ESSAY

Reservation – A Boon or Bane for Developing India

Ananya Mondal

Injustice arises when equals are treated unequally and also when unequals are
treated equally.” – Aristotle.
The essence of this profound statement is what lies at the heart of equality
– a fundamental right. Every human simply by virtue of being a human deserves
equal treatment. The most significant, pervasive and violent discrimination in
our country is the centuries old caste system. The Constitution of India abolished
the old caste system in 1952 and declared untouchability a crime. Initially, the
reason of appearing the very term ‘reservation' in Indian Constitution was for
giving equal opportunity to everyone.
The Reservation in India is the process of setting aside a certain percentage
of seats (vacancies) in government institutions for members of backward and
under-represented communities defined primarily by caste and tribe. The
system finds its origin soon after Independence with the help of Dr. Ambedkar.
The main objective is to provide increased opportunities, enhanced social and
economical status, and well being of the under privileged class popularly know
as Scheduled Castes (SCs – the lower castes in the caste-hierarchy of the Hindu
culture), Scheduled Tribes (STs – the tribes that are not confirmed to Hinduism),
and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Constitution of India states in Article 15(4) : “Nothing in [Article 15] or
in clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special
provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward
classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.” Article
46 of the Constitution states that “The State shall promote with special care the
education and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in
particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect
them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.”
Initially, in 1954, the Ministry of Education suggested that for SCs the
reserved places should be 20 percent and STs in educational institutions with a
provision to relax minimum qualifying marks for admission should be 5 percent
wherever required. In 1982, the reserved places for the SC and ST candidates
became 15 percent and 7.5 percent respectively in public sector and
government-aided educational institutes. A significant change began in 1978
when the Mandal Commission appears to assess the situation of the socially and
educationally backward classes. In 1980 the commission’s report recommended
that the Union Government operated a reserved quota for OBCs of 27 percent
in respect of services and public sector bodies. The Supreme Court of India ruled
in 1992 that reservations could not exceed 50 percent. However, there are state
laws that exceed this 50 percent limit and these are under litigation in the
Supreme Court. For example, in the State of Tamil Nadu, the caste-based
reservation stands at 69 percent and applies to about 87 percent of the
population.
In reality, the Reservation policy fails to achieve its purpose of giving equal
opportunity to everyone because of lack of infrastructure in the rural areas of
the country where the proportional of backward classes is significant. A number
of people living in the interior parts of the nation, they are not even aware of
these policies. They are deprived of even primary education and basic
employment which make them more backward financially. Despite
constitutional prohibitions and laws, violence and injustices against
untouchables continue even today, particularly in rural areas.
Notably there is no abolishment of caste system. Instead the disparity
increases because of antagonistic attitude on both sides. Mostly undeserving
people have gained the advantages and the deserving ones are still without any
positive change in their plight. Thus the members of lower class strongly feel
that they do not have sufficient reservation and the members of upper class feel
that inspite of their hard work and merits they do not have the same
opportunities. Students having a better score and eligibility fail to get an
admission in a prestigious college as a student with lesser score and a
reservation fills that seat. An employee have less qualification but being from a
reserved category easily gets promotion instead of a hard working employee. In
this manner the whole purpose of providing equal opportunity gets defeated.
The current slogan in India seems to be “abolish reservation because merit and
efficiently are in danger.”
In conclusion Reservation is definitely required but not for the people with
lower caste but for the people with lower income. However, the policy of
reservation has to be scientific and rational. Only the first generation
beneficiaries should take the advantages of reservation, that is to say, those
candidates should not take facilities whose parents have already availed
reservation facilities in securing a job. It is essential to apply the concept of
creamy layer to SCs and STs also. Progress is impossible without changes. It's the
time that our government should bring in a big change in the reservation system
ensuring the development of Indian society.