Demerits of caste based reservation system
Demerits of caste based reservation system
Question - SC recently quashed a Central government notification granting OBC/Other Backward Classes status to Jat community in 9 states. Discuss the demerits of caste based reservation system.
Efforts need to be made to dilute the caste based reservation system. Caste based reservation system has many demerits which are listed below:
• Caste based reservation perpetuates the caste system instead of eliminating it
• Castes based reservation is anti-national because it creates gaps in society
• Caste based policies are also anti-secular because they promote differences instead of removing the; caste reservation is discriminatory
• Caste based reservation is anti-progressive because it does not reward merit or efficiency
• Caste based reservation is a policy for appeasement of the masses and a chance to promote vote bank politics
• Positive discrimination/affirmative action programmes are creating an obstacle for national integration
• Caste is being used for extending benefits in education, public service and representations based solely on the caste status
• Assuming that certain castes are backward is fallacious and incorrect
• Reservation thwarts growth and development; it stands in the way of allegiance to sovereign democratic republic
• The “creamy layer” takes on the benefits of caste based reservation; the latter therefore promotes further inequalities instead of removing them
• Caste should not be the only ground for social backwardness; there are many other criteria for defining backwardness which need to be applied
• Caste system is an obstacle to an egalitarian society
• Caste system causes an entire community to be tagged as backward regardless of whether there are inequalities within the particular community, as is often the case
• Caste based reservation also promotes caste mindedness and a casteist society
• Underprivileged, weaker sections of society do not necessarily belong to any particular caste; economic inequalities are not addressed through a caste based reservation system
• Caste is not the only disadvantageous factor in society; reservation should not be at the cost of social restructuring
• Reverse discrimination is another big problem of applying a caste based reservation system
• Such reservation systems reduce the motivation to perform to the best of one’s ability for backward as well as non-backward classes
• Non backward classes often try to gain backward status to avail privileges even though they are not qualifying for the same which tells us about the deteriorating mindset.
• Caste based reservation also promotes an injustice and animosity towards backward d groups
• Caste consciousness will not be eliminated if caste based reservation is being followed
Facts and Stats
• Caste system originated in South Asia around 2,000 years ago
• Research has found that genetic mixing began in India around 4,200 years ago and stopped 1,900 years ago
• Class distinctions emerged 3,000 to 3,500 years ago
• 4 main castes that exist are the Brahmins, Vaishyas, Kshatriyas and Shudras
• Article 15 of the Indian constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste
Discussion
- RE: Demerits of caste based reservation system -Ravindra singh (04/14/18)
- Caste-based reservation must come to an end, as the same is against the development of the nation;
Ravindra Singh Advocate, Allahabad High Court says, caste-based reservation must come to an end now, as the same is opposed to the development policy of the nation. India being a developing nation is currently facing many challenges and the reservation system being one of them. The biggest question that lies in front of us is whether implementing this reservation system has really helped the downtrodden? The answer is ‘NO’ Dr Ambedkar said that "The caste-based reservation should end at some point; such a reservation policy is not good for any country if it continues perpetually. This should end and a time must come when everyone should get more job opportunities," The reservation system finds its origin in the age-old caste system of India. The caste system at its birth was meant to divide people on the basis of their occupation like teaching and preaching by Brahmins, kingship and war by Kshatriya and lastly business by vaish etc. but soon it became an instrument to divide the society on caste-basis, creating various walls between different sections of the society. Today we stand divided widely into Hindu, Muslim, SC, ST & OBCs with newer reservations coming up for other different sections of the society like Christians, Kashmiris, Jats, Kashmiri Pandits, Tribals etc. we need to understand that the reservation system only divides the society leading to discrimination and conflicts between different sections. It is oppressive and does not find its basis in casteism. It is actually the antithesis of a communal living. The Mandal commission was established in 1979 by the central government to identify the socially or educationally backward people. It was also set up to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress, caste discrimination. It used social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness. But today are these reservations actually being utilized on the above mentioned factors? The answer is prima facie ‘NO’ because the benefits are being stolen away by the creamy layer. The 93rd Constitutional Amendment allows the government to make special provisions for “advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens”, including their admission in aided or unaided private educational institutions. Gradually this reservation policy is to be implemented in private institutions and companies as well. This move led to opposition from non-reserved category students, as the proposal reduced seats for the General (non-reserved) category from the existing 77.5% to less than 50.5% (since members of OBCs are also allowed to contest in the General category).Article 15(4) of our constitution empowers the government to make special provisions for advancement of backward classes. Similarly Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity in matters of employment or appointment to any post under the State. “Clause 2 of article 16 lays down that no citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them be discriminated in respect of any employment or office under the State.” However clause 4 of the same article provides for an exception by conferring a certain kind of power on the government: “it empowers the state to make special provision for the reservation of appointments of posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which in the opinion of the state are not adequately represented in the services” Thus two conditions have to be satisfied: In a case Balaji v/s State of Mysore (AIR 1963 SC649) it was held that ‘caste of a person cannot be the sole criteria for ascertaining whether a particular caste is backward or not. Determinants such as poverty, occupation, place of habitation may all be relevant factors to be taken into consideration. The court further held that it does not mean that if once a caste is considered to be backward it will continue to be backward for all other times. The government should review the test and if a class reaches the state of progress where reservation is not necessary it should delete that class from the list of backward classes.’ What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is a reservation-friendly constitution but nowhere in the constitution is the term ‘backward classes defined. What actually constitutes a backward class? What are the determinants of a backward class? These questions remain unanswered and it is only with the help of judicial pronouncements that they have been given some meaning. Question arises how can reservations be made for something that has not been defined? Today when a student applies for an admission in any university, the admission forms are filled with questions like ‘Are you SC/ST or OBC or General Category?’ How does it matter which category does he belong to, what matters is his merit. A category cannot decide whether he is eligible for admission or not. There many economically worse off children belonging to the forward classes but they cannot get the fruits of such reservation merely by virtue of belonging to the ‘general’ category. Sometimes these children belonging to the backward classes do not even deserve and still possess the necessary merit as against a child who studied very hard for months to get a seat, thereby snatching away that seat just because he comes from a particular religion or caste for which our government provides reservation. Reservation should be purely made on the basis of the economical conditions of the applicant and nothing else. The kind of reservation policy that our government currently follows does nothing but divide the society into different sections. Reservations are nothing but means to prosper the vote banks of politicians. They are hindering the country’s growth, development and competency in all aspects. On one hand the preamble of our constitution states that we are a free, democratic and sovereign nation and on the other hand reservation system is chaining all these aspects into its clutches. It is creating disparity and differences amongst the people. The constitution lays down that every child has a right to education and no where expresses that any child belonging to a backward class has a little more of this right than the general category. By reserving one category against another creates a feeling of division which is now resulting in a chaos with every small section of the society asking for it. Reservations on the basis of caste and not on the basis of condition are bad and unacceptable. Fair and just reservations to uplift the people with poor conditions of life, those who don’t have meals to eat, clothes to wear and no home to live in. They shall be made on the basis of factors such as gender as women are more disadvantaged than men since primitive times, domicile, family education, family employment, family property, family income and if any disabilities and traumas. The process of reservation should be such that it filters the truly economically deprived individuals and bring them all to justice. We believe that the reservation system is depriving the really needy the opportunity they deserve while that opportunity is served to the already rewarded. This system is paralyzing our education system while doing nothing for the really deprived section. Even the reserved category individuals accept that the system has been corrupted but they avail its benefit although not required because all the others are enjoying it. Recently a petition has been moved in the Supreme Court with the plea that benefits of reservation and other government schemes given to SCs and STs were not reaching the actual beneficiaries due to the creamy layer in these communities which were taking away the quota benefits. “The benefits of reservation policy are not percolating down to the people who are in actual need of the same and the practice of including the members of the creamy layers of the said communities has resulted in abuse by the advanced and affluent members of the said communities,” It is said that the affluent sections of the SC/ST communities were “snatching” away the maximum benefit and 95 per cent of these communities were in disadvantageous positions and without any benefit of reservation and government schemes. The matter came up before a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud who asked petitioner NGO Samta Andolan Samiti to serve the copy of the petition on the Centre within a week. “Let a copy of this petition be served on the Central agency within a week hence. Matter be listed after two weeks,” the bench said. Tens of thousands of protestors from Gujarats Patel community participate in a rally in Ahmadabad, India, in the year, 2015. The members of the community from this western Indian state were demanding affirmative action for better access to education and employment. The reservation policy which was initiated as a temporary provision (for 10 years) for Scheduled Castes(SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in our Constitution in 1950, has expanded its coverage and contents multifold over the past six to seven decades. It has now become an almost a permanent feature of the national policies. The reservation policy however, has been used in the State (as elsewhere) mainly in vote bank politics played around the castes and has failed in including the people at the bottom in the mainstream economy and society. Now the time has come to rethink our reservation policies, that have ended up giving preference to more or less the same class of SC/ST/OBC in school/college admission, in jobs and in promotions as well as subsidies in innumerable programmes and schemes, leaving out the poorer sections among them at the bottom. Our recent study in Gujarat has shown that the SC, OBC and ST households at the bottom are still left out of the benefits of the rapid growth of the State.Reservation is a hot topic today. From teachers to politicians, from students to employees, every profession is jolted by the reservation system. India, being a developing country is facing many challenges and presently Reservation System is one of them. Essay on the reservation is vocal many times but without spreading its effect. The system finds its origin soon after Independence. The main objective was to provide increased opportunities, enhanced social and economical status, and well being of the under privileged class popularly known as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward classes (OBC). Uplifting their lifestyle to make them a part of Indian mainstream society was a very good contemplation to eliminate discrimination. Dr. Ambedkar, at the time of framing constitution, had demanded 10 years for reservation system until the equality is enforced in the society. But today the meaning of reservation has changed drastically. Reservation in India essay are presented for better understanding but politicians continue to support it for their party’s benefits, students and parents continue to support it for the guarantee of a better college with lesser fees, employees continue to support it for a quicker promotion! The people suffering from reservation system are the one belonging to general category. Students having a better score and eligibility fail to get an admission in a prestigious college as a student with lesser score and a reservation fills that seat. A hard working employee is curtailed from promotion as it’s given to somebody having less qualification but being from a reserved category. In Higher Education Institutions (IITs, IIMs, AIIMS etc.) and government postings, 22.5% of available seats are reserved for SC and STs, 27% are reserved for OBCs and the remaining 51.5% for general category leading to exasperation among students, medical doctors, government employees and the public in general. India must be the only country where people fight to call themselves as ‘Backward’ as they say! Economically and socially we can divide our Indian society in many classes. Among those medium income and upper caste, low income and upper caste are the sections that are suffering the most and remain frustrated about reservation system. It’s a bane for them. They neither have money nor reservation for basic amenities. For high income and lower caste, medium income and lower caste, reservation is a boon. They have all amenities; in fact many lead a luxurious life but still enroll themselves for reservation and make use of its benefits polluting the mere concept of reservation. Low income and lower caste are the ones who actually need it but most of them are either unaware or not bothered to make use of the facility. Essay on the reservation in India surely make each and every Indian to understand it better. Reservation is definitely required but not for the people with lower caste but for the impoverished. Handicap, soldiers’ family, senior citizens, Kashmir migrants, people with very low or no income are the ones who should be supported from their loved society by ensuring a seat reserved for them if they are inclined and adhered to work and study. It should not be enforced based on caste/religion, minority/majority as it is happening now and causing a major hitch in development. Violent protests by the Jat community broke out across North India earlier The growing clamour to institute quotas for politically dominant groups has re-opened the debate over the legitimate boundaries of such reservation policies. Each group – be it the Jats in Haryana, Marathas in Maharashtra, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh or Patidars in Gujarat – has forced their state government to enact new reservation policies in the group’s favour. But existing constitutional restrictions do not provide easy routes to accommodate such demands. The re-emergence of the ‘economic criterion’ may tempt one to read this as an articulation of equality that transcends caste, but that would be a mistake. A closer look at the legal debates should persuade us that the political ideals of the Mandal Commission dominate the way the criterion is being advocated for and argued over. The debates also point to an explanation for why the criterion remains too underdeveloped to serve as a constitutionally meaningful approach towards reservations.It is sometimes easy to forget, especially with the entrenchment of the three-decades-old Mandal caste regime,that the economic criterion has a much longer history. While the constitution-framers did recognise the group identity of a community while creating reservations for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, they had a significantly more ambivalent attitude towards the category of ‘other backward classes’ or OBCs. In post-independence India, a significant section of the politically active population voiced concerns that caste-based reservations would be divisive and compromise national unity. Till as late as the 1980s, the dominant opinion in New Delhi – represented by successive central governments and national parties – preferred income over caste as the determining factor for any proposed reservation scheme. Numerous academics and lawyers insisted that since ‘class’ did not mean the same thing as ‘caste’, the ‘other backward classes’ must be identified on an economic or class basis. The judiciary came to share these views on national unity, equality and reservations. In Balaji v. Mysore, 1962, the Supreme Court noted that ultimately, poverty, rather than community identity, was the real marker of social and educational backwardness. While the court did not categorically reject using caste identity to determine the beneficiaries of quota or reservation schemes, the damage had been done. Soon, the Congress-led central government confidently declared in parliament that it stood for the economic criterion, and encouraged the state governments to do the same. Economic Criterion Unlike the historical debates, the ‘economic criterion’ today is not proposed as a competing idea to caste and community, but as an allied one. In the Gujarat high court, the state government has argued that the EWS reservations will allow ‘excluded’ groups – in other words, upper caste communities – to “share the fruits of the policies of the government”. Its arguments liberally utilised Mandal’s idiom of social justice and inclusion. But this idiom is not as malleable as the arguments would like us to believe. Reservations, under the Indian constitution, do not refer to the sharing of state power by all social groups, but the inclusion of subordinated and marginalised groups. In the current debates, state governments and advocates of the ‘economic criterion’ have not bothered to articulate why poverty is a form of subordination that reflects ‘social backwardness’ and requires remedial action beyond welfare policies. Constitutional formulations are, of course, not cast in stone. But the current debate reflects a lack of imagination. The Supreme Court, while striking down the reservations for Jats in the Ram Singh case, had hoped that new grounds for deciding reservations would be developed in order to respond to new forms of group subordination. Unfortunately, the advocacy of the ‘economic criterion’ is not just old wine in a new bottle, it is more like spoilt wine in a leaking bottle. Mohsin Alam Bhat is a Gruber Fellow and a doctoral candidate at Yale Law School. The Indian policy of reservation was propagated during the time of independence with the view to end discrimination and promote equal opportunities. At that time it was meant to be time bound and with progressing years the reservation was meant to be reduced. Things came to a head in 1989-1990 when Mr V P Singh’s government tried to implement the recommendations of Mandal Commission which had advised that not only reservation should be continued but actually should be increased. Since, then this debate has been raging in the society with growing discontent and causing more division within society. Most of the school/ colleges/ universities see groups being formed between General/ SC/ST/ OBC’s causing more division than unity and integration. The idea was good but it is doubtful that anybody had calculated the human cost of this in current context. There were people who self immolated in 1990 against this policy, but students are still committing suicide secondary to this policy and numerous more are left damaged and mentally scarred by this that their lives are ruined. There were about 30 suicides reported in Kota in the year 2015. Kota is a small city in Rajasthan which has become a hub of coaching institutes for medical/ engineering aspirants from across the country. The institutes take students from as early as class 11th and some join later, post class 12th. These are young people who are full of confidence and aspire to fulfill their dreams and their family’s dreams of studying in premier institutes like IIT or AIIMS. They perhaps are best in their home school and town but when they reach Kota, ‘reality strikes’ – everybody is good there but only the ones who are ‘great’ will make it. They are aware that competence will stand for nothing as the competition is fierce and the number of seats is less but further compromised with high percentage of reservation. These young people face an uncertain future, some of them (with help) will recover to make something out of their lives but a lot of them will struggle throughout their lives with guilt, hopelessness and a minority may commit suicide. These struggles will never be part of any statistics. Their families too, struggle for rest of their lives. People who may be a part of privileged/creamy background will find ways to get their children to do something, but, the very people the reservation policy wants to help i.e. the unprivileged or minorities will struggle more and cause a further downward economic spiral The next issue is reservation until what level? You could understand that creamy layer has access to better schools or can pay for extra coaching to get through entrance examinations and therefore we promote people who cannot afford it. But if everybody has same teachers, same patients, same operation theaters and more generous access to books in college library then the question should be about competence and not caste/ religion or economic background. Reservation in post graduation and beyond in medical field hurts at two fronts. Firstly, if you look at a medical graduate who has to choose a different medical specialty from what he wants to do because of reservation, he would have less motivation to excel or would simply move abroad or take up other associated fields like Medical Administration. This leads to the phenomenon of “Brain Drain” and a less motivated doctor will have poorer outcomes in terms of patient satisfaction. Secondly, if you have less competent doctor looking after most unwell patients then the outcomes can be disastrous. There is no reservation system in Private hospitals but in Government setup there is reservation. I am in no way implying that Doctors from reserved categories are less skilled or all Doctors from General categories are good, I am simply making the point that ‘less competent doctor = poorer results’. The Indian Health set-up is such that the patients who visit the government set up hospitals apart from the tertiary care hospitals are people who cant afford private care and assumed to be economically poor. If there is a preventable death of the main bread earner of the family because of less competence of doctor then the family is pushed further back into a life of misery and downward economic spiral. So again, a system designed to help the poor, ultimately impacts them negatively but these events can never be quantified and as they are so much spread in every part of the country, it is considered a normal phenomenon. Our reservation policy has helped spawn several medical universities/ industries in both India and around the world. We now have doctors who have studied in China, Bulgaria, Nepal, Ukraine, Russia, etc. Arguably, the donation/ high fees for admission will not be such an issue if it would have been a level playing field. When people pay high donation fees for medical courses then in future there is a high likelihood of it directly leading to unethical practices. The government is trying hard to reduce/ stop the unethical practices but think about which strata of people suffer more? It may not impact the ‘creamy layer’ as much but the biggest sufferers are the middle and lower income people – exactly the people that you are trying to help. When we do not accept reservation in Sports, because we want the most competent people to represent the country and national flag, then why should less competence be acceptable when real people and their life/death is concerned? Reservation has become a white elephant that nobody wants to look at. It has become divisive and impacts the very people adversely that it wants to help. It affects the younger ones more adversely and affects the way they are helped/ treated from medical and administrative perspectives. The achievers from the reserved categories do not also get the respect that they may be due as it may be considered as due to reservation rather than personal proficiency.More than that, I believe that reservation has become an excuse to hide the incompetence of successive governments to promote equality. It is also a reflection of 70 years of governance has not been able to implement education for every child and to improve the State Education system to compete with private education. Reservation was always meant to be a short-term fix but it has been so politicized that governments are scared to even contemplate reducing it. At the very least it should be on economic basis and limited to graduation level only and I believe that this will have a huge support from modern India. People who want reservation must understand that there is nothing like a Free Lunch. If you get something for ‘free’ then there are several other ways that you lose because of the same policy which may not be so apparent at that time. ARE RESERVATIONS IN JOBS JUSTIFIED ? The very idea of providing reservations to any segment of the population is based on negatives. It allows for preferential treatment without a thought being given to the caliber or eligibility aspect. Just about any individual from the reserved category, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes can get a Government job or admission in an educational institution on a much lower eligibility criterion for percentage of marks and a higher age. This lowering of standard breeds inefficiency, discourages the really meritorious and negates the very concept of equality of opportunity. By rejecting people of higher competence from general category and accepting the reserved category with lower competence, the reservation policy acts as a disincentive to the meritorious and more capable. Thus inhibits healthy growth or development of an individual. Such brilliant students, victims of unfair favouritism of our reservation policy, get frustrated and leave for foreign countries which favour merit alone. This brain-drain adversely affects the intellectual capability of our country. Not only this, the system of reservation, says Justice Chinnappa Reddy, has in many cases paradoxically generated “a spirit of self-denigration” - each community of caste competing to be more backward than others.Private enterprises, being interested in efficiency alone, do not follow the retrograde policy of reservation. Their sole criterion of selecting people is merit and ability to deliver the goods. It is a shame that in this computer and space age we, by institutionalizing our reservation policy, admit that we are a decadent society based on caste. What image does it convey in the international field? Can casteism be done away with by having caste-based reservations? Should we not follow economic criterion instead so that only a few families do not benefit perpetually by this unfair policy? The criterion of creamy layer is patently humbug, for it is so applied that even those with sufficient means and standing in society succeed in getting the benefit of reservation. All this breeds discontent and occasions social unrest. Therefore, the sooner we do away with reservations the better for the nation. Reservations were supposed to be an interim arrangement for 10 years as per our constitution so that the low caste people could come up socially, but encouraged by our shortsighted politicians with their sights fixed on this sizeable vote-bank, its beneficiaries have formed it into a habit to claim reservation as a matter of right. Instead of striving hard to excel, they seek the shortcut of reservations and the vested political interests perpetuate it. This vicious circle should be broken by the BJP Government, which is standing on the basis of ‘development policy’ by having a firm cutoff year for reservations and spreading education among the depressed classes on a priority basis. It is really damaging to the nation as a whole that instead of tackling our population problem largely due to the illiterate, backward and superstitious people of backward classes, we give them the lollipop of reservations! In spite of their wretchedness and poverty they produce more children and make the life of these innocents more miserable than theirs. Therefore, if at all reservations are to be given they must be linked with adoption of family-planning methods. This will prove to be an effective deterrent against population explosion and will also benefit these classes themselves. The obnoxious caste system might have served some purpose when it originated centuries ago but now it is a hindrance to our social progress. The claim of the apologists of caste system that caste was changeable according to merit and competence of the individual and was not strictly hereditary is disapproved by the story of Karna in the Mahabharat who inspite of being equal to or even more in valour, skill, warfare and charity than the Kshatriyas was made to suffer humiliation for being a Sut Putra (Son of a Shudra) till his death. Again we have the story of Eklavya, a low-born. Dronacharya, the teacher of Arjun, the great archer of the epic Mahabharat, demanded his thumb as Gurudakshina (Fee), even though he had refused to teach him archery fearing that he might surpass. Thus centuries of oppression and untouchability cannot be undone in just a few years of honest and sincere efforts. Therefore, the makers of our Constitution stipulated reservation for scheduled castes and tribes for a period of ten years but it had to be extended again and again because they could not come up in such a short time. Our constitution lays down equality among equals and not among unequals. Through the policy of reservation, our depressed and backward class people are sought to be brought to the status of equality with others. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Swaraj’’ for me means freedom for the meanest for our countrymen. I am not interested in freeing India merely from the English yoke. I am bent upon freeing India from any yoke whatsoever.” It goes to prove that Father of the Nation would ensure individual freedom for one and all. But can such freedom be possible for the exploited and oppressed weaker sections? The depressed and backward class people cannot fare well in an open competition because of centuries of suppression and deprivation, and, hence, they cannot develop themselves. In this modern age of knowledge explosion through mass media, they may get alienated from the main stream of our society. This can generate dangerous consequences for the nation as a whole. Therefore, to avoid such an eventuality, we should accept our downtrodden brethren with an open arm and give them a helping hand in realizing their potential. This way only we can achieve our common destiny, for didn’t our ancient seers proclaimed “Sarve Bhawantu Sukhinah ma Kashchid duhkh bhag bhavet”. (Let all be happy, let no one be miserable). The Constitution of India states in Article 16(4): “Nothing in Article 16 or in Clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes”. It is this provision, which enables our governments to keep extending and expanding reservations to pander to vote bank sentiments. They deserve help, but even so, I dislike any kind of reservation, particularly in service. I react strongly against anything, which leads to second-rate standards. I want my country to be a first-class country in everything. The moment we encourage the second rate, we are lost.” While Ambedkar was concerned about the quality of the democracy that does not assure equality of opportunity, Nehru was concerned about the quality of administration. We have suffered on both counts. It is time now to think of a sunset clause to the reservations policy. In the year 2014, Supreme Court declines to entertain a PIL against Reservation Policy seeking to quash the reservation policy based on caste and religion and to implement it on the basis of economic condition. A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it cannot directly interfere with the policy on the ground that it has achieved its purpose. The bench told the PIL petitioner that if he feels it was time to do away with the reservation policy, he can make a representation to the government with the data to buttress his contention. "Before coming to this court for direction, make representation to the elected government that there is no purpose of such representation. Better you wait for the new government to come," the bench observed orally. The petition filed by Manjit Singh Sachdeva had sought to declare and hold the reservation based on caste as violative of the fundamental right to equality. The PIL also sought to declare the "reservation on its continued availability without any qualification restricting its benefit to those who have already been benefited in the family or who do not deserve it due to their higher economical status is violative of basic feature of Constitution enshrined in Article 14 of Constitution as right to equality". It said that reservation policy is meant to uplift people from these caste and communities who need help but "it is more benefiting persons who are already helped and are being further helped". "The State through the correct scheme of helping certain caste and community to grow, reserves constituencies meant exclusively for SC/ST/OBC, but through this only a limited number of persons continues to take the said seat, how can we call the said seat a reserved seat, if the same person were to continue enjoying the position again and again, without giving opportunity to other SC/ST?" it contended. The petition challenged certain provisions of the Constitution which enable the "Vote hankering politician to perpetuate the reservation policy in an endemic manner which has totally corrosive effect on the fabric of Indian society by dividing it in an artificial manner and stints its growth beyond reprieve,[ outlook 03 March 2014]
Conclusion
Thus reservations are anti-thesis of development and equality. We don’t need reservations based on castes or religion but only to actually provide aid to those who have minimal resources; and merit should be given equal and due importance in admission procedures as well employment opportunities. This way we would be successful in removing caste discrimination and unite the economically rich together in helping the economically poor, irrespective of their castes.
Ravindra Singh
