The conundrum that dotted the political landscape in recent times appears a tough nut to crack. The issue of reservation of jobs in the private sector couldn’t have come at more trickier time then now. The Government-Private face-off is all the more keenly watch because of the diametrically opposite rhetoric from both the camps.
While ideally, the two consortiums should be putting their heads together in matters of general interest, they will not hold their forbearance when their territory is being encroached upon. Theoretically, in neo-liberal parlance, the health of a nation hinges on its attitude towards market forces. India, after succumbing to the liberal ideology, has not had much choice but to let the ‘unseen hand’ of the market to do the manoeuvring. Market is supposed to be rational. It does not discriminate between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, only society does that. If someone gets richer, it is because of the ethics of the capitalist geist. After all, didn’t he get rich by sheer grit and determination and not by virtue of his bloodline? While skilled labour is preferred to unskilled and indisposed, market does not wantonly discriminate. Anyone who can afford a car is welcome to own one irrespective of his social standing. That market defines his buying capacity is too simplistic a conclusion to make. Matter-of-factly, market oft acts as a motivator by shoving a pauper to stage a ‘rags to riches’ story.
The globalising world has made nation porous thereby enabling free movement of labour and capital. Indian big business houses are now going places. And with competition heating up in the given scenario, they cannot afford to compromise on the quality of their product and manpower.
Thus, the Government’s reservation policy is being looked at with suspicion by the private stakeholders
Market plays through the precept of rationality and it has no place for triggered emotion. The competition for quality is getting tougher by the day, both within and without, the compromise of which will be akin to suicide. Private employers give their potential employee a level playing field. They look for the right mix of competence and experience across incumbents sans emotion and intuition
Having said that, it will not be an overstatement to say that socialism holds the key to neutralising aggressive market forces. Even the scion of the Leftist Empire, Marx, did not overlook this trend. He did not doubt that the superstructure defines sundry institutions. That change in the means and modes of production has a cascading effect on the structural components of society. And that False Consciousness is a fastening strap for manipulating the chariot rode by the capitalist. Only that capitalism is a self-defeating enterprise because of its inherent contradiction. The transition from capitalism to socialism was long debunked with the collapse of erstwhile Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the fetish with which the semantics of socialism is being overrated is evident across nation. One wonders if the inclusion of the term socialism in our constitution fetch a merit. Theoretically, socialism envisages the abolition of private ownership with the means of production communally owned. Perhaps, the exclusion of the term ‘capitalism’ needed rework.
All said and done, while following the aforementioned discourse, we cannot stand to miss the woods for the tree. The rate at which the economy is booming, thanks to businesses, the day is not far when the role of the state is confined to backyard mowing. With the foreground increasingly being fortified by the business houses via FII, FDI and Licence Permit Raj, it is only obligatory on the part of the privates to fulfil ‘corporate responsibility’. Even morally it is deemed fit to canonise noblesse oblige (nobility has its obligations). More conclusively, if both the Government and the privates simultaneously roll back from the social cause of providing jobs and social security, spontaneously then, we will have no option left but to turn to extra-constitutional forces like extremist underground and renegades. That is, unless the government refrains from the politics of expediency and hit the nail of its nemesis right on the head.
