Reservation System in India

Reservation system was envisaged by our forefathers to level the playing field for the oppressed, exploited and most discriminated against social castes. The sections of society which got the most benefit out of these policies were the ones which were treated as outcastes and semi animals in the Orthodox Brahmanical society structure. The nation which was rising from the centuries of exploitation in the Post world war era as a former colony of Great Britain was based on ideas of equality, fraternity, equity, democracy and liberty. These ideas were first seen in action when the Constituent assembly which was discussing each and every law, rules and sub rules passed the clause of Universal Adult Franchise without any opposition. The second matter which didn't come up for debate was that the Government of Independent India would for the development of all and not just of the Landlord's, businessman and Sarkari Babu's.

The assembly tasked with the momentous task of creating a constitution for new and rising India felt that to follow the values mentioned in the Preamble of Constitution of India, they need to provide some special rights and securities to the lowest of the lowest. The Reservation policy is based on the idea of positive discrimination and implicates the idea of equity. When it was implemented, it was one of the best sources of motivation and happiness for the Dalit community and one of the most detested provisions for the Upper castes. This provision by its very definition is temporary in nature and needs to be renewed every ten years. It was involved as a way to gauge the then situation by the policy makers and to introduce new changes and as and when required for the reservation system to remain efficient and cater to the upliftment of the downtrodden.

During the last few years, the intended beneficiaries of the reservation system have been sidelined and the quota have been used by the first-generation Officers, Engineers and other job holders. When you compare two families both Dalits but one family have more than enough financial capital, technology and resources so much so that they don’t need any policy for them to support them, this was only possible because of the policy of reservation. On the other hand, one family doesn't have enough to eat two decent meals a day let alone to study and learn a skill. One can gauge how unfair this competition would be. This phenomenon has become quite widespread in the last few years and has led to a wide-ranging disparity amongst the Dalit community and have divided them into haves and have nots. This has led to the decrease in the effectiveness of this policy to provide welfare and level ground for the intended people.

There is a need to revamp and change the parameters for providing this policy. In the 1950's, the lower castes and exploitation went hand in hand, but in present times due to the division amongst the castes on resources and power, it has become necessary to take another base for providing reservation. No is debating the importance of the policy but only the basis on which it is provided. The recent census and surveys conducted the different ministries have given us enough evidence that Reservation policy is much more important in this ever-dividing world. The present-day basis is that it assumes that there is no person in upper castes who do not need reservation just because they were born in a particular caste and Varna. During ancient and Medieval times, being born in one of the High castes provided you with the resources and other opportunities, not on one's merit but on birth. It was assumed by our forefathers that this applied even in the twentieth century and the Savarns would not find it hard to earn livelihood based on their birth. It was not an example of positive discrimination but of a negative one. The policy makers didn't tend to think about all those migrants from Pakistan and erstwhile East Pakistan who were forced to leave every immovable property and most of their movable assets during those times. They were forced to build their life from scratch, often going on to live in camps for months and sometimes years. In later years when reservation policy was renewed every decade without any hint of opposition, Kashmiri Pandits were chased out of their home through the slogans of Ralib, Galiv ya Tsaliv (Convert, die or escape). They were forced to become migrants in their own countries yet they were not provided with reservation and a prospering and ancient society of Kashmiri Pandits was destroyed, there freedom curtained, there rights denied.

One can imagine the circumstances were different and uncertain during the decades following independence, during 1990's, but now is the time to perfect act take a bold, and in most probabilities an unpopular decision to change the basis for providing reservation. A start might be to set up a commission to look in the best basis for providing reservation as there is yet a space for reservation policy to serve as a level playing field for times to come.