THE job and social quota system has always been there and exists in one form or other in many countries.
India has a quota system for public service which is known as the 鈥榬eservations system鈥�, with a special focus on less developed social groups or castes. Around 15 per cent of the government jobs are, thus, 鈥榬eserved鈥� for scheduled castes, 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes, 27 per cent for other backward classes, popularly known as OBCs, and 10 per cent for economically weaker sections. In total, that is 59.5 per cent.
When the reservation system was first introduced in India, it also met great resistance, but over time, this has withered. However, unemployment is a major problem in India as well, but the quota system has not been a contentious issue there for long.
Nepal has a quota for 45 per cent of civil service jobs for women, indigenous community, Madhesi or plain-land citizens who are not from the dominant ethnic tribes, the dalits, people with disability and people from underdeveloped areas.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka also have reserved positions in government jobs for women, ethnic minorities and individuals from different regions.
So, the quota system is not an invention of Bangladesh but has become one of the most contentious components of the political and social life of the middle class. But, it is not the quota system but the categories and management of the same that is an issue.
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Quota system in Bangladesh
THE quota system was introduced in 1972 through an order but not an act of parliament. Between 1972 and 1976, only 20 per cent of the government officials were recruited on the basis of merit and the rest 80 per cent on quota. Merit-based recruitment was increased to 40 per cent in 1976 after the Awami League regime. This quota proportion continued till 1985, when it was further increased to 45 per cent. However, when 1 per cent was reserved for people with disabilities, the merit quota went down to 44 per cent. So, the proportion was 44 per cent on merit and 56 per cent on quota.
In 2018, there was a large-scale movement against the quota system. The reserved 56 per cent is split among 30 per cent for freedom fighters鈥� families and that is where the problem is. The 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for people from underdeveloped districts, 5 per cent for members of indigenous communities and 1 per cent for people with disabilities are much less causes for resentment and rage.
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Quota for families of freedom fighters
WHEN freedom fighter applications began to decline in 1996, the quota was opened to their children. In 2009, it was expanded to their grandchildren and most expect for it to go on and on as it provides opportunities for favour distribution and inclusion in the freedom fighters鈥� list.
In 2018, the government issued a circular abolishing the quota system for Class 1 and Class 2 jobs. However, the High Court in June 2024 said that the government order ending the quota was illegal, meaning the old system is back. However, the High Court has now added that the quota system can be reformed.
The problem is with the quota for the families of freedom fighters, not the other quotas as both the freedom fighter listing and identity have been widely misused. The list of freedom fighters prepared by various regimes is considered made up of real but many false freedom fighters as well. Thus, the credibility of the category is largely missing. Most freedom fighters were villagers and there is no direct evidence that they got their children educated and put them in line for civil service jobs. And fake freedom fighters are a fact of Bangladeshi life. And, most tend to support the current ruling party of the time.
The children and grandchildren of job-seeking freedom fighter families are considered government party, now the Awami League, supporters, making it a political issue as well. The result is that freedom fighters, quota and, even, the 1971 history have been hit and no longer have the positive image one would expect of a state birthing liberation war.
But what about old-fashioned middle class morality?
The facts about corruption in the public sector are so well known that it is not even discussed. Most people have no qualms about money-making, no matter how. And with it, has come the acceptance of corruption as the new normal. The current tally of freedom fighters contradicts numbers including those mentioned by the 1971 Armed Forces leader General Osmani and, in fact, the number keeps rising. It is well known that money has to be paid not just for PSC question papers but other informal fees for entering the service.
The ratio of applicants for public service jobs and the availability of the same also shows another dimension. It is 325,000 to 3,000 jobs making the chance equal to 1:100. So, it is almost impossible for the overwhelming majority to get a public service job. Yet, everyone tries and that shows desperation at the extreme level which is manifest in both the acceptance of corruption and the desperate and extreme attempts at joining the elite crowd.
What that translates into is the structural weakness of the state and its principal supporter, the middle class. Twenty-five million Bangladeshis have not waited for the government to bail them out with BCS jobs and they do not need the state government. They are by that sense free while the graduate, educated shushil middle class continues to both be angry and allegiant to the state which denies 99 of them and rewards only 1. It is a crisis that affects not just the middle class but the middle-class state itself.
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Afsan Chowdhury is a researcher and journalist.
