ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the intellectual arguments behind bureaucratic reservations in Bombay Province during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as the implications of their operation. It demonstrates how majoritarianism in Bombay could be alternatively conceived on the basis of caste, particularly as representation in the Subordinate Services was prescribed in proportion to the numerical strength of the Marathas and 'Allied Castes' in the Marathi-speaking districts of the province. The demands to reserve jobs on the basis of local demographics, therefore served as one constituent and formative part of these alternative, regionalised expressions of belonging, which demanded the rule of the majority be applied to every institution of the state. The Sindh provincial government quickly looked to reorganise recruitment to its provincial services on the basis of religion, and by May 1947 70 per cent of vacancies were being allotted to Muslims, with the remainder going to non-Muslim groups.
