They ask “what is in a name?” I say “everything!” if you are an Indian. If you have a surname that figures in a certain list, you can be assured that you do not have to work hard or study, fail every exam and still make it to the best colleges, institutions and jobs in the country. On the other hand, if you are amongst the unfortunate ones, you may work as hard as you can but still be assured that your seat in the college or you position will always be occupied by someone much less deserving than you. Yes I am talking about reservation for SC/STs/OBCs and god-knows-what-else.
What exactly is reservation? I am not sure how it is defined in the Indian Constitution or the bills and laws our honorable (using this word only because I do not swear on the blog) Minister Arjun Singh and before him the Mandal commission defines it. I just don’t care. In reality, reservation in India is just another means of grabbing votes and ensuring that the country progresses as much backwards as it possibly could.
However, let me give you a bit of background. Reservation is not a concept unique to India. It exists in other nations too, most notably US, where a percentage of jobs are reserved for the African American or other “disadvantaged” people. In India too reservation was adopted with good intentions, to help the DALITS, who had been traditionally abused by the so called upper castes. After India gained independence, the constitution asserted that certain groups of people, namely the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes, were under-represented in the country’s social structure because they had been historically oppressed. Reservation was an attempt to abolish the oppressions such as untouchability and reduce caste differences by giving the SCs and STs opportunities to better their lives and integrate themselves into the country’s social fabric. To this effect the constitution reserved 15% seats in government aided educational institutions and 7.5% jobs in the government sector for these “backward” classes.
However, several safeguards accompanied these reservation provisions. First the constitution laid down that the provision was to be reviewed after 5 years and the reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislature was initially set to expire after a period of ten years. However out of fear of losing the vote bank, this portion of the clause was totally ignored and the constitution amended several times- the policy is now set to expire on January 25th 2010. Secondly the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and STs was created, whose purpose was to monitor and evaluate the effect of these policies. Also the supreme court also rules that reservations cannot exceed 50%. However, states like Tamil Nadu (proposed 68% reservation) and Tamil Nadu (69% at least) speak their own story.
In spite of all the safeguard, government after government have gone on to amend the constitution, in order to grab votes and fulfill their own narrow interest of remaining in power without a second thought about the country’s future. The most interesting part of reservation is that it was introduced to abolish casteism, the Indian constitution preaches ideals of equality and social justice. But he whole concept of reservation is based on caste(which is dictated only by birth) and caste alone. Although reservations may be based on State of Domicile or even Gender, it is the caste or birth based reservation that is most primary.
What are the implications of such reservations? Simply saying, a SC/ST and now an OBC student needs to know only as much as a 5th class General Student to get admission into even the most premier institutions of India. In the IIT/JEE exam, a reserved category applicant need score only 65% of the last admitted General Category Student. In 2008, the IIT/JEE cutoff for General Category students was somewhere around 185/486. So a reserved category student needs score only about 120 to get admitted- that is approximately 25%. In AIIMS there are incidents of students scoring as low as 14% or 19% being admitted into PG courses! And we are talking about doctors here! These figures very well paint the scary situation of our country.
Economists are contemplating India’s sustainable growth. I wonder if we are not being a little over optimistic even debating such topics, while we are entrusting the country’s future to a whole bunch of under-graduates and graduates whose only qualification and achievement is their birth. After the last amendment, few years from now, each year we would have nearly 50% of graduating doctors, engineers and managers , who frankly do not deserve to be there. We will have doctors who might not even know the difference between the kidney and the heart., imagine getting operated by such a doctor! We shall have building/bridges being built by civil engineers who do not know the basics of engineering. We shall have MBAs who do not know to add 2 and 2. Forget sustainable growth! Where will these heralders of doom take the nation?
I do not have any issues with reservation, if that is implemented in the right spirit. But baseless reservations, just to grab votes in something I totally do not agree to. Why is reservation based on caste alone? Should it not be based on the economic and social standard of the person? Should a family who share the same neighborhood as a General family get preferential treatment simply because they happen to have a particular surname? If these people are in fact backwards, what are they doing in town, cities and the metros? How is it possible that these so called socially and economically backward people drive luxury cars, dine in fine restaurants and shop at the most fashionable places? Are they not backwards then? Or is it when they want admissions to colleges and jobs they remember that they are backward? I wish it was possible to siphon off all such people asking for “backwardness” into a separate country. They could have Arjun Singh as their PM and spend their time happily clamoring for even Stone Age status if they liked. If there was a 10th world, this country would be the first to qualify, ahead of even the current most- distressed country. These people would have rightly got what they deserve, a country which is as backwards as they claim they themselves are.
I do not know what we can do to stop such injustice. But in all anger, I feel we could implement a few crazy ideas-
- Lets not vote for a party whose means of grabbing votes is increasing reservations.
- General category people should take active interest in politics.
- Before we consult a doctor lets make sure that he/she is not from the reserved category. After all we should be cautious about who we are entrusting our health or even life to.
- Since the reservation policy propagates discrimination, the General category people (teachers and students alike) should also do just that. In colleges and institutions let us discriminate against suchundeserving students.
Why should only the General student slog and burn the midnight oil? Why should only we suffer? If a person claims he/she is backwards, that he/she is not intelligent enough, then what is their claim to these seats in premier institutions that they unabashedly queue up for? If they are not good enough to score as well as a General Category student, do they not realize it that it is not because the general category has discriminated against them but because they are simply not good enough? That the problem possibly lie somewhere in their foundation? Then why not implement reservation for primary education? And if two students have had the same primary education how can one be entitled to reservation privileges while the other is not? Why should promotions in Government jobs be dictated by caste? Once a person gets a job shouldn’t promotions be determined by each individuals performance? Why do the General Student/Employee have to pay the price for a reserved category person’s stupidity, under performance and inability?
When I think of reservation I feel ashamed to have been born in this country, a country which says “birth is supreme”. A country where intelligence and capability are secondary to one’s caste. A country which preaches discrimination, injustice and inequality in all walks of life, hiding behind the sham of reservation for the underprivileged. One day India will probably have 99% reservations! Thanks to all our politicians and even the people who are not even a bit ashamed to claim they are “backwards” – and in what? Backwards in their mental capability, backwards in their performance ability?
Hitler fought to prove that the Germans were the best amongst all, USA went to war to prove they are the most superior of all. We in India scream, fight and even kill to establish ourselves as the most backwards of all!
Comments are invited 
alas,we urban youth, we cloak our vision to what suits us fine,we see what needs to be seen,we hear what we want to,we make friends with ppl with our class(not caste), we forget the 800 million in the villages…
I am a pro-reservationist in the general sense..off course i don’t support always the ways its been implemented so far but by personal experience i know that reservation has gone a long way in bringing a positive change in india…
Anti-lower castes society is a historical truth…we cannot compare the intellectual abilities of a tribal who has no history of education in his community to us who have always had our parents and grand parents stressing on the need for education…
if u still say u as a upper class convent educated youth whose parents have studied well and and a dalit/tribal who has no background of studies is the same and both of u deserve equal oppurtunities then i beg to disagree on it…
i dont think u and them are the same or will ever be the same for atleast a few generations…history is not something u can wipe off in 60 years…60 years is just a generation ..but these lower castes have suffered and still suffer for more than 3000 years…
IIT/JEE is no big deal…whats the big point in making a brahmin an engineer? dont u think if a tribal becomes an engineer he will support his community more and also more ppl will come out of poverty? what will an upper caste do ? he will study in the iim/iit and catch the next flight to the US of A…
what do u aspire our country to become? should we be just like the US? a country of technocrats….i dont think so…the SC/ST/OBC are nearly 70% of the population of india…u cannot leave them behind…
a tribal or a dalit is really the one who has to burn the mid night oil….i did not need to…i attended the best schools,colleges etc etc…i had it in a platter…
Let me give u an example of a friend of mine from college..he was a tribal whos father did some menial job…he had no facilties…he studied in a government school and even taught his own juniors the lessons…when he came to our college he was shy,not sociable bcos he had never been in such an atmosphere…but he learnt,changed got a job and helped his brother and sister complete their education….now his whole tribal community in his village looks upto him and force other kids to follow his example…he had no chance if reservation was not there ….thats the change that india needs…
i would give up my seat anyday if i could give it to a person from whom a whole family benefits…me as a brahmin has no one to inspire… but i would like to add that i dont have to give my seat,we have enough seats to study,we may have to settle for just a little lesser college,no big deal if u consider the change it may bring to india..
I would like to end by saying, the failures of reservation are not in the people.The SC/ST or the OBC are not inherently dumb as u suggest and in assuming that they are dumb and they cannot get a seat ,they fight for reservation, is completely not true.
Mr Devi Prasad Shetty is an OBC. He is the most famous doctor in Bangalore( Narayana Hrudayalaya).
Appreciate your comments. Precisely why I wrote: “I do not have any issues with reservation, if that is implemented in the right spirit. But baseless reservations, just to grab votes in something I totally do not agree to. Why is reservation based on caste alone? Should it not be based on the economic and social standard of the person?”….
Let me exemplify what the current reservation policy fails to address…A tribal hailing from a family without a proper education background, whose father like you have said “does menial labor” definitely deserves reservation privileges. However, there are many Brahmins too, Kerela Brahmins are a fine example, who live is abject poverty, the same kind of life which probably your tribal live. Can you even contemplate what reservation has done to these people. At least the good tribal student finally gets a good education because of reservation. What about these poor Brahmin or other such General category student? They do not have any such privileges. But do you not think that they also deserve it?
My debate in this article is that reservation should not be caste based alone. Let me also take the assistance of my own experience. My next door neighbors are OBCs. This family has lived in the same locality I have been brought up in. They have had the same education I have had, we attended the same school. They also had everything “in the same platter as me”…. Then why should they get privileges while I cannot? Can you even contemplate the number of such people who take unfair advantage of such policies? And reservation benefits are mostly exercised by these undeserving people.
Coming back to my argument again- shouldn’t reservation be based on economic and social standard instead of caste alone?
Also what is the basis of people who have had everything in the same “platter as I’ve had” to demand reservations? Is their claim to backwardness because they had a great great ancestor who was actually backwards, justifiable? Even though generations after that have had proper education and economic standard, though they live in the towns and cities and attend the best schools? Then why do the need reservation? Why can’t they compete with mainstream General category students? Just goes on to prove that even they agree that they are plain dumb or just don’t try hard enough or probably, when they can have the easier way, why try at all kind.
SC/STs/OBCs comprise 70% of the Indian population. With 50% reservation for them, where does it leave the General Population? Especially since this figure can only increase.
@bangaloreblogger
this guy seems to be very inspired by major steps taken like this by our senseless politicians (not all but most of them). Even in his blog he got the some junk point from Raj Thackary(MNS). And people like him supported his blog but people like me who did not support — their commments got deleted.
Actually I dont support reservation but may be only for SC and STs and one they get it their next generation should not get it. but even intention for implementiing for OBCs etc is very wrong. Thats why they deny for creamy layer. Because whole point is vote bank. Our politicans have learned (from British and other ruled our country for 100s of years) that best way to get support is “devide and rule”.
But people like bangalorebloggers will not understand because they are exactly same as our politicians.
I tell you what exaclty out of this reservations. Mostly (again not all) people who get advantage out of it are in better position that normal lower midlde class indians forget about tribes etc who actually deserver it and thats the reason politicans dont agree for creamy layer concept. I know from my college all this reserved category people were travelling on flights and getting all kind of advantage like no fee, free books etc etc…
Actually we should thank to Tamilnadu (mainly Karundanidhi) who defied Supreme court by implementing 70% reservation long time back. Now other states are trying to implement it..
Exactly what I am trying to say here. The benfits of reservation are reaped mostly by the already well-off section amongst the so called backwards classes. They do not deserve these priviledges in teh first place. Also the point of limiting reservation to just one generation of a family is a very good one. Once a family has availed the benefits, clutched at the ropes and pulled themselves out of the grips of poverty and backwardness, there is no reason to extend the benefits to the next generation. At max these might be extended to two generations. But the current policies have no such limits. Thats what is exactly wrong with the policy.
@juno,rahul
I dont think u only meant that reservation is for people who are deserving etc etc… all through the post i see a diatribe against SC/ST/OBC mentioning at many places that they are inherently dumb…
anyways i wrote what i felt…its futile to keep on explaining when people start the economic vs social backwardness debate as ppl who have not felt discrimination cannot understand it…
all policies of the government are exploited, so what do u want the government to do? not make policies? and all this economic based reservation is practically not possible…u think ppl cannot fudge economic details? and whats the criteria to apply? ok 10000 rs per month and below per family? then can that criteria be the the same for say a city like bangalore and a village in bidar?
As i said,i am pro-reservation if implemted the right way, it has in a certain extent done what it went out to acheive…off course there are cases where ppl make use of the facility in a wrong way …
i am sure ur neighbours will prove they are poor if they did not have an OBC tag…thats why i said its a people problem…the upper castes will keep discriminating and the lower caste politicians will make their presence felt by getting reservations…
and u have mentioned about kerala brahmins, if u can prove that they are more or as backward as say tribals of chattisgarh or dalits of UP,i am willing to sponsor a brahmin child…
don mix up poverty with social backwardness….a poor dalit is not in the same league as an equally poor brahmin… a poor brahmin has community support and does not have to face mental harassment…a dalit has to… a child growing up as a dalit/tribal grows up with an inferiority complex that u upper castes will never understand…
anyways i am bored with pro-anti reservation debates…opinions vary but sometime when u see things working on the ground, u will change…
as i said u ppl see what u want to and hear what u want to…u see only prospering dalits,obc,tribals and say “Oh,my god,he is ther because he took my seat” ….come out of it…
@bangaloreblogger
If you think day by reservation is being increased for the betterment for these societies then why politicans are afraid of accepting creamy layer…
Why Tammilnadu went ahead by crossing limit of maximum 50% reservation and now many states..
Regarding practicality of implementing reservation on the basis of economics, its possible and this is what clearly written in creamy layer policies and also law of maximum 50% reservation is there..but they wont follow..
What do u think do needy people really getting benefited of reservation..answer is no..may be 5 out of 100. But the main problem is india being divided on the basis on caste and religion…now if SC/ST is expelled from the college he/she says because of his caste…and I am sure this things going to increase in future.
I agree we have made mistake in past and many so called backward people were deprived of good normal life. And thats the one of reason India could not become a developing nation. But does it mean we should make same mistake in other way.
Whatever we have achieved in last 10-15 years mainly due to IT boom this is not going to stay if our politicians will keep on making such decisions…
I see almost every year so many castes are added in backward category. Why? Because of again cheap vote bank politics.
People have started asking from going from OBC to ST. General category have stared asking for reservation even many political parties have started giving attention to this….again its not that they care for country or people..but to divide people in turn get vote banks…
Also I want to add now people have realized that to get free money, job without working hard etc etc..ask for reservation …
I can really remember one of my SC/ST friend (who was rich, talented and used to tell he didnt work hard for the entrance because he knew had seat reserved..so he worked hard…but he was capable enough of getting no 1 college in india)
[...] iwebie.com [...]
Hi ,i just happened to come through this blog from wiki.Over the past few days we have been debating the reservations.I agree with your point of the mechanism of reservations not being right
after reading your passage, I find that you dont know every aspect of our society and culture. So dont post your views on internet untill you you have complete knowledge and understanding.
In this case it became true that “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”.
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