Reservations

Reservation, one of the hottest topic of discussions in the young blood of our country. I am not sure if I am correct to share my thoughts on this vibrant topic on a website dedicated to technology and technical education. But one thing that is true that we all will agree that it is one the most important social issues related to younger generations.

Having been in touch with a lot of young teenagers for the past few days over different matters related to college life one thing that I found common to most of the general candidates was the anger they have against this reservation system which hampers their chances to get into a better college than their colleagues that enjoy various kind of reservations. I can very well understand their anger having been myself denied some of the finest institutions because of this reservation system. But still I would suggest to my friends to reassess it with an open and impartial mind rising above their personal gains.

The amount of exposure that the reservation theory has got in the past few years means that most of the young people are well versed with all the history and technicalities of reservations in India. Still for those who aren’t too sure of this I would like to throw some light on the history of reservations in India. Reservations in favour of Backward Classes (BCs) were introduced long before Independence in a large area, comprising the Presidency areas and the Princely States south of the Vindhyas. Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj, Maharaja of Kolhapur in Maharashtra introduced reservation in favour of backward classes as early as 1902 to eradicate poverty from amongst them and to give them their due share in the State administration. The notification of 1902 created 50% reservation in services for backward classes/communities in the State of Kolhapur. This notification is the first Govt. Order providing for reservation for the welfare of depressed classes in India. The present system of reservation that we see today was introduced in the Indian Constitution by the premier politician Dr. B.R.Ambedkar . While providing equality of opportunity for all citizens, the constitution contains special clauses "for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes”. (These were subsequently extended for every 10 years through constitutional amendments). Thereafter on recommendations of various commissions such as Mandal commission some more reservations concerning Backward Classes were implemented. Later in the year 2005 and 06 the reservation system was increased as well as was introduced in private institutions causing great uproar among the younger lot all over the country but resulting in nothing except 2-3 years delay in their introduction! The present scenario is in front of all of you and you might have been affected by it some or the other way with some deductions for the creamy layer of OBCs and reservation about 49.5% and more in some states.

Having seen the historical background of the quota system let’s talk about the relevancy of the quota system in the present scenario. As the two faces of the same coin the reservation has got its own plus points and drawbacks as well. It’s up to us which face we are more interested in. Lets first see what all is the criticism surrounding the implementations of the reservations. The biggest one is surely that it is a big weapon to kill meritocracy and is degrading the quality of various eminent institutions such as IITs and IIMs. In addition to this the caste based reservation has been charged of perpetuating the notion of caste in society in which the majority of the population is young who are willing to move forward leaving behind all that happened centuries ago. They are trying to work with full zeal to achieve various targets but feel there steps dragged many steps back with reserved students who are less competent than them get a chance ahead of them, this is really demoralizing at times. Another big aura of criticism always surrounding the reservation system is its politicization. The way that the politicians have used the reservation as an agenda to strengthen their vote bank in various caste and creed. The uneducated people belonging to these castes get moved by various false statements by them. And in reality nearly all of us would agree that it is seldom that the real needy person gets the advantage of all these plans. It is mostly those who can afford to do without these. The implementation policies of the government are very faulty as it has been generally noted the real gainer are never the real needier. The politicians have been found guilty of not having been implementing 33% reservations in parliament even after more than a decade after it was introdused for the first time and having failed 5 more times over so many years. This obviously makes a suspicious of the real motives of our so called honest politicians. Various more criticisms can be added to the already long list such as reservations are hampering the image of India as world leaders in any field because the talented students sometimes get a backseat in these times of competitions. Also the way we deal with talent has already caused lots of brain drain, and we would need to stop acting foolishly while dealing with the talented people by providing such hindrances on national level. Also it has been advised to implement “A comprehensive scheme of Affirmative Action” prevalent in various western countries including US and UK.

As has been made by the very rule of nature nothing comes with only faults or only merits .Having seen many of the faults in this system and I am sure you all reading there might be having some more vibrant thoughts crossing your mind while reading this I think it’s time we try to see with an impartial mind the merits behind the very introduction of this system because we can never rule out that the people who were behind the very idea of reservations were one of the most intellectual persons of the modern era of Indian history. We just can’t keep on comparing ourselves to the societies of western countries say US, we need to remember that they are the newest countries while we are as old as the any of the human establishments and the lone to survive so long. We have our own problems which can’t be faced on the models of other countries. The other big thing is that even if every student is not getting benefitted still various students from these backward classes have been big beneficiary from these reservations raising not only there standards but of their family, locality and ultimately their society. Although it isn’t the only way to eradicate the problems but it is surely one of the ways. Although talks of meritocracy isn’t baseless but we must realize living in a democracy we must respect the ideals of equality for all, and to help the underprivileged to grow should be our priority as a nationalist. Even if we see it this way or not but it has somehow increased the competition level in general candidates as well. This way it is helping to refine the talent.

Having seen few of the merits and demerits (there are a lot many if we want to have a big discussion on them) one thing is for sure things are not going to change fast politically but what we can do for future generations is to produce a caste and reservation free future in which the students get selected by their merits and don’t get any benefit or dragged (this applying for both general and reserved) on the basis of their birth. It is us who need to start on a note of making India a credible country on global level. Let’s start, let us all enter various fields of engineering, medical, civil services, politics and change the way the country is run and provide equal opportunities to all the young blood of our countries.