Curse of Reservation

Reservation means giving differential treatment to certain classes of persons owing to their backwardnes. The object of granting reservation is welfare & upliftment of backward & under priveleged classes of Indian citizens so as to enable them to live with dignity & honour in the country. So, reservation has a very noble purpose attached to it. Article 16(4) of Indian Constitution empowers the government to make special provisions for reservation of any backward classes of Indian citizens which in it's opinion are not adequately represented.
But the truth is completely opposite to that. In reality, the people who actually need the benefit of reservation hardly get it because in India reservation is caste based rather than economy based due to which the rich people of a particular reserved caste manage to take advantage of reservation while depriving the poor people of same caste. This Creamy Layer is the biggest hurdle in proper implementation of reservation policy.
For the politicians reservation is nothing but a subject of vote bank politics on which they can cook some of their political chapatis. Whenever issue of reservation is raised no political party has the courage to oppose it. In fact, reservation is the only topic on which all the political parties are always unanimously together.
In India, caste is much more important than merit to get admission in a Government Institute or to get a Government job. A rich but incompetent person belonging to Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe or Other Backward Classes manage to get the admission or job due to reservation while a poor but competent person belonging to General Category is deprived of same admission or job because of same reservation. This absurd reservation policy gives rise to class conflicts.
The government is not ready to provide reservation to the poor & backward at the grass root level like schools because children can't vote. The government is interested in granting reservation only to those who can vote.
Supreme Court has expressed it's displeasure over the resevation policy of government many times. Supreme Court has asked the government time & again to fix the time limit of reservation & remove Creamy Layer from reserved categories but the government lacks the courage to do that. If Supreme Court hadn't put the 50% cap on reservation in Indira Sawhney vs. Union of India case famously known as The Mandal Case there is no doubt that reservations could have gone up as high as 80 to 90% in many States.
To make the matters worse some politicians are now demanding reservation even in Private Sectors while some want reservation for people belonging to a particular religion like Muslims & Christians. If these politicians are not stopped right now the day is not far when they will start demanding reservation in Indian Cricket & Hockey team as well as in other sports.
A country which gives preference to caste over merit can never progress. All the developed countries like America, England, Australia etc. are called developed countries because merit is the sole criteria there. If incompetent persons are allowed to become doctors, engineers, pilots, professors, scientists, lawyers with the help of reservation it will disastrous for the whole country.
What is most pathetic is that the government is providing 50% reservation to people belonging to SC, ST & OBCs without even knowing their actual number. Last caste census in India took place in 1931 & since then no caste census has ever taken place. Actual figures of SC, ST, & OBCs can't be determined without conducting a caste census. Further, Article 16(4) of Indian Constitution provides for adequate representation of backward people rather than proportionate representation.
There are much better ways than reservation to develop & uplift backward people like providing free & compulsory education to such people, developing infrastructure like schools, colleges, roads, transport, Communication & industries in such backward & under developed areas. If such measures are adopted by the government there won't be any need of reservation. But implementation of these measures requires a lot of time, money & effort which the government is not willing to spend. On the other hand reservation is a much easier way to garner votes without spending much time, money & effort.
There are rich as well as poor people in all the castes & communities. So, caste can't be the sole criteria to fix reservation. Instead, economic condition must be the criteria. Further, reservation can't be given to any caste or class forever. It must be given for specified period of time & after the expiry of such period the benefit of reservation must be withdrawn from such caste or class.
Moreover, once a person has availed the benefit of reservation his children must not be extended the same benefit. So, reservation must be limited to one generation only so as to provide fair & equal opportunity to all the other people belonging to the same reserved category. Reservation must not have perpetual succession.
Reservation is also a threat to National Integration of India as it divides people on the basis of caste. When a person lesser in qualification & merit is given preference over a much more qualified & meritorious candidate only because of his caste, caste conflicts are inevitable.
Reservation also creates an impression on the mind of people that those who belong to unreserved or general category are superior & higher in status than those belonging to reserved categories.
Thus, not only the reservation policy of India is defective but reservation itself also has more drawbacks than merits attached to it. There is hardly any point in persisting with reservation as it is doing no good to anyone except a bunch of few people. In fact, it has become the biggest menace engulfing our country. It's high time for the Indian Government to take this brave decision & abolish reservation throughout the country as it is the biggest impediment in the progress of Indian Economy.

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Haider Ajaz