Is it the time to change reservation system in India?

IS RESERVATION paying its real dividends? Is it trespassing the fundamental law of equality of citizens?

I guess, without any thought we all agree that reservation has not only failed to provide inclusive growth to every section of backward castes but also deprived talented people of getting equal opportunities.

Before going further about this burning topic, let's go back into the origin of reservation. What were the objectives? Why was it set?

Reservation is one of the recommendation of Indian Constitution to uplift certain sections of Indian society, which are denied of equal opportunities since centuries on the basis of caste, gender and geographical regions. Initially the idea is to review and subsequently decrease it after five years. But it has been increasing since then.

Moreover, we have enlarged our quota list from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to 'other backward castes' and 'reservation for upper castes'. Towards the end of 20th century, Mandal Commission further increased the reservation quota. It followed numerous protests. People started linking reservation to violation of equal rights.

Only then, Supreme Court of India introduced the ceiling of 50 per cent to save fundamental law of equal opportunities.

Furthermore, there has been a talk of incentives from government to private companies implementing reservation in private sector. Government is also thinking to enforce reservation for fairer gender in Indian Parliament.

That is all the brief history of reservation. Now, let's ponder a little what reservation has bought to us.

Undoubtedly, reservation has uplifted the social status of schedule castes and bought them into mainstream. It has sunken the caste biases at least at professional and urbane level. It is great achievement of Indian democratic system that we have representatives of these castes in all top positions in bureaucracy and law enforcing agencies. These 'oppressed' people are more free now and raise their voice to claim their rights.

Unfortunately, in spite of all these achievements, reservation didn't come with full expectations. It failed miserably to revive the fortunes of scheduled tribes which are generally located in remote locations. Other backward castes- which constitute 52 per cent of Indian population, have some sections which can not be marked as economically weak or socially deprived. But, they are still harnessing the benefits of reservation.

Moreover, our education system is so expensive that only a small chunk of lower castes has been able to afford this education. That is the reason why most of the quota seats remain vacant. Only a few rich among the reserved class afford to reach that stage.

Unfortunately, reservation has also bought wrong values in society. Vote-bank politics is being played on the name of reservation. We have latest examples of protests of a certain section of society in Rajasthan following the reservation status given to other community in the region. All political parties were patronising such protests to protect their votebank. Undoubtedly, these opinion based demands damage our democracy.

Moreover, we are also facing an acute problem of brain drain. Most of the professionals from prestigious Indian universities such as AIIMS, NITs, IITs are not willing to serve government organisations and going overseas for opportunities, results in to a great talent crunch. This may be one of the reason for lagging government project and policies.

Even after writing all this, I believe in a dream. Dream to give reservation benefit to very person of under-privilege class in next 20 years. Surprised to know that! How can we give reservation benefit to all in next 20 years? We had failed to provide its benefit to 25 per cent of population from last 60 years. How is it possible? Well, it is possible.

I believe reservation benefits should only be given to one generation in a family. If one generation has received jobs through reservation, there is no logic in providing quota to the second generation of same family. Doing so, we can spread reservation benefits to a larger population.

Moreover, reservation benefits should only be given a fixed number of times to a person. It should not be like that a person is enjoying the quota while taking admission in university, again getting a job and then getting promotion, again getting subsidised housing etc. Prohibiting a person to get multiple reservation benefits will give opportunity to other people in under-privilege class.

The current ceiling to identify creamy layer among OBCs needs to be amended. Right now, annual income of 4.5 lakh is not practical for small cities where expenses are less.

I believe, there is a need to provide need-based scholarship to lower castes so that they can afford this costly education. Providing a good scholarship is more important than increasing reservation quota. If we don’t have adequate qualified candidates, what is the use of reservation?

Reservation should have lifetime predefined at the time of implementation and government should constantly come up with the innovative solutions to uplift backward castes.

If we analyse, our constitution makers had come up with a good innovative reservation. Only, we have twisted this idea and misused it.

Definitely, reservation alone is not the solution. If we implement it with proper amendments and other incentives like scholarship then we can reap rich dividends from it and realise the dream of inclusive growth.

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Haider Ajaz