Reservation
Content
Reservation:
Understanding The
Past, Present And
Solutions
[RESEARCH]
@YouthKiAwaazFeb 15, 2011
32 Reactions
NEVER MISS OUR STORIES. FOLLOW YKA!
By Sumedha Upadhyay:
What do you think?
We live in a free country and this freedom is a gift of democracy to
us. Our constitutiongives us the right to freedom and most
importantly to exercise this freedom in an equitable manner. At the
same time it is incumbent on the part of the state to ensure that
equality prevails in all sections of the society.
6
However in today’s time one of the major roadblocks to this equality
is the Reservation System.
1
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 current scenario
clearly depicts that the ‘lower’ castes are still discriminated in their
daily lives. To uproot casteism it is important that we fight the
reservation system which alone will lead us to development,
competency, equality and unity.
What do you think?
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 (Brahmins),
kingship and war (Kshatriya) and lastly business(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.
1
Firstly 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.
1
Currently, as per the government policy, 15% of the government
jobs and 15% of the students admitted to universities must be from
Scheduled castes and for the Scheduled tribes there is a reservation
of about 7.5 %. Other than this, the state governments also follow
their own reservation policies respectively based upon the
population constitution of each state. So nearly 50% seats are
reserved.
What do you think?
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.
What do you think?
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).
What do you think?
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.
What do you think?
“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.”
What do you think?
However clause 4 of the same article provides for an exception by
conferring a certain kind of power on the government:
What do you think?
“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”
What do you think?
Thus two conditions have to be satisfied:
What do you think?
1.
The class of citizens is backward
What do you think?
2.
The said class is not adequately represented.
What do you think?
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.’
1
What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is a reservationfriendly 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?
2
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.
What do you think?
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.
2
When the then HRD minister Mr. Arjun Singh introduced 27.5%
reservation for OBC in centrally funded educational institutes
including IIMs and IITs a petition was moved to the President and the
Prime Minister stating that such a reservation will take India back
from where she is today. Further “everyone understands the need
for all sections of the Indian Society to get an opportunity to be a
part of this economy but reservation based on caste is not an
answer to this. These policies have been in India since the last 50
years and they have failed to meet their objectives. The government
should go into the reasons of the failure. Many students don’t make
it to the institutes because of the economic reasons and those who
do not fall in the reservation criteria don not get a fair opportunity
too”.
4
To remove this evil it suggested the following:
What do you think?
1.
Make education mandatory and free for all till age of 15
1
2.
Propose reservation based on economic status
What do you think?
3.
Provide opportunity to students to earn while they study.
1
Instead of introducing reservations for these backward classes what
is required is to bring about revolutionary changes in our education
system at the grass-root level. When proper education is not
provided to children belonging to such categories during the primary
stage itself then on what basis are the reservations provided at a
subsequent stage.
What do you think?
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.
1
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.
1
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.
Understanding The
Past, Present And
Solutions
[RESEARCH]
@YouthKiAwaazFeb 15, 2011
32 Reactions
NEVER MISS OUR STORIES. FOLLOW YKA!
By Sumedha Upadhyay:
What do you think?
We live in a free country and this freedom is a gift of democracy to
us. Our constitutiongives us the right to freedom and most
importantly to exercise this freedom in an equitable manner. At the
same time it is incumbent on the part of the state to ensure that
equality prevails in all sections of the society.
6
However in today’s time one of the major roadblocks to this equality
is the Reservation System.
1
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 current scenario
clearly depicts that the ‘lower’ castes are still discriminated in their
daily lives. To uproot casteism it is important that we fight the
reservation system which alone will lead us to development,
competency, equality and unity.
What do you think?
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 (Brahmins),
kingship and war (Kshatriya) and lastly business(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.
1
Firstly 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.
1
Currently, as per the government policy, 15% of the government
jobs and 15% of the students admitted to universities must be from
Scheduled castes and for the Scheduled tribes there is a reservation
of about 7.5 %. Other than this, the state governments also follow
their own reservation policies respectively based upon the
population constitution of each state. So nearly 50% seats are
reserved.
What do you think?
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.
What do you think?
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).
What do you think?
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.
What do you think?
“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.”
What do you think?
However clause 4 of the same article provides for an exception by
conferring a certain kind of power on the government:
What do you think?
“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”
What do you think?
Thus two conditions have to be satisfied:
What do you think?
1.
The class of citizens is backward
What do you think?
2.
The said class is not adequately represented.
What do you think?
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.’
1
What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is a reservationfriendly 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?
2
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.
What do you think?
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.
2
When the then HRD minister Mr. Arjun Singh introduced 27.5%
reservation for OBC in centrally funded educational institutes
including IIMs and IITs a petition was moved to the President and the
Prime Minister stating that such a reservation will take India back
from where she is today. Further “everyone understands the need
for all sections of the Indian Society to get an opportunity to be a
part of this economy but reservation based on caste is not an
answer to this. These policies have been in India since the last 50
years and they have failed to meet their objectives. The government
should go into the reasons of the failure. Many students don’t make
it to the institutes because of the economic reasons and those who
do not fall in the reservation criteria don not get a fair opportunity
too”.
4
To remove this evil it suggested the following:
What do you think?
1.
Make education mandatory and free for all till age of 15
1
2.
Propose reservation based on economic status
What do you think?
3.
Provide opportunity to students to earn while they study.
1
Instead of introducing reservations for these backward classes what
is required is to bring about revolutionary changes in our education
system at the grass-root level. When proper education is not
provided to children belonging to such categories during the primary
stage itself then on what basis are the reservations provided at a
subsequent stage.
What do you think?
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.
1
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.
1
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.
