ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between group rights and affirmative action in the overall Indian context. It describes the demands put forward by the Madigas in Andhra Pradesh (AP), the reasons underlying them and the state response. The chapter discusses the impact of policies of affirmative action based on reservation and ‘protective discrimination’ on democracy in India. To reiterate, there are significant differences both in the underlying normative concerns and the manner in which group rights have been introduced in India and western Europe with consequences for affirmative action in India. The deeper reasons for the conflict between the Malas and the Madigas lie in the historical background in which these two subcastes developed a distinct sense of subcaste identity, their differential economic and educational levels and the pattern of Dalit mobilisation in AP. The chapter argues that the historical, social and economic context in which group rights and affirmative action was introduced is important.
