In her caste regulations India recognized differences, but not the mutability which is the law of life... Life departed from her social system and in its place she is worshipping with all ceremony the magnificent cage of countless compartments that she has manufactured. - Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism.

Bharat Ratna is the rare honour that India's Prime Minister has complete discretion over. There is no formal recommendation necessary and it does not seek any qualification. The PM recommends the name of the person to the President who recognizes them as a jewel of the Republic of India, the highest honour the country can bestow.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to award the Bharat Ratna for 2024 to former chief minister of Bihar, Karpoori Thakur. The socialist icon is credited with introducing reservation in state jobs for backward castes. Now famous as the 'Karpoori Thakur formula', the cascading quota system had an overall 26% cap. Other backward communities got 12% of it and the economically backward classes among them could claim another 8%. Crucially, women and the poor got 3% each, which served the upper castes well. Therein also lies a tale.

The late lawyer-politician, Shanti Bhushan, writes in his autobiography, Courting Destiny, how the formula was devised. Chief minister Thakur announced the 26% quota in 1978 without even consulting his........

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