Reservation Policy; The need for change

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.