The cry of ’discrimination!’has reverberated in the corridors of social, political, and economic power throughout our colonial and post- colonial history. In the earliest years, it was the French-speaking folk who complained against the Anglo-Scots. There followed the complaints of the black French creoles about the monopolistic social practices of both the English and the French gros blancs.
Religion has always constituted one of the powerful lines of cleavage. So too was class and economic sector. Those in the residentiary sector complained about those in the plantation sector and those in cocoa were embittered because of the dominance of the sugar barons who were accused of feeding at the troughs of the Treasury.
Later on in the century, complaints came from other ’tribes’-upwardly mobile creolised black and mixed elements, the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Indians, and the Tobagonians. These moanings from out-groups about discrimination have been the warp and woof of our history, and will continue to be heard given the competitive polyethnic nature of our society.
Ironically, the narrower the differences become, the louder the complaints will be. Every slight or imagined slight will be the occasion for a lacrimose lament.
In the post-independence era, complaints have come from persons of Indian, European and African descent. The white creoles grumble about their displacement from the seats of power which they once occupied, and have headed for the exit, whether by way of migration or by emotional disengagement. A few support COP as they did the NAR. The young have other preoccupations. The Afro-creoles took to the streets in 1970 to complain that the white-creoles were still the invisible hegemons.
The Indians complain that they are grossly misrepresented and misrecognised in every dimension of public life, notwithstanding their numbers and their educational and economic attainments. The complaint was that Afro-Trinidadians were being given the lion’s share of the scholarships that were being awarded by the state as well as the jobs that were on offer in the public sector.
And it is true that public sector resources were seen by Afro creoles as their grandparents’ deferred backpay to which they were entitled, having regard to the contributions which the latter had made in laying the foundations of the new nation state. Afro- Trinidadians also recalled that for religious and social reasons, many Indian parents did not encourage their offspring to attend public schools or regard the public sector as a worthwhile career choice. The vacuum was filled by others.
All that has however changed dramatically. In almost every sector of the marketplace, Indo-Trinidadians have either drawn level or have forged ahead of other groups. This is particularly true in the professions and in science-related sectors generally. The massive output from the schools are now seeking access to positions in the public sector as of right, and often run up against attitudes and dispositions which were shaped in earlier eras. These attitudes are fortified by a concern that now that the gateways to the public sector are fully opened, (except for the Prime Minister’s veto) they would become progressively closed to persons of African descent. The fear is that the shoe would be on the other foot. Indos would control both the public and the private sectors.
But what do the empirical data actually show? Let us look at the study done by La Guerre and Ryan on behalf of the Centre For Ethnic Studies in 1994. In 1957, there were no African permanent secretaries in the Civil Service.
By 1965, three years after the achievement of independence, there was only one. If the figures between 1957 and 1977 are aggregated, we find that only ten per cent of the 210 posts at this level were held by Indians, a period when Indians were 35 to 40 per cent of the population.
When Indians make the charge that they were not represented in the public sector, the response of non-Indians is that they either did not apply or did not have the requisite entry qualifications or seniority to be recruited or promoted. What was perhaps true in the early independence era was, however, no longer so in the 60s and 70s. More and more Indians were achieving certified status at all levels of the educational hierarchy and more were applying to fill jobs in the public sector. By 1988, more than half-51.8 per cent-of those applying to enter the clerical grades were Indians.
When the status of the clerical grades was examined in percentage terms, Indians were 54 per cent of Clerk I, 59 per cent of Clerk II, 49 per cent of Clerk III, and 32 per cent of Clerk IV. The data clearly indicated that during the period 1980 - 1992, Indians were appointed to clerical level posts at accelerated rates in comparison with appointment in the period before, as well as by comparison with the appointment of individuals belonging to other racial groups.
The data also revealed that Indians were doing as well or better than all other groups in the open competitive civil service examinations. Between 1980 and 1991, 72 of the 140 top places in those examinations were secured by Indians.
Indians complain that they are discriminated against when it comes to promotions. The figures for the 1981-1991 period show that they secured fewer promotions than all other groups-31.3 per cent-but given their late start, it is not clear the figures provided unequivocal evidence of overall discrimination, whatever might be true in individual cases. In 1989, 51.7 per cent of all promotions were secured by Indians.
It is widely believed that Indians tend to opt for, and succeed in getting appointments in certain critical sections of the government service. One hundred and eighty five of the 346 accounting posts (40 per cent) were held by them.
One hundred and fifty-nine or 44 per cent of the 379 posts in the Customs and Excise division were also held by them. In the Budget division and in the Treasury, a third of the post were held by them. In Inland Revenue, 48 per cent of the post were held by them.
What these figures show is that on the whole, Indians were not unfavourably represented in the central public services. They were lagging and are still lagging at the upper levels of the system, but given their late entry, this was to be expected.
There is however evidence that they are catching up, and are poised to overrun other groups in the professional sections of the service. The question to be determined is how are Afro elements responding to this reversal of roles? Are they grumbling, sotto voce, about discrimination and worse?
Do they also allege ethnic restructuring? Would they in time become the principal clients of the Equal Opportunities Commission? Would that institution be swamped with complaints as is its counterpart in Canada? Would they be Mr Ramlogan’s major client base? I have no answers to these questions, and it may be that a new study is called for.
-To be continued
