Reservation and Private Sector : Quest for Equal Opportunity and Growth

Contents: Preface. Debate on reservation in private sector/Sukhadeo Thorat, Aryama and Prashant Negi. I. Caste and market discrimination: theory and evidences: 1. Do markets discriminate? some insights from economic theories/Ashwini Deshpande. 2. Caste system and economic discrimination: lessons from theories/Sukhadeo Thorat. 3. Public-private divide and affirmative action in India/Aryama. 4. Social exclusion and discrimination in hiring practices: the case of Indian private industry/T.S. Papola. 5. Caste discrimination in the Indian urban labour market/S. Madheswaran. II. Reservation and equal opportunity perspective: 6. Reservation in the private and the corporate sector/Gail Omvedt. 7. Affirmative action in the private sector: need for a national debate/Prakash Louis. 8. Is reservation in the private sector warranted?/Rajindar Sachar. 9. Reservation in the private sector: legislation in Maharashtra/P.G. Jogdand. 10. Myths about private sector reservation/Chandrabhan Prasad. 11. All snakes, no ladders: affirmative action in the private sector/Prashant Negi. III. Reservation, merit and efficiency: 12. Reservation and efficiency: myth and reality/Sukhadeo Thorat. 13. Reservations: towards a larger perspective/D. Parthasarathy. 14. Mythologies of merit/Gail Omvedt. 15. Affirmation without reservation/Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 16. Captain, a hole in your argument/Bibek Debroy. 17. Quotas for companies/Andre Beteille. 18. Reservation: a rational, ritualistic placebo/G. Ramachandran. 19. Keep demanding the impossible/Arun Maira. 20. Wanted: a working class revolution/T.K. Bhaumik. 21. Is reservation in the private sector warranted?/Amit Mitra. 22. Job reservation in the private sector/Satish Kumar Jhunjhunwala. 23. Reservations: devoid of merit/Rahul Bajaj. IV. Globalisation, liberalisation and reservation: 24. Liberalisation and Dalits/Sukhadeo Thorat and Martin Macwan. 25. Globalisation and affirmative action/Thomas E. Weisskopf. 26. New agenda for the Dalits/Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 27. Reservation in the private sector: an overview of the proposition/Anand Teltumbde. 28. Globalisation and reservation/G. Thimmaiah. 29. On reservations, a wake-up call/Kancha Ilaiah. V. Reservation and politics of caste: 30. The 'Creamy layer': political economy of reservations/Pradipta Chaudhury. 31. Reservations about reservation/Neera Chandhoke. 32. Social justice and reservation scheme/K. Veeramani. 33. Job quotas in the private sector/P. Radhakrishnan. VI. Remedies against discrimination: 34. Remedies against market discrimination: international experience/Sukhadeo Thorat. 35. Reservations in private sector: drawing lessons from the US/Ellora Puri. 36. Why there should be job reservation/R. Jagannathan. 37. Make them entrepreneurs instead/R. Vaidyanathan. 38. Reservations again/Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 39. Extending reservations/Dipankar Gupta. 40. In the face of job reservations/Surjit S. Bhalla. 41. Diversity doesn't mean reservation/Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar. 42. Legal remedies against discrimination in USA, South Africa and India/Raja Sekhar Vundru. 43. Some aspects of reservation in higher education/Thomas E. Weisskopf. Appendices. Index.

"Policies of legal safeguards and reservation/affirmative actions in favour of discriminated groups have a tendency, globally, to generate acrimonious and heated debates. The idea of introducing reservation in the private sector has received a fair share of differing opinions in India. This volume brings representative pieces of those opinions together at one place.

The papers address some of critical issues that appeared in the current debate on reservation: are the concerns about discrimination related only to equity or they also involve economic and political costs? How sound are the arguments against anti-discriminatory policies for private sector? Does reservation adversely affect economic efficiency and compromise merit? Or it ensures quality of opportunity for the discriminated groups and also creates economic milieu for better economic performance? In other words, are the principle of equity and canon of efficiency always at odds with each other? And, what are the possible remedies against market discrimination?

This book, by bringing together insightful perspectives from prominent academicians, opinion makers in the media, captains of the corporate world as well as politicians, reflects contemporary thinking of Indian society on a vital and contentious issue of private sector reservation. It will be helpful to the academia, government, NGOs as well as researchers and students and to all those, who are concerned about discriminations associated with caste and systematic exclusion and multiple deprivations suffered by Dalits."