursquore telling me that for the past 3000 years the Brahmins have monopolised the education system just to end up as watchmen in metro citiesrdquo He believes Gen Z should not be judged ldquoWe are putting too much burden on them They are digitally native and donrsquot care about someonersquos caste or creed Once you fill that vacuum with Indian civilisational values I think concepts like caste sect and creed will become obsoleterdquolsquoWhat I see is caste blindnessrsquoDr Abhijit Khandkar a Dalit Ambedkarite brushes away the argument against reservation as a lack of educating oneself about the structure and impactDr Abhijit KhandkarAs someone who teaches Gen Z students every day Dr Abhijit Khandkar a Dalit Ambedkarite doctor cofounder of the Dalit poetry platform Reserved Compartment and corunner of the Ambedkarite Reading Circle in Mumbai believes the generation is far more exposed than those before it However it is an illusion that they are more casteconsciousldquoIt is possible that Gen Z is not as rigid but that does not dismiss the casteism one also sees among them It is not always outright What I see more often is caste blindnessrdquo The success of the Reservation Hatao Andolan reflects a refusal to engage with decades of scholarship rather than a genuine debate ldquoThere is so much material out there I would suggest people read it because this question is so done and dusted The burden of proof should not keep falling on us We should not have to keep explaining why reservation exists Reservation is not a poverty allievation program but for representationA comment made on one of Abhjiit Khandkarrsquos posts for speaking in support of the reservation systemldquoReservation is going to stay as long as caste is going to stay It does not work the other way around Speaking about caste doesnrsquot make one casteist People who say reservation is creating the divide know theyrsquore lying through their teeth They simply donrsquot want to let go of the privileges that come with their casterdquo he continuesDrawing from his own experience ldquoMost people including myself from the Dalit Bahujan community are first or secondgeneration learners and we have come this far because of reservationrdquo Even today he says representation remains limited ldquoI am a medical doctor Think about how many doctors who openly identify as Ambedkarite or Dalit are in private practice and receive patient referralsrdquoDespite his criticism Khandkar remains cautiously hopeful about the generation he teaches ldquoGen Z is not one homogeneous mass There is a better chance of them becoming sensitised to caste awareness than previous generations It is not easy and it is tiring but solidarities are built over time Rome was not built in a dayrdquolsquoOur schools donrsquot teach castersquoProfessor Yashwant Zagade explains that it is not the fault of Gen Z but the fault of educational systems in failing to teach casteYashwant Zagade teaching at Jindal Global Law School says the popularity of antireservation campaigns among Gen Z is less a reflection of the generation itself and more an outcome of how India has historically failed to teach caste ldquoIf you see the debate around reservation historically not only today but even from colonial times the popular perception has largely remained antireservationrdquo he says ldquoOur schools and colleges barring a few liberal institutions never really teach why reservation exists That bias has always been thereldquoWe are not even acknowledging the caste question Confronting it is the next step but unless we first acknowledge it we will never understand why reservation exists People donrsquot realise that reservation is no longer only about caste We already have EWS reservation for economically weaker sections There is simply a lack of understandingldquoWhen someone says lsquoI know a Dalit who owns a Mercedes while a Savarna drives an autorsquo they are looking at society through a very narrow lens Caste is a structural issue You cannot understand structural inequality through individual examplesrdquoAt the same time Zagade believes the reservation system itself is not beyond reform ldquoThere are genuine demands for subcategorisation within OBC and SC communities so that the most marginalised groups receive a fair share of benefitsrdquo He also argues that reservation in government employment has become increasingly limited ldquoThere are hardly any government jobs left The conversation today should be about extending reservation to the private sector and private universities because those are the spaces that are expanding but remain outside the reservation frameworkrdquo