Reservation in India

The opponents of this policy have criticized the measure many grounds. In their opinion, such measures demoralize the beneficiaries and results in the wastage of talents. Under this scheme individuals are deprived of the opportunity they deserve on merit. Beneficiaries, instead of making any sincere efforts, start depending on the schemes, losing their sense of dignity and self respect. It has also been argued that such protections have blunted the skills and resources of those who benefit by them. Long continuation of these concessions has created a vested interest making the beneficiaries to fell that they can not prosper without special treatment. People belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and also the backward classes now do not want to make any efforts to develop such skills and resources as to enable them to compete with other without special treatment. Undoubtedly these concession have deprived a section of the community its due.

Neither our Constitution nor the Kaka Kalelkar Commission has laid down any criteria for the identification of the backward classes. It is a relative concept. How to decide it ? Great resentment is found in the people because some communities which ought not be included in the category of backward classes, have been included only on political considerations. This has caused provocation to that extent resulting in the violent agitations of Gujarat, where students resented and vehemently opposed the new policy regarding reservation of seats in medical colleges. In India’s rural society a vast majority of people live below the poverty line. Some of these people do not belong to the category included in the list of ‘backward classes’ while among the so called backward classes there are some sections which have strong base – they are prosperous farmers having enough land.

Another aspect of reservation is that the advantages and privileges under this scheme do not reach all eligible persons. The emergent elite among them corner the bulk of fruits of advantages with the result that the under privileged among them remain where they were.

On the contrary, the poorer sections among the so called ‘High Classes’, have suffered a lot by these faulty measures on one hand and the poorer sections of the backward classes have been deprived of all such privileges by the elite and privileged among them. ‘Reservation of posts is not a solution to this problem of backwardness. If continued, it will lead to class conflict and disintegration of society.

It will be too late if timely steps are not taken to remedy these measures when economic conditions should be the only criterion for granting protective benefits, casting aside all linkages with caste and community. Immediate and effective steps in this directive can save the country from this state of class conflict and class-hatred thus making the country politically and economically strong.