India's affirmative action controversy
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2019
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1990 the Indian government introduced an affirmative action plan that had been lying unimplemented for a decade. The Mandal Commission recommended guaranteeing a percentage of government jobs to lower caste Hindus. It's implementation was an attempt by the government to quell the rise of Hindu nationalism. But the move proved controversial from the outset and led to weeks of student protests across India. Farhana Haider has been speaking to a retired superintendent of police, Dilip Trivedi who remembers the implementation of the report and its aftermath.
Photo Students protesting Mandal Commission proposal for quotas on govt. jobs for so called backward castes 1990. Credit Getty Images.
Transcript
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| 1:05.5 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, |
| 1:08.5 | here's something you may not know. |
| 1:10.5 | My name's Linda Davies, |
| 1:11.9 | and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 1:14.0 | As you'd expect at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality |
| 1:19.0 | featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
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