Every nation has a duty of equitable distribution of resources among its citizens. The uneven distribution leads to internal conflicts & social revolts. Partition of India is historical example of the culmination of policies causing alienation of a particular community. On the eve of independence, India was presented with a historical opportunity to amend mistakes of history. Thus, the constitution makers decided to abolish untouchability & provided for the reservation of seats to SCs/STs. The reason was the atrocities faced by these communities historically. It led to their social & educational backwardness that manifested itself in unequal access to resources & unequal representation at various levels. Later the policy was extended to OBCs in 1991. The policy of reservation has been a subject of wide scale public debate & scrutiny. Since, the issue touches the lives of every aspirational Indian every one has an opinion on it. The key debates centres around the criteria, efficacy as well as outcomes of the policy.
The most vocal opposition of policy comes from a group deprived of its benefits i.e. the upper castes. The major sentiment that prevails is that, the policy deprives the meritorious students of opportunities. The drop-out of SC/ST student from educational institutes due to their incompetence with the required standards is cited as the wastage of resources. It has negative effect on country's growth. Others suggest an income based criteria. They argue that a well-off Dalit with access to resources gets preference over a poor from upper castes. These oppositions are not to be taken as any malign motive of those belonging to upper caste. Rather, reservation policy become an easy culprit to blame in a country facing scarcity of opportunities. At the same time not everyone belonging to upper caste opposes the policy. Some see it important to promote social equity. Yet, they have their doubts regarding the implementation. Reservation, according to them, creates caste based resentment among those who are deprived, which is contrary to original idea of annihilation. Also, many backward castes among SC/ST & women have remained backward as the benefits are availed by better equipped among them.
The SC/ST community naturally defends the policy. Counter-arguments are provided to every question raised by those who oppose the policy. Merit, they argue, is not an inherent quality, rather can be cultivated once opportunity is provided. India as a developing country with limited resources uses entrance tests as a proxy for merit. Hence, exams must be seen as policy tools to filter out students rather than a test of merit. Allocation of few seat in this filtering for socially backward seems justified. The income criteria is rejected emphasizing that reservation is not a poverty alleviation program. Govt. already has several schemes for upliftment of poor. Also, caste based discrimination has little to do with the economic status of individual. The discrimination only changes its form with upward economic mobility. In rural areas, practices like separate tea glasses, destruction of property, khap dictats are still prevalent. Besides, there is huge resentment for those involved in menial tasks like cattle skinning & cleaning. In cities, the discrimination is more subtle. Lower caste individuals are made aware of their castes at various levels, managers in private jobs favor their caste candidates etc. Some argue that resentment the policy generates is much better the rejection they face without it.
There have been several positives of reservation in decades following reservation. The representation of SC/ST in group A & B services has rise slowly but continuously. Huge amount of students (consequently the whole family) benefitted from the reservation in educational institutes. The role of educational institutes is not limited to technical education. It provided much needed awareness & confidence to break the stigma associated with caste. The difference awareness can create, can be seen in the difference in political clout of OBCs & SCs both belonging to lower castes. The OBCs command higher clout & representation in many political parties without any reservation in legislature. SCs even with reservation have a limited political presence. This shows that society is much comfortable in accommodating socially backward OBCs compared to SC/STs with stigma of untouchability attached to them.
Apart from these positives, the representation of lower castes in all spheres is smaller than their proportion in population. Hence, the continuation of policy until this objective is achieved seems justified. There is added need on govt.'s part to see reservation as a means rather than a end. It must be supported with enhanced efforts at primary education level, support during higher education & other benefits like easy credit & land reforms. For upper castes, the opportunities will inevitably rise with the march towards development. The govt. is already opening new institutes to accommodate more students of all classes. With liberalization of economy, public sector jobs constitute miniscule proportion of total jobs. With no reservation in private sector as yet, the opportunities have risen tremendously for upper castes post reforms. Hence, rather than absolute opposition to the policy, need of the hour is to find ways to improve its efficacy. Opportunity proliferation is the sure route to caste annihilation.
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