International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 76

Sources of diversity and the challenge before human resource management in India
C.S. Venkata Ratnam and V. Chandra
International Management Institute, New Delhi, India
Introduction The common refrain about India is that “it is such a diverse country whatever you say of it, the opposite is equally true”. “In India”, Stern (1993) observes, you will find “a society that has, like Europe’s, the diversities of a continent and the unities of a civilization”. Such is the measure of the magnitude of the nature of diversity in Indian society whose features Indian industry had inherited. Societal diversity is not an unmixed blessing for corporations and their management. It is argued that in India, generally speaking, the weaknesses of societal diversity such as caste, for instance, are superimposed on its business and industrial organizations and exacerbated. The marketplace and workforce in India are becoming more diverse every day. In fact, workplace diversity is considered a major challenge and opportunity for human resource management. It makes integration both difficult and easy depending on how diversity is viewed and used. The sources of diversity and its uses make a difference to what it means and how it impinges on organizational purpose and human behaviour at the workplace and beyond. Workplace diversity in India may have been partly inherited from centuries of customs and practices, partly imposed from colonial heritage and largely acquired through corporate omissions and commissions. They have implications for global competitiveness and for managing human resources/ industrial relations (HR/IR). The next section presents an exploratory analysis of the sources of diversity in India and its implications for human resource management. The third section reviews the experiences of select organizations. The final section offers broad conclusions about the major issues and approaches to coping with the emerging challenges during the 1990s and beyond. Sources/dimensions of diversity The sources of diversity are many in India where tradition co-exists with modernity. Here we discuss salient aspects of demographic, social-cultural, techno-economic and organizational factors that account for diversity in the Indian context.

International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 17 No. 4/5, 1996, pp. 76-108. © MCB University Press, 0143-7720

Demographic aspects Population characteristics. The population of India has grown from 238.2 million in 1901 to 361.1 million in 1951 to 846.3 million in 1991 (Table I) and over

Year 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991

Population (million) Male Female 120.8 128.4 128.5 142.9 163.7 185.5 226.3 284.1 353.3 439.2 117.4 123.7 122.8 135.8 154.7 175.6 212.9 264.1 330.0 407.1

Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) 972 964 955 950 945 946 941 930 934 927

Human resource management in India 77

Note: Sex-wise break-up of population of Pondicherry is not available for the years 1901, 1931 and 1941. The figures (male and female) for these years are therefore exclusive of Pondicherry population Source: Registrar General of India, Decennial Census Reports

Table I. Population by sex (all India)

940 million in 1996. The ratio of females to males has declined from 972 in 1901 to 946 in 1951 to 927 in 1991. Both birth rates and the death rates have been falling, the latter more steeply than the former (Table II). The life expectancy of males and females has more than doubled during the corresponding period, from less than 24 years in 1901 to over 57 in 1991. The density of population has grown rapidly since 1951 and nearly quadrupled in 90 years, marking an increase from 77 per sq. km in 1901 to 117 in 1951 to 274 in 1991. Analysis of 1991 census data reveals that the average family size among urban educated households is declining, with the extended joint Hindu family giving way, over the years, to the nuclear family consisting of wife, husband and immediate children. But the average number of dependants among these households is increasing due to migration of friends and relatives from rural households to urban areas in search of a livelihood. This is supposed to be increasing the interaction between rural and urban households in India and facilitating social change. Age. Table III gives data on age-specific labourforce participation rates for the population above 15 years of age during 1987-88 and 1990-91. The proportion of the population below the age of 15 is increasing among both males and females in urban as well as the rural areas. The exception, however, is with regard to rural males in the age group 60 and above. Age mix diversity is found in organizations which have a long history. Such diversity is more glaring in such companies which:

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Year 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991

Total Annual Birth population) growth rate rate (million) (exponential) (per 1,000) 238.4 252.1 251.3 279.0 318.7 361.1 439.2 548.2 683.3 846.3 – 0.56 –0.03 1.04 1.33 1.25 1.96 2.20 2.22 2.14 49.2 48.1 46.4 45.2 39.9 41.7 41.2 36.9 33.9 29.5

Death rate (per 1,000) 42.6 47.2 36.3 31.2 27.4 22.8 19.0 14.9 12.5 9.8

Life expectancy at birth Density (years) (population Male Female per sq. km) 23.63 22.59 19.42 26.91 32.09 32.45 41.89 46.40 54.10 57.7a 23.96 23.31 20.91 26.56 31.37 31.66 40.55 44.70 54.70 58.1a 77 82 81 90 103 117 142 177 216 274

Table II. Growth of population and changes in population characteristics

Notes: a Figures relate to the period 1986-90 Birth rates and death rates for the years 1901 to 1961 relate to Census estimates and for 1971 onwards correspond to Sample Registration Source: Registrar General of India: Decennial Census Reports; Sample Registration System

nearly stagnated for several years and suddenly experienced growth; are affected by mergers, acquisitions, etc.; and do not have a long-term human resource plan and did not have steady inflows/out-flows of personnel. Such diversity can be handled well by long-term human resource plans, steady recruitment and measures to check erratic trends in employee turnover, etc. The retirement age in the private sector starts from 55 years while that in the public sector starts from 58. Except in rare cases, the normal age of retirement does not exceed 60 years. In the past reduction in the age of retirement was considered at least partially useful in dealing with the problem of redundancy and unemployment. The Andhra Pradesh Government reduced the retirement age in the early 1980s and subsequently reverted to the previous one in the wake of popular outburst. One multinational agreed to introduce a pension scheme for its employees only on condition that the retirement age would be reduced by two years. But in recent years the situation has changed. In the 1996 elections several political parties vowed to increase the age of retirement ostensibly due to increasing longevity. The Vth Central Pay Commission is also expected to make a recommendation to this effect. Also, the existing pension scheme for government employees and the newly introduced pension scheme/or provident fund subscribers becomes viable only if the age of retirement is increased.

• • •

1987-88 Age group 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60 and above Male Rural Urban 63.0 91.8 98.1 99.0 99.1 98.4 98.2 96.2 92.9 67.0 42.9 79.2 96.7 98.5 98.9 98.6 97.7 94.4 84.9 48.2 Female Rural Urban 41.5 48.4 53.9 58.8 60.8 62.0 59.0 53.0 46.3 22.0 16.9 22.5 24.4 28.2 31.3 31.1 30.7 26.9 23.5 12.3

1990-91 Male Rural Urban 57.2 83.1 95.9 97.3 98.8 98.8 98.8 92.8 95.4 72.5 34.1 76.6 95.1 98.2 98.9 98.5 98.3 95.4 88.6 45.2 Female Rural Urban 37.6 45.0 51.1 49.4 43.5 51.9 56.7 44.8 39.3 19.3 12.5 19.8 22.8 25.0 28.1 29.1 26.6 30.4 23.4 10.3

Human resource management in India 79

All (15 years+) 87.9 81.0 49.6 23.9 86.2 78.9 44.9 21.5 Notes: The results of 46th Round (1990-1991) are based on thin sample Figures relate to usual status of individuals. Labourforce covers those involved in gainful activity regularly plus those involved in gainful activity occasionally plus those unemployed. The figures represent size of labourforce of a given age group as percentage of population of that age group Source: National Sample Survey Organisation: Sarvekshana, Special Number, 43rd Round; Sarvekshana, 46th Round

Table III. Age-specific labourforce participation rates for population above the age 15 years, 1987-88 and 1990-91 (all India)

Education. In India the majority of the labourforce is either illiterate or semiliterate. This is so even in urban areas and in industries which employ state-ofthe-art technologies in old, established industries. In greenfield sites and in new, modern, microchip based firms the scenario is changing, but there is no readily available hard data to substantiate this. Table IV shows the distribution of the labourforce for males and females by level of education in rural India based on the data gathered by the National Sample Survey (NSS). In 1972-73, 61.1 per cent of males and 91.6 per cent of females in the rural labourforce was illiterate. Over the next 15 years the literacy levels improved significantly. In 1987-88, the percentage of the illiterate rural male and female labourforce declined to 48.3 per cent and 82.3 per cent respectively. Table V shows similar data for the corresponding period for urban India. During 1972-73, the proportion of the urban male illiterate labourforce declined from about a quarter (24.8 per cent) in 1972-73 to less than one-fifth (19.6 per cent) in 1987-88 and that of the urban female illiterate labourforce from over two-thirds (67.4 per cent) to about one-half (51.8 per cent) during the corresponding period. The proportion of graduates in the urban labourforce has nearly doubled in respect of males and more than doubled in respect of females during 1972-73 to 1987-88.

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1972-73 Educational level Illiterate Literate but up to primary Middle Secondary Graduate and above Male 61.1 29.0 6.3 3.1 0.5 Female 91.6 7.1 0.8 0.4 0.1

1977-78 Male 55.0 30.8 8.5 4.7 1.0 Female 88.1 9.1 1.6 1.0 0.2 Male 52.1 29.2 10.8 6.4 1.5

1983 Female 86.2 10.2 2.1 1.2 0.3

1987-88 Male 48.3 29.6 11.6 8.4 2.1 Female 82.3 12.0 3.2 2.0 0.4

Table IV. Educational composition of labourforce (rural India)

Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Notes: Figures relate to usual status of individuals. Figures for the years 1972-73 and 1977-78 relate to population age 5 years and above while figures for the years 1983 and 1987-88 relate to the population age 15 years and above Source: National Sample Survey Organisation, 27th, 32nd, 38th and 43rd Rounds

In India the quality of skilled labour is good. The proportion of skilled labour in the total labourforce of the country being too small, there is a general dearth of skilled workers. Low literacy (52 per cent as per 1991 census) and skill obsolescence heightens the technological lag even in modern firms. The mismatch between acquired and required skills is evident by the rise in the educated unemployed on the one hand and the general dearth of skilled personnel on the other (Ratnam, 1994). The paradox of skills development in India was highlighted by Oxenham et al. (1990) in the following words:
1972-73 Educational level Illiterate Literate but up to primary Middle Secondary Graduate and above Male 24.8 37.2 15.0 16.6 6.4 Female 67.4 16.5 4.0 8.0 4.1 1977-78 Male 22.1 33.6 17.2 18.4 8.7 Female 58.2 17.9 6.7 10.8 6.4 Male 21.7 30.1 18.1 19.9 10.1 1983 Female 56.5 17.5 6.3 11.6 8.0 1987-88 Male 19.6 30.5 16.4 21.8 11.7 Female 51.8 19.0 7.3 12.3 9.6

Table V. Educational composition of labourforce (urban India)

Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Notes: Figures relate to usual status of individuals. Figures for the years 1972-73 and 1977-78 relate to population age 5 years and above while figures for the years 1983 and 1987-88 relate to the population age 15 years and above Source: National Sample Survey Organisation, 27th, 32nd, 38th and 43rd Rounds

India has, in effect, chosen to give more education at a higher price to a few who have already had more than average education, rather than work for sound education for all. The effect has been to have a trainable total workforce, and a flow of highly skilled people notoriously larger than the number of jobs available.

Human resource management in India 81

A firm level survey (Lawler et al., 1995) of 99 randomly selected large and medium sized firms in India during 1991-92 pointed to significant differences between private, public and multinational firms in respect of blue-collar and white-collar training. With increasing levels of literacy, the incidence of unemployment is also becoming higher among the relatively young (15-29 years of age) and the educated rather than the uneducated (Tables VI and VII). One of the reasons for this is that the poor usually do not realize the benefits of education or, even if they do, they feel that they cannot afford it. Also, they cannot usually remain unemployed because of poverty and the absence of any social security benefits. Therefore they normally accept employment on unilateral terms offered by employers or the State under various special employment schemes, even if it means sub-subsistence and sub-human levels of living. The personnel/human resource/industrial relations system which operates in a country is, to a certain extent, a reflection of the social system in which it operates. Diversity in the social system could be either divisive or synergic, depending on how it is viewed and used. Caste, religion, region, language, sex, age and other demographic aspects are among the sources of diversity in any
Age group 15-29 30-44 45-59 60 and above Total Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Year Rural 1977-78 1983 1987-88 1990-91 Urban 1977-78 1983 1987-88 1990-91

4.9 4.7 6.2 3.2

8.5 2.8 5.4 1.0

0.6 0.5 0.9 0.3

4.1 0.5 2.4 0.3

0.4 0.2 0.5 0.3

3.0 0.4 1.9 0.0

0.3 0.2 0.5 0.0

2.0 0.6 1.8 0.0

2.2 2.1 2.8 1.3

5.5 1.4 3.5 0.4

14.0 12.2 13.6 11.3

31.4 15.5 18.8 13.2

1.3 1.4 1.2 0.8

10.4 2.1 3.5 1.4

1.0 0.7 0.7 0.3

4.8 0.7 1.1 0.4

1.5 0.6 1.1 0.9

2.2 9.1 1.1 0.0

6.5 5.9 6.1 4.5

17.8 6.9 8.5 5.4

Notes: The results of 46th Round (1990-91) are based on thin sample The figures represent size of unemployment as percentage of labour force The figures of different Rounds relate to the usual principal status Total includes figures for ages 5-14 also Source: National Sample Survey Organisation, 32nd, 38th, 43rd and 46th Rounds

Table VI. Unemployment rates by age

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Educational level

Population based Male Female Rural Urban Rural Urban

Labour force based Male Female Rural Urban Rural Urban

1972-73 Below matriculation NA Matriculation 8.87 Graduate 17.33 1977-78 Below matriculation NA Matriculation 9.80 Graduate 17.56 1983 Below matriculation 1.18 Matriculation 7.76 Graduate 11.35

NA 5.69 6.77

NA 12.05 17.09

NA 6.13 9.84

NA 12.04 19.52

NA 7.95 7.81

NA 34.65 27.54

NA 29.32 24.11

NA 7.29 8.19

NA 15.43 24.89

NA 9.43 15.68

NA 13.02 19.72

NA 10.08 9.31

NA 45.84 44.81

NA 42.37 35.92

3.83 6.51 6.39

0.35 7.96 15.60

0.67 4.00 7.44

1.34 10.45 12.78

4.55 9.08 7.31

0.93 33.50 41.48

3.54 29.01 21.08

Table VII. Unemployment rates for educated persons (all India)

1987-88 Below matriculation 1.06 3.38 1.01 0.72 1.19 4.05 1.89 3.05 Matriculation 7.80 6.20 8.80 3.70 10.51 8.80 33.46 22.80 Graduate 13.50 6.40 14.90 7.90 14.98 7.40 37.30 21.01 Note: Figures relate to usual status of individuals. The figures represent size of unemployment of a given educational level as percentage of population/labourforce of that educational level Source: National Sample Survey Organisation, 27th, 32nd, 38th and 43rd Rounds

setting. Demographic changes affect several facets of organizations. Good management can contain the divisiveness that such diversity may contribute to, and instead, r-level varna system promote integration by accomplishing unity in diversity; bad management will exacerbate the same. In the Indian context, some of the sources of Indian tradition such as the nexus between caste and occupation based on the foum are superimposed on the organizational structures in the modern corporation. With the result we have four broad levels of hierarchy that broadly reflect the four levels of the caste system in Indian society: (1) Class I (senior managers); (2) Class II (middle and junior managers);

(3) Class III (clerical and skilled production and non-production workers, Human resource non-executive supervisors); and management (4) Class IV (unskilled production workers, sweepers/janitors, etc.); in India Earlier studies to the 1960s on the demographic profile of managers and workers in Indian organizations confirmed that while most of the Class I and II posts were the preserve of the so-called “upper castes”, Class III comprised 83 different castes in the Hindu social hierarchy. With the growth of the public sector, increases in literacy and the pursuit of affirmative action programmes for disadvantaged communities, the situation is now ameliorated to an extent, though differences based on traditional social classification are still dominant in civil and public services and large corporations, particularly in the private sector, which are not mandated to follow affirmative programmes. Socio-cultural aspects Religion. Religion has played and continues to play a significant part in the evolution of human civilization and culture. Religion comprises a set of organized beliefs that binds people in a close-knit society. India is a secular, multi-religious and multicultural country. The word Hindu simply meant Indian and has no religious connotation. The word Hindu may have came into use in the sixth century as the Persian rendering of the Indian word Sindhi – the Sanskrit name of the river Indus, when the territory round Indus formed part of the Persian empire. Hinduism emerged as a religion through the synthesis of Aryan and non-Aryan ideas. It is a liberal religion which believed in the oneness of the universe (Vasudaiva Eka Kutumbakam). Owing to difficulties with orthodox Hinduism, Buddhism rose as a challenge. Hinduism responded by sanctifying the Buddha as an avatar of Lord Vishnu, the God of prosperity. Conversions to Islam and Christianity spread in the wake of invasions by Muslim kings and European colonial powers. Hindus account for about 83 per cent of the population and Muslims another 13 per cent. All other religions together account for the balance, as per the 1991 census. In India it is quite common for people to express their identity by their sect. Communal consciousness and their political manifestations form an inseparable integral part of Indian culture. This is exacerbated by the geopolitical considerations in South Asia, the bloody separation of the subcontinent at the time India became independent and subsequent developments. India is the second largest country with a Muslim population and its relatively rapid rise, compared to the dominant Hindus, has been a source of concern among a section of the Hindus. The bloody partition of the country left deep scars between the peoples of India and Pakistan, with the majority of Hindus remaining in India and a sizeable section of Muslims in Pakistan. Even so, India at present has more Muslims than Pakistan. The border dispute between the two countries and the long-standing dispute over Kashmir occasionally leads to religious riots in some parts of India. The 1993 riots in Bombay, which is known for its

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cosmopolitan cultural mosaic, could be compared to the California riots in the wake of the beating of Rodney King (McEnrue, 1993). The effects on business and industry were similar, though varied in terms of proportion. There is a certain amount of occupational segmentation in some parts of India on religious and caste lines which creates difficulties for commerce and business in times of border disputes. For instance, in the wake of the Bombay riots, certain shops were closed for a considerable time and certain skills became rare and unavailable. Such problems surface not just on religious grounds alone. For instance, in the wake of a dispute over Cauvery river waters between the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the latter suffered acute shortage of masons and certain other categories of workers in the construction industry for some months as such workers mostly came from Tamil Nadu and returned to their home state in the wake of the disturbed situation on the borders. In the wake of mounting unemployment some states which are formed on a linguistic basis began to raise slogans such as “Mumbai for the Mumbiates” and “Assam for Assamese”. When the students’ agitation in Assam was at its peak, the public sector oil company was made to choose its chief executive and other senior executives from among those of that state alone. In private firms owned by Hindus it is unusual to find Muslims in senior managerial positions. Minorities have some special safeguards. Being a secular country, religious customs and personal laws of certain religions apply even if they are not in consonance with the prevailing laws of the land. Prayer breaks are necessary in organizations where Muslims are employed in large numbers, regardless of assembly operation, or continuous process. Caste. Caste has always been a major source of diversity in Indian society and therefore in Indian organizations. There are about 3,000 castes in India and each one is a social unit in itself, its structures and strictures differing in each case (Hutton, 1980). So strong is networking that even a change in religion does not alter an individual’s position in the caste structure. The recent controversy over extension of caste-based reservations to “Dal it” (underprivileged) Christians is one such manifestation. Even among Indian Muslims, caste groupings are known to exist. Several factors have contributed to the emergence and development of the caste system in India which, as Hutton (1980) states, led to “exploitation by a highly intelligent but by no means entirely altruistic hierarchy which had evolved a religious philosophy too subtle for the mass of the people”. The societal weaknesses of the caste system are superimposed in the organizational hierarchy. Srinivas (1952) seeks to explain the complex socio-religious system of Hinduism through the concept of horizontal and vertical “spread”. The spread of any cultural element is the area in which it is shared and the groups by which it is carried. Because of the complex social stratification in Indian society – stratification which, in a lesser form is characteristic of any complex civilization – the culture of different strata in one region or locality may differ considerably. However, the culture of the same layer of society in different regions may be

essentially similar; Srinivas calls this phenomenon “horizontal spread”. Human resource “Vertical spread” represents those cultural elements which are shared within a management geographical area, regardless of caste or ethnic divisions. in India The barbaric nature of the caste system is illustrated in the definition of scheduled caste (SC)[1] by the Mandal Commission[2] and the primitive character of certain groups – scheduled tribes (STs) – is exemplified by their 85 classification based on area of dwelling[3]. In India there has been an endless debate on whether caste is synonymous with class because of the intricate nexus between economic backwardness and social backwardness. Commitment to social equality. The Constitution of India allows affirmative action through reservations in education and employment. The Constitution also recognizes the principles of legal equality as a basic individual right. The directive principles of State Policy underscore the Constitution’s commitment to social equality. As Faundez (1994) observes, the main challenge the Supreme Court has confronted concerned “reconciling formal legal equality as an individual right with substantive equality as a right attached to a group or classes of citizens”. Articles 4-18 list the rights of equality under the Constitution of India which drew its inspiration fully from the Universal Human Rights Charter. Article 14 recognizes the fundamental right of equality before the law and equal protection of the law. Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, sex, caste or place of birth. However, it makes exceptions and special provision for women and children as well as for the advancement of backward classes of citizens or for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity and non-discrimination in state employment subject to the following three exceptions: (1) Parliament can make prior residence in a State a requirement for appointment. (2) The law may require a particular religious affiliation from persons seeking appointment to an office in connection with the affairs of any religious or denominational institution. (3) The State may reserve posts in favour of any backward class of citizens not adequately represented in the service of the State. The Constitution, however, provides for adequate, not proportionate representation. What is adequate representation, can be, and has been, a matter of debate and dispute. Article 17 abolishes untouchability. A separate law was enacted prohibiting the practice. Violation of the law is made a recognized offence. Article 18 provides that no title, apart from a military or an academic distinction, shall be conferred by the State. Affirmative action. The Constitution of India provides for affirmative action through job reservations and these are based on caste plus socio-economic

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backwardness. Governments – both central and state – have also fixed quotas for women, SC, ST, OBC, disabled, ex-army personnel, etc. in education and employment in the government sector. So far, such reservations are restricted to government run or government-aided institutions and not the private sector as such. On several occasions, to woo concerned interest groups, both the central and several state governments showed a tendency to increase the reservations for one or more sections of society to influence their voting patterns. Some states attempted to reserve more than 75 per cent of the positions in education and employment to certain groups. The Supreme Court has intervened, several times and insisted that the total percentage of reservations should not exceed 50 per cent. A sizeable proportion of scheduled castes which have embraced Buddhism and Christianity also qualify for such reservations. In recent years, however, there has been a clamour among political parties to extend such reservations to similar groups of people in other religions as well. During the 1994 elections to certain state assemblies, the Janata Dal party in Bihar promised 10 per cent reservations while the Congress party in Assam and Andhra Pradesh (as well as Karnataka) promised 24 per cent and 27 per cent respectively (Ahmed and Ansari, 1994). The 1996 general election manifestos of Congress, Congress (T) and Janata Dal, for instance, promised to extend reservations to Dalit Christians. Some parties like the Janata Dal have also promised to extend reservations to Muslims. During 1995-96, even Mother Teresa, a renowned social worker, was the subject of criticism over her alleged support for the cause of reservations for Dalit Christians. The president of the Bhartiya Janata Party, L.K. Advani, however, warned against the “shameless espousal vote-bank politics and pursuing of minority votes with reckless disregard for national interest and social harmony will sow the seeds of another Partition” (Ahmed and Ansari, 1994). All this happens despite the ruling of the Supreme Court in the celebrated case of M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore (1963). In this case the Supreme Court considered the fact that the notion of caste was inapplicable to non-Hindu groups. Using caste as a means of determining backwardness may be expedient and administratively efficient, but the beneficiaries may be individuals who need not necessarily be backward. Since preferential policies are exceptions to the formal rule of equality, the approach should be based on poverty rather than the mechanical notion of caste as such. In a subsequent ruling, it was conceded that, “…since social backwardness which results from poverty is likely to be aggravated by considerations of caste, poverty itself cannot be the sole factor determining backwardness – caste is also relevant” (Jayasree v. State of Kerala, 1976). On 13 August 1990 the Central Government issued an office memorandum (OM) in pursuance of the recommendations made by the Mandal Commission a decade earlier. This led to widespread youth protests, self-immolations and damage to private and public property. Writ petitions were filed as public interest litigation in the Supreme Court questioning the said office

memorandum. The three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court initially declined to Human resource intervene in the matter as the decision was a political one. But, in view of management unabated unrest a petition was moved on behalf of the Supreme Court Bar in India Association and a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court stayed in its order dated 1 October 1990 the implementation of the OM but allowed the process of identification of castes for identifying socio-economically backward classes 87 (SEBCs) to continue. Subsequently there was a change in government at the Centre following general elections in the first half of 1991. A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court sought to establish the stand of the new Government on the issue. The Government indicated its decision to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission and issued a new OM on 25 September 1991 replacing the earlier OM of 13 August 1990. The new OM sought to extend the reservations to economically backward class people among “forward” communities also. It sought to provide 27 per cent reservations for SEBCs and 10 per cent for other economically backward classes (OEBCs). This OM too was challenged and a nine-judge Bench declined, by a 6:3 decision, to vacate the earlier stay for implementation because the economic criteria were not specified. Six separate judgments were given on various issues (see Malik, 1992, for a detailed analysis and text of the judgments). Some of the important observations made by different judges in this case are presented in Appendix 1, with the names of the judges who made the observations shown in parentheses. Select court rulings on other aspects of the policy of job reservations are shown in Appendix 2. Abuse of reservations has been common. The Central Government has fixed 15 per cent reservations for scheduled castes (SC), 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes (ST) and 27 per cent for other backward castes (OBC). States can vary formulae while staying within the 50 per cent limit. (As shown in Appendix 3, both the Centre and the States have been abusing the system (Mitta, 1994a).) Notwithstanding the abuses, the progress made in affirmative action is impressive. Much progress has still to be made to make equality a reality. The public sector has been at the forefront in minimizing such biases (Jain and Ratnam, 1994). Literacy, industrialization, modernization and affirmative programmes (reservations in education and employment for backward and depressed classes) also contributed to breaking the nexus between caste and occupation. Caste, community and blood-relationship considerations impinge negatively on the personnel/industrial systems. The effects of socio-cultural factors in performance planning and review are significant (Dayal, 1976). In several large public enterprises it is not unusual to find different departments being dominated by people belonging to a particular region or caste. Even trade unions in certain metropolitan towns are beginning to be organized on caste lines. The employees’ associations of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and those for certain intermediate castes have greater solidarity among themselves than the traditional trade unions. The trade union movement in India was once dominated by the élite and caste Hindus. Over the years this has been changing and the social profile of the union leaders is broadly beginning to reflect the

International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 88

social composition of the workforce. Different political parties usually field candidates in general elections to the Parliament and the state assemblies’ candidates belong to the dominant caste in the constituency concerned. Election analysts confirm caste as a major deciding factor influencing voters’ choice. Gender. The Indian constitution (1950) seeks to establish an enlightened and egalitarian society. It gave its women adult franchise and property rights, equal access to education, and equal right to run for public office. The laws do not discriminate against women, yet the reality is different. The ratio of women to men is declining. In some sections of Indian society, female children are not welcome and scientific advances that contributed to predicting the sex of children before birth frequently led to female foeticide in some parts of India. Though women constitute roughly half the population the literacy rate among women is much less than that for men in most states. Table VIII furnishes data on the distribution of main workers by occupation and education and sex as per the 1981 census. The data are revealing in that the representation of women in various formal sector occupations is abysmally low. Women are predominantly engaged in informal sector activities where wages and working conditions are inferior, largely unsecured and mostly devoid of social security benefits. Women outnumber men in the primary (agriculture) sector, both in relative and absolute terms. India, barring certain exceptions in Kerala, some of the north-eastern states and a few tribal communities, is a patriarchal society. Until recently women were denied property and successor rights and, except in urban areas, they were housebound. While in traditional Muslim families women cover themselves fully and bar themselves from being seen by “others”, in some orthodox Hindu families there was a time when it was said, with some exaggeration, though, that the grandmother did not look at the face of her husband till the third child was born. Such expressions are made to convey how subservient women were to male domination in the past; that they took a long time even to maintain eye contact with their husbands. One other unique feature was that, in the past, women themselves perpetuated female subjugation and mothers-in-law often discriminated viciously against their daughters-in-law. Also, often one hears of mothers discriminating in favour of sons in poor families in terms of allocating family resources for education, food, etc. A widower could remarry, but a widow had to, until recently, sacrifice her life by placing herself on the pyre of her deceased husband or lead a life of rigour and sacrifice, shave her head, wear white clothes, eat tasteless food and deny all pleasures and comforts of life. Sex-based discrimination is rampant, though women and, to a considerable extent children too, constitute most of the breadwinners in rural areas and predominantly among the poorer strata of society. But, over the years, such barbaric customs and practices have been changing, due to the pioneering efforts of social reformers and progressive legislation. Courts have played a major role in ending sex-based discrimination. Several decisions on equal remuneration sought to expose and end sex-based discrimination in pay (Jain and Ratnam, 1996) and on other aspects[4].

Educational level

Occupation

Illiterate Person Female

Literate up to primary Person Female Middle Person Female Secondary Person Female

Graduate and above Person Female

Total main workers Person Female

44

523

63

585

133

3,212

753

2,551

452

7,044

1,445

12 0 530 959 530 3,374 97 1,759 22 2,145 23 400 7 1,007 3,374 2,052 30 97 190 1,034 1,759 866 21 22 39 3,719 2,145 778 245 23 18 1,559 400 86 176 7 3

452

7

345

4

859

13

578

18

2,365 7,330 10,194 6,749 10,194

54 472 679 1,209 679

0-1 Professional, technical and related workers 173 2 Administrative, executive and managerial workers 131 3 Clerical and related workers 11 4 Sales workers 2,516 5 Service workers 2,967 6 Farmers, fishermen and related workers 106,749 7-9 Production and related workers, transport equipment operators and labourers 14,115 X Workers not classified by occupation 1,217 3,212 234 38,027 51,129 4,141 17,588 852 427 27 203 9 327 19,906 10,958 795 4,381 187 3,932 106 14 1,279 312 106 5,975 8 7 674 33,698 2,320 4,308 291 222,517 44,973 127,919

Total

Notes: Excludes Assam Main workers are those who work for 183 days or more in a year

Source: Registrar General of India, 1981 Census, General Economic Tables (B-21 and 22) – Part (iii)-B (vi)

Human resource management in India 89

Table VIII. Distribution of main workers by occupation, education and sex, 1981 (all India, thousands)

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Until the 1970s, the government’s approach towards women was one of munificence. Since the 1970s there has been a shift in approach from “welfare to development”. The Sixth Plan (1975-80) focused a chapter on women, recognizing their potential as agents of development. Subsequently, central government and several state governments have set up commissions to study the special problems and potential of women and set up separate departments at state level and statutory committees at district level for women and child development. Reservations are announced for women’s representation from the level of the Panchayat to the Parliament as well as in public employment. As in many other fields, here also, however, implementation lags behind the intent. Education and urbanization are slowly changing the scenario. The percentage of females joining the workforce increased from 14 per cent in 1971 to nearly 23 per cent in 1991. But their representation in decision-making roles continues to be low, as indicated in an empirical study of media organizations (see Table IX) (Patel, 1994). Symbolically, women are now employed “everywhere” except in men’s rooms. Women are becoming the kind of men they wanted to marry. Their own ambitions have been realized, not vicariously through husbands or even children (Jain, 1992). But in terms of the broad patterns of employment,

Doordarshan AIR Female Male Female Male Senior staff Director general Deputy director general Senior postsa Managerial staff First level Second level Third level Total Advisory committees Board of management Board of governors Total

Others All Female Male Female Male Total

1 1

1 2 8

1

1 1 10

4 13 6 40 28 112 38 165 (18.7) (81.3)

15 21 25 61 (5.8)

173 386 424 983 (94.2)

3 12 2 34 5 49 10 95 (9.5) (90.5) 3 36 4 77 7 102 (6.4)

22 198 220 29 460 489 58 585 643 109 1,243 1,352 (8.1) (91.9) (100) 3 36 39 4 77 81 7 102 109 (6.4) (93.6) (100)

Table IX. Women as decision makers in media organizations

Notes: a As positions among senior staff vary in the other media organizations, the total number of senior staff is presented Figures in parentheses are percentages of the total number in a specific organization(s) Source: Patel (1994)

traditional sexual division of labour is pervasive. As discussed in the next Human resource section, some employers have got over the “males for sales” syndrome and allow management not only young females but also housewives to pursue a career. However, in India women continue to face a number of hurdles[5]. Jain (1992) asserts that the middle class in India wants more out of life: an extra holiday, a flat, a Maruti car, Nike shoes for the children. So young women 91 are being coaxed into the workforce by their parents or husbands. Jain found that nearly 20 per cent of the Sunday matrimonial advertisements are for working wives. “A change of heart is on its way”, according to management consultant Sushil Chandra (quoted by Bhargava and Herr, 1996, p. 157), “as employers’ own daughters go out to work and as younger men grow up watching their own strong, articulate working mothers. Till then, women want only considerations, not concessions; alternative night shifts instead of three in a row, a notice before travel, and so on”. Anjali Hazarika observed that most women are both family and career oriented and therefore familial issues like child-care and flexible work schedules should be seen not just as women’s issues, but also business issues. Some organizations like the NIIT, for instance, offer half-day jobs and special allowances for new parents to take a threewheeler autorickshaw (instead of a bus) to check on the baby during lunch hour. A few Indian companies started giving voluntarily, parental leave, in addition to statutory maternity leave. A number of non-governmental and international organizations have started conducting a series of programmes on gender sensitivity, dealing with sexual harassment, etc. During 1996 alone, in two central universities in Delhi, one professor was dismissed and another suspended on charges of sexual harassment. Bhargava and Herr (1996) identify the following best practices in their survey on corporate approaches to managing gender bias: • Rid the mostly-male top management of its inherent prejudices against women. • Accept the fact of maternity and help women employees through it. • Root out masculine intimidation by establishing redressal forums. • Offer both women and male managers flexible working hours and workfrom-home options. • Regard women managers as an investment which will be repaid only in the long term. Language The total number of languages spoken in India is a matter of debate. The 1961 and 1971 censuses listed 1,652 languages as mother tongues spoken in India. These were grouped by linguists into 180 languages that evolved from the following six different ethnic groups that entered India since the dawn of civilization: Negroid, Austric, Sino-Tibetan, Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and others.

International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 92

The 1981 census lists languages each spoken by over 10,000 people. The number of languages listed, therefore, came down from 180 in 1971 to 112 in 1981. The Constitution of India (Eighth Schedule) recognized 18 languages. Till 1992 only 15 languages[6] were included in the Eighth Schedule. The 77th amendment to the Constitution in 1992[7] facilitated the inclusion of three more languages to this list. Article 343 of the Indian Constitution provides that the official language of the country is Hindi, but English could be used in communications for a period of 15 years after Independence. Though it is nearly 50 years since Indian independence, due to various circumstances, English is still used extensively in official communications. Hindi was chosen as the official language because it is spoken by most of its citizens. Nearly 50 years later there are still problems in having a national consensus and acceptance of Hindi as the official language. Some southern states, particularly Tamil Nadu, vehemently opposed the imposition of Hindi as the national language[8]. In 1956, the States in the Indian Union were reorganized on the basis of the principal language spoken. The ethnic diversity in India is shown through the principal languages spoken in its various linguistic states. Within each linguistic state, further variations are discernible. The social structure, religious practices, art, culture, dress, diet, customs and practices vary among and within each linguistic state. Therefore, there are demands for further truncation of several states. Language is one of the principal rallying points and a powerful symbol of identity in many of the ethnic movements that the country has witnessed since the 1970s. Linguistic diversity is today beginning to be seen by scholars as a pedagogic resource that can engender learning within classrooms rather than act as an impediment to education. Encouraging children to talk using languages with which they are most comfortable as well as their own cultural experiences is seen to facilitate expression and communication of ideas, and to motivate reading and writing… Early imposition of the dominant language and an abrupt termination of the home language in school would be detrimental to the development of children’s learning abilities (Nambissan, 1994). An average child in urban India is exposed to more languages before completing schooling, than children in most other parts of the world. The children of migrant parents are usually compelled to speak the mother tongue at home and the regional language or English at school. At many schools, children from the fifth to eighth standard are usually compelled to learn three languages simultaneously, in addition to the mother tongue at home. The latter is considered important by most parents to preserve cultural and linguistic identity. Though youngsters, normally, have greater skill in learning new languages, it usually puts a tremendous burden on them and often obstructs or distorts their communication skills[9]. Also, in the globalized environment, as they ready themselves for a career, they are told that learning one or more foreign languages could give them additional edge.

Imposition of one particular language as the official language at state level Human resource and as the main medium of instruction in most state-run schools serves as a management barrier because even within a state different people in different regions, districts in India and villages speak different languages. Tribal communities form the majority of linguistic minorities in the country. Though they comprise less than 8 per cent of the population they speak around 400 mother tongues that are 93 regrouped into about 100 languages. Twenty-five of these languages have only 50,000 speakers each in a country with over 900 million population. The criticality of language as a medium of instruction and transactions (official, commerce, etc.) can be seen from the fact that the percentage of the population that speaks non-scheduled languages has declined from 12.7 per cent in 1961 to 3.84 in 1981 (Malayala Manorama, 1995). Linguistic differences adversely impinge, to an extent, on labour mobility. Concern for preserving a larger share of jobs for locals – particularly in public employment – was aggravated because of glaring regional disparities, assertion by regional forces, the short-term political calculations of governments at the state level and other parochial considerations. Knowledge of a regional language is considered essential in recruiting managers – particularly personnel and industrial relations managers at junior and middle levels. Ethnic diversity in India is shown by the principal languages spoken in its various linguistic states. Within each linguistic state, further variations are discernible. The social structure, religious practices, art, culture, dress, diet, customs and practices vary among and within each linguistic state. Institutions for promoting diversity India has set up, through separate Acts of Parliament, the following five commissions to deal with relevant issues of diversity: (1) Human Rights Commission; (2) National Commission on Women; (3) Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Commission; (4) Backward Classes Commission; (5) Minorities Commission. Subsequently several state governments have also set up commissions for minorities, other backward communities and women with a view to recommend, formulate and implement measures. Over the years, these commissions have been acquiring greater judicial power. The 1996 general election manifestos of several parties promised that if they formed the government they would give statutory powers and improved resources to the Human Rights and other commissions. Some, like the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Commission, already have vast powers. The Commission is supposed to oversee the implementation of the legislation banning untouchability (an abhorrent practice based on archaic notions of the past that people belonging to certain castes are “polluting” in nature and

International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 94

therefore they are untouchables). Twenty-five per cent of the members of parliament and various state legislatures belong to these caste groups and in times of need, cutting across party affiliations, they can and have been extending support to the causes that this Commission is supposed to subserve (Jain and Ratnam, 1994). Though the SC and ST Commission is a non-judicial commission, it is given the powers of a civil court. Techno-economic, legal and organizational aspects Parallel co-existence of different technological ages. In India modern technologies co-exist with old technologies. Support and subcontracting apart, for a variety of other reasons a multitude of linkages between the formal and informal sectors of the economy provide glaring paradoxes: islands of prosperity amid filth and squalor and manual workers and white collar workers at the same cargo terminal, etc. The key workplace diversity issue here is the parallel coexistence of different technologies juxtaposed with one another in close proximity where people differ not only in terms of making things and earning their livelihood, but also how they live their lives. There are other types of problems also which are peculiar to third world countries. For instance, an unskilled worker in a high-tech firm works in an airconditioned environment for eight hours. The remaining 16 hours he spends in a climate of 41 degrees temperature. In an electronics firm there is a 15 minutes cleaning off process through air filters before a person enters the workshop at the start of the shift operation. But during the day if the person goes out for a break and returns to the workplace the same “purification” process may not be repeated. These are perhaps cultural issues in an organization context. But the phenomenal diversity between the organizational environment and the outside social environment has immense implications for workplace governance arrangements. Individual and regional economic imbalances. India is a rich country of poor people. Rao and Natarajan (1966) bring out the glaring differences in income and consumption patterns in India by their five-tier description of the Indian market: (1) The very rich: 1 million households (6 million people). (2) The consuming class: 30 million households (150 million people). (3) The climbers: 50 million households (275 million people). (4) The aspirants: 50 million households (275 million people). (5) The destitutes: 35 million households (210 million people). Rao and Natarajan made the above classification on the basis of their ownership of consumer durables and consumption of non-durables. They estimate that 25 per cent of Indian households live in poverty. Significantly they found that:
Similar incomes in different parts of the country do not represent similar levels of purchasing power. The goods and services which people buy, as well as their prices, vary a great deal around the country. In big cities, the cost of transport and housing are very high compared to

smaller towns or cities. There are also additional costs because of the need in larger towns or cities to conform to peer levels in terms of dress, furniture, etc. This requirement declines in small towns and is almost non-existent in villages. That is why we prefer to conceptualize the structure of the market on the basis of consumption rather than merely incomes.

Human resource management in India 95

Even the world bank has begun to rank countries not only in terms of the per capita income measured in, say, dollar terms, but also in terms of purchasing power of the money. Regional imbalances have become accentuated in some parts of India, over the years. This produced social movements where frustration led to violence and violence is countered, often with the use of force by the various arms of the state, including the bureaucracy, police and even the army on occasions. Over the years, it produced unstructured situations in several states where not only managements and unions, but also the local district and state administration lost control. Unemployment and poverty led to pressure for employment of locals, even at the level of chief executive in central government companies. Several all-India corporations have been affected by prolonged disturbances and regional struggles leading to occasional kidnapping and killing of key executives, expatriate experts and trade union leaders. In these companies, transfers and promotions on an all-India basis have become a major problem. Legislation. The plethora of legislation resulted in diversity in its applicability at enterprise level. For instance, consider the case of the stateowned public sector steel company, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), which has plants in more than four states and marketing operations throughout the country and abroad. Regular production workers and other non-production workers in all the plants are covered by the Industrial Disputes Act for the purpose of resolution of collective disputes, etc. They are covered by the Factories Act, for provisions concerning safety, working environment, etc. The company owns mines which are covered by the Mines Act which has separate provisions for working conditions, safety, etc., of those employed in the mines. The company runs hospitals, educational institutions, etc. for its nearly 230,000 workforce. Those employed in hospitals and educational institutions are covered by a separate law. The company engages contract labour for various operations in different plants and various other locations. Such workers are governed by the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act. The company (SAIL) has over 220 trade unions. Production workers, office staff, supervisory staff and professional employees up to senior management staff (two levels below the Board of Directors) are unionized. Even the trade unions of professional employees that organize senior executives are euphemistically called officers’ associations. Most of the 220-plus trade unions are affiliated to nearly 18 “national” federations of trade unions. The recognition of trade unions by the employer is governed by different state legislations where the plants are located. At the national level, the Trade Unions Act, 1926 merely provides for registration of unions throughout the country, but not their recognition. In a few states there is no separate legislation concerning recognition of trade unions by the employer.

International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 96

In those states, the matter of recognition was left to be decided between the plant level management and plant level unions, subject to, sometimes, some guidance from corporate management at the headquarters and the concerned national federations of trade unions. For many years, the recognition of trade unions in various mines owned by the SAIL was governed by a tripartite declaration called the Code of Discipline (1957). But even the Code of Discipline became virtually defunct. Even where laws were enacted by the Central Government, their administration is in the hands of the state governments concerned, except in public utilities like the Railways, Post and Telegraphs. The approach of the state governments varies from state to state, depending on the specific aspects of the situation and the central-state relations. A company owned by Central Government, receives one kind of response in an oppositionruled state and another in a State Government where the same party that rules at the central level is in power. Even the response of the local and state level judiciary to similar problems in different states can be different. For instance, in respect of a central government owned refinery an issue relating to a dispute raised by contract labour working in the canteens of two plants of the same company located in two different states was referred to the High Courts in the respective states. The High Court in one State upheld the management view while the High Court in the neighbouring State vindicated the stand taken by the union. Management processes and diversity. Often the diversity one sees in the response to certain specific actions is attributable to the management process of introducing changes, planned or otherwise. For instance, in one South Indian company, the owner’s son, who is the deputy managing director, combined the officers’ and workers’ canteens, on returning from a western management school. He did this without consulting the workers and their union. The workers complained that, “lunch time is the only time when we get the opportunity to meet and express our views freely and even this the management has deprived by letting their agents [i.e. the managers of the company] encroach and pry on us at our dining tables”. In another case, when a US oil company became a government company in the mid-1970s, the Indian managers wanted a separate canteen for themselves to which the public sector management readily agreed. The workers in that company began to complain that “the white [US] Sahibs did not mind having lunch with us, but the native, brown [Indian] Sahibs have an aura of superiority about themselves”. In a third case, when an Indian entrepreneur, a vegetarian, acquired ownership and control of an erstwhile multinational corporation in Bombay, one of the first things he did was to order that only vegetarian food was to be served in the canteen. The workers who enjoyed the facility of non-vegetarian food till the previous day did not like it, resented and resisted the move, but did not create any impasse as they understood the religious sentiments of the entrepreneur. Structural adjustment reforms and diversity. As a result of structural adjustment reforms introduced in the economy since July 1991, restructuring is taking place at macro, micro and meso levels. The macro level reforms covering

various facets of corporate governance (legal, fiscal, monetary, licensing, and Human resource other regulatory arrangements) have led to sectoral reforms at industry and management enterprise level. Mergers and acquisitions are taking place on a scale that was in India unprecedented in the post-Independence era. These events have added a new dimension/source of diversity in Indian enterprises. For instance, when the New India Bank merged with the Punjab National Bank in 1993, the major issue was 97 a loss of identity for the employees of the New India Bank. Since it was felt that the New India Bank had surplus staff in its headquarters and the headquarters itself has become redundant more than 1,000 officers and other staff were transferred out of New Delhi. This was perceived as being discriminatory by the employees of the New India Bank who are already suffering from the loss of identity. Hectic collective bargaining and a maze of court cases followed and discontent continues. Nationalization and diversity. In the late 1960s and mid-1970s when about 20 banks were nationalized, the government decided to have uniformity in their pay, benefits and service conditions. It appointed a special committee (referred to as the Pillai Committee, after its Chairman, Mr Pillai) to recommend on the related matters. Though it was not easy, eventually, after protracted negotiations with the bank employees’ unions and bank officers’ associations some semblance of uniformity was finally achieved. However, in two other sectors where nationalization took place, there was stalemate. When Esso and Burmah-Shell were taken over by the Government to form a new Corporation called Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in the late 1970s, the Government wanted to make the service conditions of the employees of the BPCL the same as other oil companies in the public sector. There was stiff resistance from the unions. Finally, as a unique case, the Government had to introduce a special Bill in Parliament and enact legislation concerning service conditions. The employees of BPCL, however, have not taken kindly to the situation and had moved the court. Ten years later the matter still (April 1994) had to be resolved. In the early 1970s over 200 coal and coking coal companies were signed from 1974 to date (April 1994) and the fifth one became due on 1 January 1993. Since 1974, the government tried to evolve uniform standing orders for the coal miners in all the collieries that now form part of the holding company, Coal India Limited and its subsidiary corporations. Owing to the enormous diversity and complexity of the situation in different mines within and among various subsidiaries (until 30 May 1996) there were no uniform standing orders. Collective bargaining and diversity. Collective bargaining is increasing diversity at the workplace, in the wake of adjustment reforms. Two-tier wage systems are becoming the norm in western India through wage settlements. The workers’ unions in the metropolitan cities have been, in several cases, gaining higher emoluments for existing employees and relatively lower emoluments to those who are newly recruited either in the same workplace or at different plants. Some of the collective agreements signed in recent years also provide for weighting allowances and benefits for seniority of service. Also,

International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 98

some benefits are linked to attendance. Whether this will bring disunity among trade unions and workers remains to be seen. Company practices/experiences In this section we review the special features, problems and approaches of six organizations in regard to diversity. They provide insights into the complex and diverse range of problems and approaches already underway. It must be added, though, that diversity is still considered even by decision makers in many organizations as a US issue, not an issue that concerns Indians. Electronics company This is a US-based firm with extensive operation throughout Asia. This is the first company in India to have a Diversity Training Manager for South and South-East Asia at Vice-President level. The company believes in “Creating an inclusive work environment that values and benefits from different human attributes, experiences and skills at all levels, and enables all employees to develop and contribute to their full potential”. The company has a three-stage programme on diversity management. Stage I is the creation of awareness with top management commitment. Stage II is the creation of an inclusive climate. Stage III is where the company and executives set goals and targets and work towards their realization. The focus here is on the identification of diversity dimensions, establishment of matrices and goals covering aspects such as workforce profile, hiring data, promotions data, attrition data, employee satisfaction and formal complaints and grievances. Diversity learning in the organizations will be reflected in employment practices, with due emphasis on seeking work-life balance. When the company began to share its concern and plans for diversity management, the initial response even from senior managers was one of disbelief. Most considered it to be a “US” issue and not the one that concerned “us”. It was not seen as a business need. In less than two years, however, there is a welcome realization that diversity is critical to business success in all functions, all levels and all businesses. Hotel chain This is the hotel chain of a highly diversified company which is part of a British multinational. The Indian company’s business growth and diversification successes surpassed its parent company’s records in the past two decades. The company has hotels in metropolitan areas as well as semi-urban places of cultural heritage and tourist importance. Workforce diversity issues are considered more of a problem in its semi-urban locations than in metropolitan areas. For instance, in one of the five star hotels in northern India and another in southern India located at places where feudal attitudes are still pervasive and caste differences critical, the interplay of informal caste groups significantly affects interpersonal relations, work assignments, supervision and discipline,

among others. This bred division and dissent among employees of different Human resource caste groups. In one location, several people belonging to a dominant management community in the region were hired for junior positions as well. The hotel faced in India immense problems in making such employees undertake certain tasks considered to be menial. Also, disciplining such employees became a problem because any action against an employee belonging to a dominant community 99 was considered as aggression on the community itself. It is difficult for any manager who is perceived to be prejudicial to the dominant community to survive. It took a long time for the hotel management to deal with the problem, but before they could do it, they had to do some ethnic engineering by way of creating more balanced workforce diversity, over the years. In the other location, the employees belonging to castes considered “low” are prevented from consuming food with employees belonging to other castes with notions that their castes are “high”. They do not share the same dining table in the staff dining area, and are prevented from using common cutlery or serving themselves from the dishes laid on the serving table. A “high” caste person serves them and the supposedly “low” caste persons take a used paper instead of a bone china plate that all the others use, hold it before the person in charge of the service table, collect the food as if seeking a biksha (free food rather than entitlement as a company perk), go out to the open fields, take shelter under a tree and eat, often, in the company of stray dogs and other animals or birds and subjected to the vagaries of the weather that could be either extremely cold or extremely hot. For many years, such humiliating treatment was tolerated. But over the years, awareness levels improved due to television, press and other media. Before, such practices led to ugly incidents pitting one group of internal customers against another, the management became sensitive and initiated measures gradually to remove such abhorrent practices. Initially, a separate table was laid in the dining area itself where such employees were encouraged to eat and some senior executives belonging to other caste groups also ate. A few weeks later, the employees considered to belong to “low castes” were asked to serve food to other caste groups. The latter were told that the hotel could not tolerate discrimination any longer because they not only conflicted with the value system that the hotel wanted to encourage but it was also unlawful. The employees, of course, had the freedom not to eat. In the beginning there was resistance and grumbling, but, after a few months, people became used to it and everyone began to eat together. Another hotel chain Company C has several five star hotels in various locations throughout India. It is one of the few in the services sector which positively discriminates in favour of women in terms of recruitment for several positions. Its advertisements seeking applications for various jobs invariably mention the following: • We take special care of our women employees.

International Journal of Manpower 17,4/5 100

• • • •

We provide crèche, nursery and other day care facilities to the children of our employees. We allow periodic breaks during a working day to let mothers take care of their infants. We have separate rest rooms for women. We provide escort facilities to women who enter or leave office after dusk and before dawn.

USV Ltd Till recently the “males for sales” syndrome was pervasive in India. The only exception is vendors of fish and vegetables, and door-to-door selling of consumer goods like detergents, cosmetics, etc. In recent years, several pharmaceutical companies have started opening up sales representative positions to women also. One such company, USV Ltd, advertised for lady medical communicator positions exclusively for housewives with a BSc in biological sciences and in the age group 30-40 years. An excerpt from the advertisement is:
Once upon a time you passed your BSc with Biology or Chemistry. You thought of a career in marketing or medical field. Suddenly something went nice, you got married, you liked him, he liked you, then there was an addition in your family, you were occupied, you grew in responsibility…10 years flew like a dream, you are now 35 maybe 40. Today you think you have missed something you always wanted to do. We at USV Ltd think we can help you to use your talents and the sense of responsibility at the same time you earn handsomely. The Job: Four hours a day at your convenience and moreover, there is no boss, no train travelling, no latemark. It means there is no office. On top of it you earn Rs.3,500 (The Hindu, 1996).

State Electricity Board This is a state government undertaking engaged in the production and transmission of electricity. Recruitment in this company is based on marks in the qualifying examination, seniority in the employment exchange register and position on the caste roster (nearly two-thirds of the positions are filled through caste-based reservations in this state). There is no written test. The interview is a mere formality to verify the certificates. The medical test also is usually a formality. Over the last few years several women were recruited. When several of these women were posted to rural areas as junior engineers, they found it extremely difficult to get rented accommodation for their stay because in rural areas it is difficult for unmarried or single working girls to get accommodation. Also, during the night, women engineers were finding it difficult and dangerous to venture out and attend to emergency duties like transformer breakdowns, etc., without a proper “male” escort. Media organizations An empirical study (Patel, 1994) on employment patterns in media organizations – Doordarshan (Government run Television Corporation and All India

Radio) – reveals that despite some increase in recent years, the employment of Human resource women at all levels has been abysmally low. Doordarshan as a relatively newer management broadcasting organization appears to have a slightly better representation of in India women than All India Radio (AIR). Nevertheless in both organizations women lag behind men in terms of employment. Gender composition of the workforce in these organizations is pyramidal. 101 With the exception of a very few women in senior positions, women continue to be denied an effective role. Most women employees are concentrated in “feminine” occupations and in the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy. For instance, representation of women in jobs directly related to programme production is far from satisfactory in Doordarshan and AIR. The absence of women in key positions dealing with decision making in programme production (Table VIII) implies that women have limited power in changing gender bias of media content. To ensure improvement in women’s employment in the public broadcasting system, the study makes the following recommendations: • Create a database on women’s employment in state-owned media organizations in order to monitor the gender composition of the media workforce and influence recruitment policies and practice. • In-house training and retraining of women media professionals is also essential to enable women to achieve competence in the fields that they have been denied. • Gender-sensitive training is crucial for all media professionals in male dominated media organizations. • Systematic research is required on women’s participation in media organizations in order to influence employment policies and change the organizational work culture and practice. Managing in the 1990s and beyond Until the early 1980s, the dominant notion in Indian industry was that “differences are only skin deep” and the underlying homogeneity is what really matters. The 1990s saw a different trend. Today, diversity is not merely a challenge, but also affords opportunity (Fernandez, 1993). People who feel and consider themselves as the “odd” persons in the team should feel welcomed in the workplace and their differences should not only be recognized but also valued. In this paper an effort is made to consider diversity in a much wider sense than is the normal practice in the academic literature on the subject. Diversity at the workplace is not merely a function of demographic dynamics and differences but also the divergent elements within the social system. In third world countries, divergence between the organizational environment and social environment of the community in which the employees live and spend a greater part of their worklife accounts for further complexity in understanding the diversity phenomenon. Also, diversity at the workplace can be heightened

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or reduced through the kind of institutions in the society in which the organization functions. The major challenge of diversity concerns the need and the ability of organizations and societies to seek and achieve unity in diversity. It lies in organizational resilience to develop non-discriminatory human resource and industrial relations policies. The differences in religion, caste, language, gender, race, perspectives, personality, styles, values, feelings, etc. need to be honoured and encouraged and not merely tolerated. In India, the major problem is the pervasive influence of ethnic considerations in decision-making and organizational processes. This problem needs to be understood in relation to the need to customize, rather than standardize personnel policies, etc. so that the needs of a diverse workforce are reckoned and dealt with appropriately. The pluralism in personnel policies that the diversity in the Indian context produced has often resulted in questions about equity and equality that are guaranteed under law becoming a casualty in practice due to domination of tradition over modernity and the “relative weakness and tardiness of the formation of modern élites in India” (Bottomore, 1965, p. 188)[10]. The occupational structure of the workforce and the decline in employment intensity in agriculture and manufacturing have created new pressures to maintain employment for the sake of maintaining employment, more so, in view of the absence of social security arrangements. The focus is now shifting slowly to consider whether and how income protection can be afforded without job protection and associated rigidities at the workplace. Various groups in society are trying to make the best of their diverse social base to seek special treatment in education, employment, etc. In some sense diversity became divisive too. It resulted in a quest for backwardness in anticipation of special privileges and concessions rather than a pursuit of excellence in the context of the shift towards a market economy orientation and globalization. Innovative organizations are seeing marketplace and workforce diversity as key organizational issues and are purposefully responding with strategies designed to integrate these issues into their broader strategic objectives related to products, markets, resources and capabilities. These organizations are forward looking in that they do not take a “thunderstorm on a barren land” approach but rather regard such changes as a “gentle rain over time”. A major preoccupation for HR/IR is to cope with the challenges of redundancy and retention, finding a balance between protecting unproductive jobs and creating more and better jobs. Unemployment, poverty and sustainable development have become the principal goals of social and economic development, not just in India, but the world over. The available portents are jobless growth in agriculture and manufacturing. The notion of technological determinedness in certain sectors (e.g. cargo handling, banking) raises issues concerning choice and discretion, if any, that the social partners have in preserving jobs regardless of the changes in technology, competition, etc. It also questions the capacity of any or all of the social partners in

preventing the decline in employment intensity, particularly, in agriculture and Human resource manufacturing. management Another related challenge is the need to create a highly skilled, trained, in India versatile and adaptive workforce willing to welcome and lead the changes. In the past, every skill acquired has only a limited shelf life and it is progressively diminishing. Consequently, there is a clear need to move from mono to multi103 skills, and from single to several careers in one’s lifetime. The influence of cultural and ethnic factors in welcoming or opposing change or flexibility has not been adequately studied so far. Productivity improvement is also a major challenge. In a protected, sheltered cost plus market, doing less with more meant creation of more jobs, with customers and the exchequer paying the price of inefficiencies in resource use. But, with globalization, the paradigm shift to doing more with limited resources became inevitable. The effects of affirmative programmes on individual motivation and organizational performance are hotly debated without much empirical basis. Major decisions on privatization, etc. are halted on ethnic considerations because such decisions were seen to affect certain groups of workers more than others in view of the effects of the past linkage between caste and occupation. A classic case concerns the aborted attempts to privatize catering and cleaning services in the Indian Railways. Social pressures built on regional disparities are hindering and influencing organizational decisions on recruitment, placement, transfer and promotions. The Philadelphia declaration in 1944 that “poverty anywhere is a danger to prosperity everywhere” is coming alive today. Huge disparities in human resource endowments and entitlements, coupled with a widening gap between haves and have nots and accentuating regional disparities is spreading parochial regionalism which is not conducive to the stability of the federal structure. Also, a host of social movements since the 1970s have tried to isolate and capitalize on distinct identity based on religion, caste and language. The slow and uneven growth of the economy since the 1950s that lagged behind the population growth during the corresponding period triggered divisive forces based on social differences. The ensuing polarization is fuelled by politics of scarcity, religion and caste, among others. While the country had shown exceptional resistance to withstand many tremors caused by these factors and forces, the net effect is the perpetuation of counter-productive tendencies. The media coverage of elections since the mid-1980s and other related developments bear glaring testimony to this. Explicit use of religion was banned in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling on “Hindutva”. But religion and caste continue to play a decisive role in the election process and voting pattern. Though the Ramanujam Committee appointed by the Government unanimously, recommended that formation of trade unions based on caste and creed should be discouraged, the draft bill on the subject introduced in the Parliament in 1995 is silent on this. It depends, as some critiques have already done in other contexts, whether we consider diversity as part of the problem or part of the solution. It is clear,

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though, that the solution to the problem itself should not be the source of another problem. Much depends on whether we are addressing ourselves to the diversity issues from an exploratory framework or from a normative framework. There are clearly dangers in jumping to an analysis based on normative framework without adequate exploration and understanding of the subject in specific cultural contexts.
Notes 1. Census Report of 1931 mentioned the following tests for classifying certain castes as depressed classes (these depressed classes are identified as scheduled castes (SCs)). Assess whether the caste or class in question: • can be served by clean Brahmans or not; • can be served by the barbers, water-carriers, tailors, etc. who serve the caste Hindus; • pollutes a high-caste Hindu by contract or by proximity; • is one from whose hands a caste Hindu can take water; • is debarred from using public amenities, such as roads, ferries, wells or schools; • is debarred from the use of Hindu temples; • will be treated as an equal by high-caste men of the same educational qualification in ordinary social intercourse; • is merely depressed on account of its own ignorance, illiteracy or poverty and, but for that, would be subject to no social disability; • is depressed on account of the occupation followed and whether, but for that, occupation it would be subject to no social disability. The above criteria refer not only to caste-based discrimination but also, particularly to the obnoxious practice of untouchability in India which has since been banned through legislation and made a cognizable offence. 2. Under Article 340 of the Constitution, the Government of India constituted the second Backward Classes Commission on 1 January 1979 under the chairmanship of B.P. Mandal by whose name the Commission and its report (submitted on 31 December 1980) came to be popularly known. 3. The criteria for the identification of the scheduled tribes (STs) are less clear and complex, and naturally the process of identification of ST has been less rigorous and systematic. Though there have been various criteria across states, the following features are found to be commonly applicable to those classified as ST: tribal origin; primitive way of life and habitation in remote and less easily accessible areas; and general backwardness in all respects. 4. Following a verdict by the Supreme Court, Indian Airlines modified its service rules for air hostesses who are now permitted to continue in employment after marriage and pregnancy. Indian Airlines also extended the retirement age for women from 39 to 58 years. Until recently Indian Railways was allowing the male child of a railway employee to continue in quarters even after the latter retires should the former be also employed in the same organization. But similar right was denied to a married daughter even where her father requests his employer that he would rather like his married daughter to be treated as the successor than his son, married or otherwise. In 1995, the Supreme Court held that this was discriminatory. 5. In June 1995 a senior air hostess of Indian Airlines was asked to deplane because she was getting more pay than the co-pilot in the cockpit. This followed a management decision to promote senior members of the cabin crew (a majority of whom were women) above junior members of the cock-pit. In 1996, the Indian Airlines decided to take its “fat” cabin crew – most of whom are women – off the rosters till they become “trim”. This measure of “removal of excess baggage in the air” is considered to be one of a series aimed at toning up customer service.

6.

7. 8.

9.

10.

Since this adversely impinges on women more it may spark off yet another major controversy (Mukherjee, 1996). The 8th Schedule to the Constitution originally comprised the following 15 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malavalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Sindhi. By the 77th Amendment to the Constitution, the following three languages were added to the 8th Schedule in 1992: Konkan, Manipuri and Nepali. In contrast, Indonesia, which got its independence only in 1954 chose the language spoken by the fewest number of its citizens and called it the official language. It did not take long for Indonesians to gain the widest acceptance and popularity for Bhasha Indonesia. Lind observes that, “Oriental youths are afraid to speak up. These youths lack social ease, in that they feel that they will be laughed at every time they open their mouths. They feel that people will not accept them, and that a mistake will show their intelligence. This sense of insecurity in social relations has stopped many youths from expressing themselves, although they may have … pertinent points to bring up” (Lind, 1960). Brazeau suggests that in a bilingual country some people may not speak either language perfectly, and so may be “people without a language in which they feel adequate” (Brazeau, 1958). Bottomore (1965) observes that in India, “…there are no real intellectual camps, no warring schools of social doctrine, no drive to create a genuinely new and modern culture. The clash between regional cultures is partly responsible, but more important is the still pervasive influence of caste. It is not that the traditional caste groups have retained all their importance in the economic and political spheres, although caste affiliations may still be exploited in those spheres; nor that members of traditional high castes are still fully accepted as intellectual or spiritual, or political leaders. It is rather that the vestiges of caste consciousness, which are continually re-animated by religious rites, marriage ceremonies, and other social acts, even among those social groups which are most influenced by modern ideas, interfere with the consolidation of élites on an entirely new basis, and soften that intolerance of traditional ways which is an essential ingredient in all radical social change”.

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References and further reading Ahmed, F. and Ansari, J.M. (1994), “Reservations: minority matters”, India Today, 30 November, pp. 83-5. Bottomore, T.B. (1965), “Modern élites in India”, in Unnithan, T.K.N., Deva, I. and Singh, Y. (Eds), Towards a Sociology of Culture in India, Prentice-Hall of India (Private) Ltd, New Delhi, pp. 180-8. Bhargava, S. and Herr, H. (1996), “How to manage gender bias”, Business Today, 7-21 January, pp. 154-7. Brazeau, E.J. (1958), “Language differences and occupational experience”, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Vol. XXIV No. 4, p. 539. Dayal, I. (1976), “Cultural factors in designing performance appraisal systems”, Vikalpa, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 59-68. Faundez, J. (1994), “Affirmative action: international perspectives”, International Labour Organization, Geneva. Fernandez, J.P. (1993), The Diversity Advantage, Lexington, New York, NY. Griggs, L.B. and Louw Edt, L-L. (1995), Valuing Diversity – New Tools for a New Reality, McGrawHill, New York, NY. The Hindu (1996), 20 April. Hutton, J.H. (1980), Caste in India, Oxford University Press, Bombay. Institute of Applied Manpower Research (1995), Manpower Profile India Year Book, Institute of Applied Manpower Research, New Delhi.

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Jain, H.C. and Ratnam, C.S.V. (1994), “Affirmative action in India: reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in India”, International Manpower Journal, Vol. 15 No. 7. Jain, H.C. and Ratnam, C.S.V. (1996), “The working of the equal remuneration act in India”, Monograph, McMaster University, Hamilton. Jain, M. (1992), “The changing woman”, India Today, 15 July, pp. 52-61. Jayasree v. State of Kerala, AIR 1976, SC238. Lawler, J.J., Jain, H.C., Venkata Ratnam, C.J. and Atmiyanandana, V. (1995), “Human resource management in developing economies: a comparison of India and Thailand”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 319-46. Lind, A.W. (1960), “Communication: a problem of island youth”, Social Process in Hawaii, Vol. 24, p. 48. McEnrue, M.R. (1993), “Managing diversity: Los Angeles before and after riots”, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 21 No. 3, Winter, pp. 18-29. Malayala Manorama (1995), Manorama Year Book, 1995, Malayala Manorama, Kottayam. Malik, S. (1992), “Supreme Court Mandal Commission Case, 1992 (Indra Sawhney v. Union of India) with detailed analytical headnote”, Eastern Book Company, Lucknow. Mitta, M. (1993), “National Commission for SC/ST: running aground”, India Today, 15 September 1993, pp. 162-4. Mitta, M. (1994a), “Reservations: racketeering in quotas”, India Today, 15 November, pp. 90-5. Mitta, M. (1994b), “Reservations: crossing the limit”, India Today, 15 September, pp. 80-5. Mitta, M. (1994c), “Reservations: reined in, for now”, India Today, 30 November, pp. 191-4. M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore, AIR 1963, SC649. Mukherjee, B. (1996), “Watch your weight, it’s Indian Airlines”, Times of India, 3 May, p. 1. Nambissan, G.B. (1994), “Language and schooling of tribal children: issues related to medium of instruction”, Economic and Political Weekly, 15 October, pp. 2747-54. Oxenham, J. et al. (1990), “Improving the quality of education in developing countries”’, in Griffin, K. and Knight, J. (Eds), Human Development and International Development Strategy for the 1990s, Macmillan, London, pp. 101-7. Patel, I. (1994), Gender Differences in Employment Patterns of Doordarshan and All India Radio, Media Advocacy Group and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, New Delhi. Rao, S.L. and Natarajan, I. (1996), Indian Market Demographics, Global Business Press, New Delhi. Ratnam, C.S.V. (1992), Managing People, Global Business Press, New Delhi. Ratnam, C.S.V. (1994), “Skills development in medium and large enterprises in Asia”, Skills Development in Medium and Large Enterprises in India, Japan Labour Institute, Tokyo. Richman, B.M. and Copen, M.R. (1976), International Management and Economic Development, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Srinivas, M.N. (1952), “Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India”, Clarendon Press, Oxford. Stern, R.W. (1993), Changing India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Virmani, B.R. and Gupta, S.U. (1991), Indian Management, Vision Books, New Delhi.

Appendix 1: Some important observations on affirmative action The following observations were made by different judges (names in brackets): The trinity of the goals of the Constitution, viz., socialism, secularism and democracy cannot be realized unless all sections of the society participate in the State power equally, irrespective of their caste, community, race, religion and sex and all discriminations in the sharing of the State power made on those grounds are eliminated by positive measures…Inequality ill-favours

fraternity, and unity remains a dream without fraternity ... Social and political justice pledged by the Constitution will remain myth unless first economic justice is guaranteed to all (Sawant). Among other things, equality before the law contemplates minimizing the inequalities in income and eliminating the inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people, securing adequate means of livelihood…(Kantia, Venkatachaliah, Ahmadi and Jeevan Reddy). Though the “equal protection” clause prohibits the State from making unreasonable discrimination in providing preferences and facilities for any section of its people, nonetheless it requires the State to afford substantially equal opportunities to those, placed unequally …Therefore, the submission that the (reservations) will curtail concept of equality as enshrined in under Article 14 of the Constitution and destroy the basic structure of the Constitution can not be sustained (Pandian). Any State action distinguishing classes of persons is liable to be condemned as indigenous and unconstitutional unless justified as a benign classification rationally addressed to the legitimate aim of qualitative and relative equality by means of affirmative action programmes of protective measures with a view to uplifting identified disadvantaged groups. All such measures must bear a reasonable proportion between their aim and the means adopted and must terminate on accomplishment of their object (Thommen). Equality…is secured not only when equals are treated equally but also when unequals are treated unequally. Conversely, when unequals are treated equally, the mandate of equality before law is breached. To bring about equality between the unequals, therefore, it is necessary to adopt positive measures to abolish inequality. The equalizing measures will have to use the same tools by which inequality was introduced and perpetuated. Otherwise, equalization will not be of unequals (Sawant). Not a single decision of this (Supreme) Court has cast slightest shadow of doubt on the constitutional validity, of reservation (Justice Subbarao, 1965). Backwardness by itself is not sufficient to warrant reservation. What qualifies for reservation is backwardness which is the result of identified past discrimination and which is comparable to that of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Reservation is a remedial action specially addressed to the ill effects stemming from historical discrimination (judgment in M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore). The expression “backward class of citizens” is not defined in the Constitution of India and thus poses the single most difficult question … (In several cases the Supreme Court emphasized) the integral connection between caste, occupation, poverty and social backwardness … the caste system had percolated to the non-Hindus, especially the converts from Hinduism … A caste is nothing but a social class – a socially homogeneous class. It is also an occupational grouping, with this difference that its membership is hereditary. Once borne into it, it membership is involuntary … Even if one ceases to follow that occupation, still he remains and continues to be a member of that group … Its (caste) social status and standing depends on the nature of the occupation followed by it. Lowlier the occupation, lowlier the social standing of the class in the graded hierarchy. In rural India, occupation-caste nexus is true even today (Kania, Venkatachaliah, Ahmadi and Jeevan Reddy). It cannot be irrefutably asserted that Islam, Christianity, Sikhism are all completely immune from casetism, especially amongst the converts. The converts have not divested or set off themselves from their caste labels. Like Hindus, they interact and have their familial relationship and marital alliances only with in the converted caste groups. The converts to Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism are included in the list of “backward classes” or so considered in few States (Pandian).

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Appendix 2: Select court rulings on other aspects of the policy of job reservations On the whole, reservations should be less than 50 per cent (Balaji and Mandal cases). Reservations must operate in such a way that they enhance rather than limit educational opportunities of backward classes. A reservation of 50 per cent of seats for backward seats could not be interpreted as a maximum (V Raghuramulu v. State of Andhra Pradesh; AIR 1958: AP 129). Otherwise, the reservation would operate to abridge the fundamental rights of those individuals from backward classes capable of competing for the general pool. Reservations can be extended beyond initial appointments to promotions (General Manager, Southern Railway v. Rangachari. AIR 1962: SC 36) (Faundez, 1994). Abuse of reservations has been common. The Central Government has fixed 15 per cent reservations for scheduled castes (SC), 7.5 per cent for scheduled tribes (ST) and 27 per cent for other backward castes (OBC). States can vary formulae while staying within the 50 per cent limit. (As shown in Appendix 3, both the Centre and the States have been abusing the system (Mitta, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c).) Appendix 3: Abuse of reservations SC/ST lists lengthened by the Centre on 20 occasions between 1950 and 1994. Tamil Nadu has doubled the communities in the OBC category from 150 before 1970 to 310 today. Two states allowed by the Centre to exceed the 50 per cent limit on the ground that they had exceeded the limit before the Supreme Court verdict in the Mandal case. These states – Tamil Nadu and Karnataka – managed to persuade the centre to pass a law putting the increased reservation as part of Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Some other states – Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – also attempted to do this, but since they previously did not have reservations in excess of 50 per cent courts could intervene and restrain centre from making further amendments to the Constitution in this regard. Some North-eastern states have reservations for STs up to 80 per cent for decades, but in such cases the courts did not intervene. Reservations extended to advanced castes. Among OBCs the children of class I officers in government and those with a certain income limit are supposed to be ineligible for reservations as they are considered to belong to the creamy layer within the OBCs. However, creamy layer rule mandated for OBC reservations disregarded by the states. When Bihar government passed an ordinance excluding children of professionals with an income of less than Rs. 1 million a year, the petition on which the Supreme set aside the ordinance described the ordinance as “the worst specimen of executive fraud on judicial and constitutional propriety”. Madhya Pradesh scrapped cut-off marks for SCs and STs in entrance examinations to professional courses. In the Uttarakhand hill region of Uttar Pradesh, an attempt was made in 1994 to extend 27 per cent reservation to OBCs even though the share of OBC population in the region was only 2 per cent.