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I think the problem in India is more that public sector jobs are often seen as more desirable than many private sector ones, at least with the exception of the tiny minority of Indians who go work for a top ‘MNC’ (and most of those probably studied abroad or at an IIT). There are gazillions of pointless public sector sinecures in India and wiping them out would do more for the country than even getting rid of affirmative action would.
It’s always funny when you see Hindu nationalists rail against the SC/ST designation though, until they realize that it’s the one thing that keeps so many poor Hindus voting for them and that they’d abandon the BJP and its affiliates in a second if they stopped it.
The problem is that public sector jobs are the gibs and spoils that demagogues use as the bait in identitity politics. It's a political nightmare to revoke, and interest groups are incredibly militant about it.
I'm not aware of riots over AA in the US, at least in the past few decades, but an entire state in India is currently going to hell because of the attempts of a single minority group to wrest benefits from the recognition of their lack of privilege, and people are dying over it.
It's a largely coup-complete problem for the foreseeable future.
Not just demagogues. Public sector jobs are nominally welfare in disguise (edit: borderline sinecures) and the number of positions increases over time in the West.
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