Ask your heart what thoughts come to your mind, when
you hear the word ‘reservation’. For all general category students, a big
frowning face filled with anger and somewhat hatred towards the system and for
those who benefit from it, just a smile would do to reflect their state of
mind.
Reservation policy has a long standing history in our
country ever since the pre-independence era and it has continued before finally
being introduced in 1990 after going through the recommendations of Mandal
Commission. The basis for bringing in such a policy was to ensure that the perceived
backward castes get equal opportunities for growth and development. And, since India was a country in which
social problems like ‘untouchability’ were deeply rooted, it was introduced to
bring the people belonging to backward castes into national picture by giving
them ample opportunities as claimed by the government back then. As decades
went by this reservation policy was used by political parties to appease
minorities by giving them reservations which is quite evident with the
fact that, as of 2006 number of castes
in backward castes have gone up to 2297 which is an increase of 60% from the
list originally drafted by the Mandal Commission.
There were quite a few decisions by courts which were
upturned by the ruling government through the amendment of laws and
constitution in favor of a reservation system which in turn paved the way for
vote bank politics. And, today if we say that Reservations scheme has worked
wonders for masses till now, it obviously means that they and their families do
not need reservation any more. And, if we say that our country is still poor in
spite of reservations, then it is very evident that the scheme has failed to
achieve its purpose and needs to be reconsidered or redesigned.
And to further analyze this scheme, it is questionable
whether the people who benefit from it actually deserve that position or a
seat. And in case of prestigious educational institutes which require a certain
degree of excellence these people just do not belong there. This is why
meritocracy should always be preferred over reservation. If people get what
they deserve then it is definitely a step in the right direction. Quotas and
special scholarships in education for backward groups have caused a lot of
resentment amongst the general applicants who toil hard for extremely
competitive spots in colleges cutting across different branches. This has
hampered the growth of our institutions and students as in spite of their
talent and ability there are unable to gain the desired results.
India has lost its’ pace for the development only
because of the reservation as more competent people were not offered the places
which they deserved and many still feel that reservation has divided people on
the caste lines. Another flaw of this caste based reservations is that it will endanger
animosity toward backward groups as well as on the part of backward groups
themselves, whose main problem in some cases has been their own inadequacy
combined with their resentment of non-backward groups who without preferences, consistently
outperform them.
In 2014, I feel there’s no place for a caste based reservation
system. For a country which thrives on its secular credentials, this system is
an aberration to that widely accepted notion. The overall benefits from this
sort of an arrangement are probably limited and a very negligible minority has
benefitted from it according to a study of income data by caste in 2005-06. If a
very small group succeeds within a predominantly disadvantaged group should it
continue to enjoy quotas from the state? Rather than discussing the better
implementation of the existing system, politicians focus on extending this
benefit to a new set of people thereby enhancing their vote bank.
The fact is India is a society in dynamic transition,
where community identities are blurring and individual consciousness is on the
rise. And so, there is a need to structurally change this reservation policy. A
reservation based on a financial position of an individual is a much better
option especially when poverty has been an issue for our country for the last
many decades. Poverty is deeply infested in our country cutting across all
caste lines. It would benefit poor from the upper caste. This will make sure
that all poor people benefit, instead of people of just certain castes or
religion or gender, some of whom might actually be from a non-poor background.
