Reservation is the most debated issue in the country. A large number of people are in favor of it. Reservation is not a topic of today, it was presented by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar while drafting the Constitution of India. His intention was to empower the weaker sections of the society and uplift the deprived sections of the society in many aspects. He also kept a time limit of 10 years for this, but unfortunately as political participation started in the Constitution amendment, it continues even today, in today’s society reservation is the main reason for differences in our society. Due to this, competition for every job was increasing and many people were becoming unemployed. Greedy leaders are using votes by telling caste and also pushing reservation. Reservation benefits the leaders but not the public. They only fight for their power and do not consider our problems. The public should realize that reservation should be an option but not a platform for everyone. The government should also ensure that every citizen of this country gets equal opportunities with others. Reservation system based on caste, religion, minorities, etc. should be abolished.
Being a developing nation India is currently facing many challenges and the reservation system is one of them. The centuries-old caste system of India is responsible for the origin of the reservation system in the country. In simple terms, it is about facilitating access to government jobs, educational institutions, and even seats in legislative assemblies for certain sections of the population. These sections have suffered historical injustice due to their caste identity (Dewan and Lal, 2020; Singh, 2016). Today anyone whose ancestors belonged to the ST/SC community gets the benefit of reservation regardless of his/her socio-economic status Originally reservation was given only to SCs and STs, but later it was extended to OBCs as well in 1987 after the implementation of the Mandal Commission report.
Historical background Quota systems favouring certain castes and other communities existed before independence in many areas of British India (Franco and Bulomineregi, 2016; Saxena et al., 2015). Various forms of positive discrimination were demanded, for example in 1882 and 1891. Maharaja Shahu of the princely state of Kolhapur introduced reservations in favour of non-Brahmins and backward classes, most of which came into effect in 1902. He also tried to ensure that those thus educated found suitable employment, and he appealed for both a class-free India and the abolition of untouchability. His 1902 measures created 50 percent reservations for backward communities.
The incorporation of reservation principles through the Government of India Act of 1909 was done by the British Raj, which was followed by another set of measures also implemented before independence (Jangid, 2013; Retna, 2012). One of the important events dates back to June 1932 when Britain met in the Round Table Conference, where Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald put forth a Communal Award, which provided a channel of separate representation for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. Seats were fixed for the Depressed Classes (which are roughly equivalent to STs and SCs), who could vote for themselves only in specific constituencies that would represent them in the electorate; nevertheless, they could come to vote in other places as well. The opposition virtually came into existence at that time: Mahatma Gandhi fasted himself in protest, but there were many from the Depressed Classes, and their leader B.R. Ambedkar supported it. In the peace talks between Bhagwan Gandhi and Amaravadija, it was decided that where there were seats reserved for Dalits, there would be a single constituency for Hindus, with separate constituencies reserved for other religions such as Islam and Sikhism. This was called the Poona Pact (Chin & Prakash, 2011; Garcia-Santana et al., 2014).
After Independence there was a major reform in reservation policies. The Government of India listed Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and went ahead with positive discrimination or affirmative action. What does it mean? The government adopted several measures and policies to reserve a certain number of seats in public jobs and government aided educational institutions for SCs and STs. The reservation quota in educational institutions and government jobs is 7.5% for STs and 15% for SCs. The total reservation for both SCs and STs is 22.5%. In 1992 the reservation for Other Backward Classes or OBCs was increased to 27%. Today, 50% reservation is allowed for SCs, STs and OBCs in educational institutions and public jobs (Castello-Clemente and Mukhopadhyay, 2013). In 2019, a bill to provide 10% reservation to economically weaker sections in the general category was passed. Once implemented, the reservation will increase to a total of 60%.
The reservation system in India has been “constitutionally elaborated” and has been referred to in various ways in the Constitution. It is fundamentally important to acknowledge these different references in the Constitution. The Constitution has a reservation clause, and Articles 15(4) and 46 detail this reservation concept. This also includes the right to equality mentioned in the Constitution of India. A fundamental right, it clearly provides for equal opportunities irrespective of religion, race, sex, caste and place of birth. It provides for the right to equal opportunity through employment and titles, as well as the abolition of untouchability. No one has escaped untouchability. The abolition of untouchability was the biggest victory after Independence, and it turned into a movement that ensured increased opportunities and standards of reservation for SCs or Dalits. The Constitution abolished untouchability under Article 17, and the Untouchability Act of 1955 also made it a punishable offence (Kumar et al. 2021; Krishnan et al. 2010). The preamble states, “Equality of status and opportunity.” So reservation seems to be a logical step. It promotes sections of society that have been neglected for a long time. It has provided equal opportunity or status in society and culture.
The President appointed a Commission on Backward Classes in December 1978 under the chairmanship of the last Member of Parliament, Shri B.P. Mandal, exercising powers under Article 340 of the Constitution, mandated the Commission to research and define criteria for these socially and educationally backward classes and recommend any measures for improving the conditions of these backward classes (Banerjee and Knight, 1985; Kaletsky and Prakash, 2016). Further, it has found from its survey that about 52% of the population of the country falls under the OBC category and at least 27% of the jobs available in the service under the government should be from this class. The Mandal has developed 11 indicators on social, educational and economic backwardness. Apart from backward classes among Hindus, it also found backwardness among non-Hindus, including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists.
• Agrarian crisis:- Entire communities of people like the Jats in Haryana, Patels in Gujarat and Kapus in Andhra Pradesh would actually hold on to the notion that reservation should fix the rural crisis they face, especially after all the agrarian crises that have hit India.
• Unemployment: With the rising rate of unemployment, the demand for reservation may also increase.
• Privileges: The fear of being deprived of one’s privileges or the inability to comply with the competitive environment also contribute to the demand for reservation.
• Wages and salaries: Wages in the private sectors are nowhere close to the wages offered in the public sectors. The entry level salary structure in government jobs is by far the most lucrative compared to others.
• Demands of upper castes: The previously privileged castes, such as Brahmins, Chettiars and Rajputs, felt that they have been heavily deprived as they have no quota, even if they are economically backward, which tags them under the disabled. Hence, they want to bring some of the economically backward classes within them under the ambit of reservation.
• Promoting backward classes The biggest benefit of the reservation system is that it helps in promoting the backward class people because in developing countries like India, backward class people are not able to get good jobs and living standards not because of their skills but because of their caste. Since they are considered untouchable and that is why they are offered work that cannot be done by the upper caste people (Ghani et al., 2014; Kasan and Vandewalle, 2021). In simple words, by giving reservation in government jobs and colleges, the government ensures that they can also do respectable level jobs.
• Monetary benefits Another benefit of the reservation system is that in case of job and college application, people of reservation category are given concession regarding application fees and other charges. In other words due to reservation system poor people from backward class not only get preference over other candidates for the job but also get discount in fees while applying which results in saving of money.
• Reduction in the gap between rich and poor backward class This reservation for government jobs also helps in reducing the income gap between rich and poor backward class ensuring that backward class people earn respectable salary which in turn helps them to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty. In simple words reservation helps in reducing the gap between rich class and poor backward class people.
• Social Justice Reservation schemes are needed to provide social justice to the most marginalized and deprived which is their human right.
• Reduction in poverty line The percentage of Dalits living below the poverty line declined from 51.32% in 1978-79 to 35.97% in 1993-94. However, it was still above the national poverty average.
• Enrolment of SCs and STs in undergraduate, postgraduate, technical and professional courses has increased. The percentage of SC enrolment in these categories increased from 7.08% in 1978-79 to 13.30% in 1995-96.
• Meritocracy versus equality Meritocracy without equality is meaningless. First, all people must be brought to the same level, regardless of merit whether it elevates one class or degrades another. Caste-based reservation also reduced the gap between the upper and lower castes to a great extent.
• Administration equality A study has shown that reservation has not affected the efficiency of administration but rather increased the quality. The best example of this is Indian Railways which has more number of SC/ST employees and the results have also been better.
Just like it has advantages, it also has some disadvantages. The disadvantages which are creating any kind of problems in the society (O’Connell, 2018; Aggarwal, 2017; Singh et al., 2016). As it is helping many backward classes, it is also affecting the forward class people because of the quota system in the current scenario, not every backward class person is economically weak or impoverished, and not every forward is rich. So the concept of caste based reservation is extremely disruptive. In this way a right candidate is not given the opportunity he deserves. The condition of the general category has declined drastically and the condition of many meritorious students is getting worse, who are not being given the opportunities they deserve. Some of the disadvantages of reservation in India are as follows:
• Only the reserved are eligible According to a national survey, only 0.7% of the entire population receives scholarship through merit the rest are reserved. The students who study hard and belong to the general category have no bright chance to avail the opportunity even if they are from financially unstable background. Now the time has come to amend the laws and change the rules for the better.
• Not reaching the needy people Rich and influential backward caste candidates are getting opportunities and benefits from the reservation scheme while the poor backward class people are not. The reservation system is so corrupt and is used in a negative way to fulfill electoral requirements that it fails to fulfill its real propaganda of helping and uplifting the Dalits and socially and economically backward people.
• Denial of Secularism We live in a country in which people of every religion, every caste live and discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, color etc. is a crime. The talk of reservation goes against the idea of secularism. General people getting affected by reservation Quato hates those who are getting benefits even when they do not need reservation. The deprived are not getting their rights. This leads to a world that is not peaceful. If a country provides reservation on the basis of caste then you cannot expect to be free from casteism.
• Caste-based and not merit-based The biggest disadvantage of the reservation system is that in case of competitive exams the selection of a person should be based on merit and not on caste but reservation defies this logic and it rewards people without the restriction on their caste and merit is left behind so if a person gets 80 percent marks in a competitive exam and is not from the reservation category then he will not be selected and the person who is from the reservation category with 60 percent marks will be selected based on the reservation quota.
• It should be income-based Another argument against the reservation system is that it is caste-based and not income-based because if there is an income-based reservation system then all the poor people will get reservation regardless of their caste because people are selected based on poverty and not on their caste and so if the nation wants to bring equality among the citizens then it should opt for income-based reservation instead of caste-based reservation.
• Dirty Politics Another limitation of this system is that due to this politicians and political parties with vested interests try to play this reservation card to win elections which ultimately divides the country. So in simple words, reservation gives politicians a chance to play with the sentiments of the people by using it as a tool to win elections rather than using it for the betterment of the people of the country.
• Reservation is akin to internal division because apart from being a form of caste discrimination, it also builds a wall against inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.
• Reservation is the biggest energizer of meritocracy By effecting reservation through easy admission criteria, we are promoting inflation of medium credentials as opposed to promoting a merit-based education system which is the foundation of many progressive countries. Meritocracy should not be polluted by relaxing entry barriers but should be encouraged by giving financial aid to the underprivileged and only deserving candidates.
• Make education compulsory and free for all till the age of 15 years.
• Reservation based on caste instead of economic status is immoral and unacceptable.
• Fair and reasonable reservations should be provided for the upliftment of people with poor living conditions, who do not have food to eat, clothes to wear and house to live in.
• They will be made on the basis of factors like gender (because since primitive times women are more deprived than men), family education, family employment, family wealth, family income and if there is any disability.
• Provide students the opportunity to earn along with studying.
• Revolutionize our education system at the grassroots level to improve the quality of education. Because if quality education is not provided to children at the primary level then reservation will never be of any use in the next stage.
• Thus reservation is antithetical to development and equality, we do not need reservation on the basis of caste or religion but actually to provide help to those who have minimum resources; merit should be given equal and fair weightage in admission processes as well as employment opportunities. This way we will succeed in eliminating caste discrimination and unite the economically rich to help the economically poor, irrespective of their caste.
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