Duties of the Majority and the Privileged

There are different kinds of groups in a nation. The extremes are – the majority and the privileged on one side AND the minority and the underprivileged on the other. 

If you see it as a vertical ladder in terms of possession of wealth, access to opportunity, access to education, representation in education, employment, administration and legislatures, and the standard of living, on the bottom rung is the minority and the underprivileged. On the top rung is the majority and the privileged. The other two - minority and privileged, majority and underprivileged come in between.

Majority is numerical strength. A group can be majority across a country, but could be a minority within a State or District. In that case, the politics that dominate their status decides whether they are a majority or minority.

Privileged group has higher representation than its share of population, or has more access to wealth, opportunity, education, employment than its share of population. A group that is numerically small can also be privileged.

Let me give some examples to illustrate the above.

The Whites in USA are the majority and the privileged. The Muslims in India are the minority and the underprivileged. The Jains in India are the minority but the privileged. Same is true of Parsis. The lower caste Hindus in India are the majority but underprivileged.

Hindus are a majority. But one has to go deeper to understand the privileged caste. The upper caste Hindus ride the majority identity and a privileged groups, whereas the lower caste Hindu are also a majority but underprivileged. Brahmins as as a group is numerically small, but they are representative of the majority Hindu group, and a privileged class in the sense that their representation is disproportionately high in education, employment and administration. They are to be compared to Anglo Saxons group in USA whose exclusive percentage may be low but they still represent the Whites in general belonging to the majority group and are a privileged group. Indians living in USA are a minority but a privileged group in the sense that their representation is fairly high in education and employment. Whereas Blacks living in USA are a minority but also underprivileged and therefore are recipients of benefits from affirmative action, which Indians do not avail.

Lot of confusion emanates when we start treating Jains, Brahmins and Parsis as minority alone to be given preferential treatment, because they also happen to be privileged group.

Most of my stand on this blog is the result of my thought process outlined below. This is what I believe in; and this gets reflected in many of my blogs. I have seen myself as majority in India and minority when living in USA. Through some of my experiences I have some insights into what I call 'duties of the majority and the privileged':

Duties of the Majorities and the Privileged

It is the duty of majority in a country to make concessions to the minority and this might mean giving more room to the minority to make them feel secure. Sometimes, one has to dole out extra concessions and reserve opportunities for minorities. We can't apply 'equality' rule here to snub all such concessions. Equality does not mean we don't have subsidies or concessions or quotas to different groups. Equality is extended to a group identity but is applied at an individual level- it means the government and the law will treat an individual the same whether he is a farmer or a billionaire. But as individuals of a group, we are never equal in a country.

Similarly, the privileged have to let go of their monopoly over access to opportunities and education and start making concessions to the underprivileged, pay more taxes to compensate for the underprivileged, and take responsibility to uplift the underprivileged.

What I say may sound idealistic. But it is not. It is actually being selfish. But it is being selfish in the long term, unlike the selfishness of Indians (and many other cultures) which is usually quite myopic.

The majority will not be able to enjoy their fruits if certain minorities are suppressed and marginalized. The sufferings and frustrations of these minorities will come back to haunt the majorities. There will always be friction and that friction will not allow the majorities to enjoy their narrow-term successes. For the majority to see a sustained growth and success, so that there is calm, peace and good standard of living in a country they have to accommodate the minorities as described above.

The same argument can be extended to the privileged groups.

Many majorities and/or privileged communities believe they can perpetuate their dominance by creating little ‘islands of excellence’. They believe they can keep these minorities and underprivileged out of their islands. They create gated communities, gated universities, and gated businesses and believe they can live happily ever after without getting disturbed by the minorities and underprivileged. That is an illusion.

We see privileged classes in India reluctant to extend reservations in education and employment opportunities to the backward castes. We see the majorities reluctant to extend concessions to Muslims in India.

And I think that this myopic selfishness will spell doom for everyone. I believe in the above duties of the majority and the privileged and it gets reflected in many of my blogs.