Reservation is the most talked, debated and fiercely contentious subject of the contemporary India. To critically analyze it you need to take a Hegelian approach. By 2001 census there are 16.6% SC population, 8.4% ST population, by B.P Mandal commission report there are 52% OBC population which i feels is irrational. A survey done in 2004 reveals that OBC population is between 40-44% So lets take OBC population has 40%(since 2001 census never counted the OBC population).So in short 25% SC/ST ,40% OBC and 35% general population are there in India.
For 25% of SC/ST population seats reserved is 15+7.5=22.5%
For the 40% OBC population the seats reserved =27%
For the 35% general population the seats reserved =50.5%
To understand who is the “REAL” reserved is 6th standard mathematics. And the irony of the situation is that more and more caste wants to get this OBC status and think that they would be protected under the so called reservation of the 27%, don’t you think these people just forget or fail to understand basic mathematics of percentages. But at the same time we should take into consideration of the fact that how much % of the population of backward classes are actually using the reservation provided. The people in the general category are socially and economically forward so the % of people competing is definitely more as compared to the other category. This high competition scenario has created another genre called “MERIT MONGER”. This is were we need to understand the basis of reservation in India. I wont be surprised if the illiterates believe that it is caste based. But the reality is that even the literate’s believe the same and I call this genre of people the “ILLITERATE LITERATES”.
The reality is that the reservation system in India was introduced to provide education and to promote socially and financially those people who could not get the equal start in life. When the State identified these people, majority of these people were more or less the people belonging to the lower caste and tribe. So the state made separate list for both of these communities. But unfortunately with time this became a myth that reservation is caste based. The so called merit mongers believe that this caste based reservation has to be stopped and it should be based on the financial status of one. It is a very logical claim, but the big question is that when you believe that caste based reservation has to be stopped, don’t you believe the existence of inequality in a caste based society??The real fact is that the biggest inequality is the caste itself. And it is common sense that to remove caste based reservation what has to be removed is the Caste system itself.
If we can abolish caste system, the reservation based on caste system would be eventually be abolished. Which might sound impossible to many I suppose? When these merit mongers cry their heart out for a change, I fail to understand their incapability to understand this root cause. Or is it because the caste gives them the societal highness that they don’t want to give up this so called indestructible gift of birth by society.All these just projects out one thing when one enjoys reservation of lower caste in selection or recruitments or the reserved high caste status of upper caste in society which is very predominant in social function like marriages, will never criticize the system and only when one is deprived of reservation of any kind ,criticize the system..
The biggest example is right in front of us, but since many were a part of it no one really criticized it. So here we go .I think most of us know about the AIEEE examination, lets analyse the selection procedure to the premier institutes of the country other than IIT’s which is through this AIEEE examination. The basic philosophy of AIEEE procedure is “STATE WISE QUOTA” .50% seats are reserved to the students of that state in which the institute exists and rest 50% is distributed among the other states proportional to the population of respective states. In such a procedure a the last rank holder who can get admission in Electronics and Communication branch (taking in view the demand for ECE is maximum) can go beyond AIR 20,000+ (general category), where as if it was pure merit based it wont even cross AIR 8,000.Is this not inequality for the merit monger’s, Doesn’t the MERIT FACTOR get discriminated here? OR is it because the people who are affected by this is comparatively less in number than the people who are affected by the so called reservation to the backward classes. My friends we need to understand that reservation is everywhere, seats in public transport buses are reserved for ladies and physically challenged people, reserved seats on train is the biggest example of the fact that if reserved seats could be bought then criticizers are negligible, So it is up to us to take reservation in the true sense of its requirements to the need. The basic reason for the government to implement state based quota is to bring in equality of opportunity to everyone in its territory and for a balanced social development in the country.
PROBLEMS IF IT WAS PURE MERIT BASED.
The problems if it was pure merit based is that it would have accumulated people from some particular region/community to a particular field in the society which would cause instability in society and the very cause of the inclusion of the word SOCIALISM in the preamble will be lost.
But at the same time importance of merit should not be forgotten because it is the merit that is the essence of everything. There should be a balance between merit and social equality which was envisaged very well by the creator’s of the constitution of our country. So when one think about reservation he should take into consideration of both sociological and the economic aspect of the society to understand reservation better. Just because your friend who studied along with you got ahead because of reservation does not imply that the true essence of reservation for development of the downtrodden people is neglected. It is true that there are some people who actually don’t require this extended benefit of reservation also avails it but this number is very less and we shouldn’t forget the real ones who actually benefits from this. And definitely once the unique identification number system is implemented if in the right way, many more who really requires will get benefitted with reservation. I call upon the ILLITERATE LITERATES to which I myself belong, to have a macro view to identify the real meaning of the word reservation, to understand its implication on the society and keeping in mind that reservation is everywhere and we should understand the requirement of the need and it is equally true that we fail to appreciate it when we are benefitted and we criticize it when deprived. Only time can prove how people mould their thoughts to project it as an act of equality or inequality.
Well written article, kind of structured too, though i would have loved it to be more organised.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, with all due respects, we cannot eliminate caste system unless we eliminate cast based reservations.
Thirdly, If we accept reservation more as a social equaliser than a political gimmick, how does one divide this society then?
Won't any division be unfair, especially in India, where economic assessment of more than 100 crore people is virtually impossible. How you allocate reservation then?
Finally, India is a country of opportunists, if not all, but many. People don't hate others getting reservation, what they hate is, the thought of getting fucked in the name of equality, whenever someone loses on merit, they see the reserved classes, and hatred spurs automatically towards them.
It saddens me to say this, that Indian pockets have grown, our hearts have shrunken, and our minds have stopped thinking.
@zuko" with all due respects, we cannot eliminate caste system unless we eliminate caste based reservations."
ReplyDeleteokay so as you said lets assume caste based reservation is abolished and say its based on the economic condition of one,does that imply that caste system is abolished???...but if caste system itself abolished then for reservation to exist another base has to be found and hence it would lead to reservation based on economic condition or may be something more logical.Its like one cant completely destroy a tree without taking its roots off.
@zuko"If we accept reservation more as a social equaliser than a political gimmick, how does one divide this society then?"
ReplyDeleteDividing was a philosophy of the british i refuse to think along the same line.so lets have a society which is more united,which does not mean that personal beliefs should restricted.But at the same time lets have some beliefs which are common which would brings a step closer to social equality.And its true that a lot is political gimmick but not entirely and who are politicians ,people who we nominated..so blaming them is equvalent to blaming ourselves and the bigger fact is that the soul of reservation is social equalisation,that is the essence we illiterate literate fail to understand.
@ zuko "Won't any division be unfair, especially in India, where economic assessment of more than 100 crore people is virtually impossible. How you allocate reservation then?"
ReplyDeleteIt was virtually impossible for humans to dream of flying...but now we have private aircrafts..
it was virtually impossible for people to believe that earth was round....well fact is that earth is round.
Suzuki’s Founder Chairman Osamu Suzuki was surprised when Tata announced the project nano. In February 2006, Suzuki said that it was IMPOSSIBLE to make a car for Rs 1 lakh ruppees.
but...we all know what happened..
so economic assessment of 100 crore people might look impossible now...but time can prove you wrong and the first step in that direction is the initiation of unique identification number scheme if that is very well implemented then it is very much possible to have economic assessment of all people..and reservation should be based on finacial credential of one and not on caste..
@ zuko..India is a country of opportunists, if not all, but many. People don't hate others getting reservation, what they hate is, the thought of getting fucked in the name of equality, whenever someone loses on merit, they see the reserved classes, and hatred spurs automatically towards them.
ReplyDeletesince we are just human and not god these emotions are quite obvious...but these emotion creep in more when we are more worried about the things which we know we are deprived rather than concentrating on getting want we have in our hands.And you are right India is a country of opportunists ...opportunist who take advantage of the ignorant..opportunist who take advantage of women alone on streets...opportunist who take advantage of forged caste certificate to get admission..and what not..