Prime Minister V.P. Singh's decision eight weeks ago to give 27% of government jobs to the so-called backward classes might strike outsiders as a reasonable step toward helping India's downtrodden millions. But last week 11 students protested Singh's plan by committing suicide, five by self-immolation, while 70 others attempted to set themselves on fire. At the same time, students all over the north, mostly from the upper castes, battled police in India's worst outbreak of violence since the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
When Singh announced the quota system, he told Parliament, "This is a momentous decision of social...
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