"BACKWARDS BOUND!"

Backwards Bound!


Are you backward enough?

For most people, being asked that question might be considered an insult and result in an exchange of words or something worse.

But in India, being considered backwards may be a blessing of sorts.

There has been a recent outbreak in India by members of a group—considering itself a tribe—who wants to be considered more backwards than it is…

Why?

Because being considered more backwards by the government is oftentimes a step up to increasing benefits.

In fact, these people, the Gujjars—an amalgam of Muslims and Hindus who consider themselves pastoral people —are rioting to acquire the status of being more backwards than some other tribes. As of now, they are only considered an “Other Backward Class.”
And they think that they are qualified to be rated more backwards than that..

You can clearly never be backwards enough.

Apparently, their riots and repeated acts of “backwardness” have earned them a place at the table—the negotiating table that is—in New Delhi where there case is going to be addressed.

Some tribes have taken an interest in the case claiming that the Gujjars are not really all that backwards as they would like to be considered. And there is evidently a degree of competition among those who consider they deserve the title more than the Gujjars. . And so the debate is likely to go on.

One would expect that there is somewhere the lowest possible rung of backwardness and beyond that you cannot go but it is evident that the Gujjars are willing to push that boundary with their own commitment to backwardness. Kind of like a hi-tech in reverse.
In this day and age, the Gujjars may be onto something.

Everyone is anxious to see how far this will be played out in the Indian judicial system.

Les Aaron