Promoting equality

Step 1: Formal equality. The first step is to end formal systems of inequality and privilege protected by custom and law: poor people denied the vote, women barred from professions, 'lower' castes confined to manual labour, high positions reserved for some families. Our Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and abolishes untouchability. Most modern constitutions treat all citizens identically in law.

Step 2: Equality through differential treatment. Formal equality is necessary but not sufficient. Sometimes people must be treated differently so that they can enjoy equal rights.

• Women working at call centres at night may need special protection on the journey so their equal right to work is protected. Such measures are not infringements of equality but enhancements of it.
• The women's movement learned this: after winning the vote, degrees and the right to work in the 19th century, women found they also needed maternity leave and crèches at work to compete on equal terms.
• Example (new): a school that prints exam papers in large type for a student with weak eyesight is not giving her an advantage; it is letting her take the same exam as everyone else.

Step 3: Affirmative action. Where inequalities are deeply rooted, formal equality is not enough; more positive measures are needed to correct the cumulative effect of past inequalities. These range from scholarships and hostels for disadvantaged communities to special consideration in admissions and jobs. India has relied mainly on reservations (quotas) in education and jobs.

• For: some groups were victims of prejudice, exclusion and segregation and cannot be expected to compete on equal terms immediately. The needs of a first-generation learner whose parents were illiterate differ from those of a child from an educated family. Affirmative action is meant to be temporary, until these groups can compete equally.
• Against: critics call reservations 'reverse discrimination' that denies others equal treatment and may reinforce caste and racial prejudice; they want to do away with social distinctions altogether.
• It helps to separate equality as a goal of state policy from individuals' equal rights: individuals have a right to equal consideration, but competition must also be fair. India has done far less for its deprived people in education and health than they are due: many poor children cannot attend school, their schools cannot match elite ones, and they cannot afford coaching or high fees.

Open questions still debated: Should the state reserve seats, or provide special help from an early age to develop talents? Should 'deprived' be defined by an economic criterion, or by social inequality arising from caste?

Treating everyone as equal is not the same as treating everyone identically. Differential treatment needs justification and careful thought: it must aim only at letting a group enjoy the same rights as the rest, and must not create new structures of dominance or let powerful groups reclaim privileges. Liberals are wary because differential treatment was once the basis of the caste system and apartheid.