Disclaimer: I do not belong to a reserved category, hence this article is not biased.

I see so many posts on Facebook these days slamming reservation in India, triggered by the Patel agitation. Now I agree that the reservation system has failed in India. It’s been 65 years (actually more than that, reservation for SCs and STs came about during British rule) since it was adopted and it still hasn’t achieved its goal. If a public policy has not achieved the objectives it was made for, why continue it further?
Well, the problem is not with the reservation policy, it is with its implementation. Like most laws in India it hasn’t benefited the people it was created for. Most people suggest reservation should be finance based rather than caste based.
First of all consider this: a poor person can take a loan from the bank and educate his family, can a socially backward person do so? If he manages to get the money, he is not granted admission in the institution even if he has the requisite marks. If he somehow manages to get into the institution, he is treated badly and looked down upon. He is not given equal rights.
(The above points are generalised. With the increased transparency in the country such incidents have reduced, but have not completely eliminated. And not everyone can appeal in courts if their rights are violated).
Moreover, if there are educated people in your ancestry, it is easier for you to learn things. You get the perfect environment at your home. For a caste, which has stayed uneducated since the vedic period, it is difficult to bring about a change in the social order.
Secondly, the reservation policy was not made for the upliftment of the poor, we have monetary policies for that. The reservation policy was for SOCIAL upliftment of backward classes.
There are so many places in India where people do not give SCs their due rights, basic fundamental rights. Try surviving a day in their condition. We guys crib and cry when electricity goes off for 10 minutes, they do not have homes to live in! Why? Because people think they are ‘low class’ and don’t deserve to live in their vicinity.

Reservation was not bad as a policy it was framed, it has attracted negative fame because of the way our dear politicians have used it. Adding new communities to the SCs and STs to garner their votes, dividing people on the basis of caste; I don’t think I need to tell you about how our representatives make the maximum out of the loopholes in law.
There are so many people who need reservation. I’m not saying it is perfect. Of course the policy needs to be reviewed. People who don’t need it should be removed from the list. Or we can have a ‘one family, one reservation’ policy so that the rich and the lazy don’t eat up all the benefits. Another viable option would be to grant admission to students in good institutions, pay for them and then ask them to score the same as the general category students do, since they got the same environment.
Just please don’t say discrimination does not exist. You won’t know about the problems they face sitting in your air conditioned houses in elite upper-class environment. Oh, and if you thought discrimination only occurs in rural environment or at places with illiterate population, check again. I live in Chandigarh, a beautiful planned city with a large literate population, but SCs and STs face discrimination even here! There are separate residential spaces, not officially demarcated, of course, but they exist. Even separate crematoriums exist.
I do not disagree with the fact that the reservation system has failed, that it has divided us more than it has united us, that it has been partial, rich SCs/STs/OBCs have extracted all the benefits leaving nothing for the people who actually needed it, but the policy was good (until we voted for some vote-hungry, power loving politicians). I’d go on to say that it was the best Dr. Ambedkar could do at the time. (The scheduled castes had originally demanded separate electorates which would have divided the nation further.)
But again, laws are not judged by how nicely they were framed, but how nicely a nation could implement them.
Yes, I am against the present reservation policy, but only if a better substitute is created that benefits the needy

Ushma Pahuja
Ushma Pahuja
A patriot. I love my country, want it to be the best, achieve its potential and rock the world ? I am a little bubble of excitement. I love doing, well, everything in life. Don't shy away from giving your point of view. I love to debate and know all possible angles to a story.

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  • Vishal Goyal

    Leave aside the blah blah blah of Social Justice thing and come to discuss on following Moral Justice points, which are not even touched by you.
    1. You appointed a doctor based on reservations which is less competent than who would have been appointed otherwise. See here to provide justice to just one individual you killed how many lives which could be otherwise saved. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t allow you to kill many)
    2. You appointed a teacher based on reservations which is less competent than who would have been appointed otherwise. See here to provide justice to just one individual you snatched rights of better education training from so many children of all castes. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t allow you to deprive 40X35=1400 students from education)
    3. You appointed a Police Officer, IPS etc based on reservations which is less competent than who would have been appointed otherwise. See here to provide justice to just one individual you killed how many lives, undeterred the heinous crimes, let people looted which could be otherwise saved. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t allow you to encourage crime)
    4. You appointed a Disaster Management Personnel based on reservations which is less competent than who would have been appointed otherwise. See here to provide justice to just one individual you let how many lives die which could be otherwise saved. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t force people to die.)
    5. You reserved a seat for MC, MLA, MP for a caste which is not the one who is at heart of public. See here to provide justice to just one individual you snatched democratic rights of representation of a large public. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t allow snatch democratic right of representation.)
    6. You appointed a Judicial Officer based on reservations which is less competent than who would have been appointed otherwise. See here to provide justice to just one individual you snatched right to justice from how many people which could be otherwise be avoided. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t allow you to do injustice to others)
    7. You appointed a Scientist based on reservations which is less competent than who would have been appointed otherwise. See here to provide justice to just one individual you snatched chance of nation to many discoveries which could be otherwise in our country’s name. (Leave aside reason of less competency, that can’t allow you to take away chances of whole nation’s pride.)

    List is infinite. But above is sufficient to open eyes

    • Ankush Checkervarty

      I would agree for the jobs which have direct impact on human lifes like doctors, disaster management personal, or Civil engineer for making public bridges etc.
      But i think you can still morally believe in a chance, as there are well known examples of teachers, politicians, ips and ias’s etc from general category who are as dumbfucks as one can get. Now remember this chance is not based on a random selection process. It’s based on the idea that this lower reserved category person has faced more difficult environment both financially and socially(as she pointed out) compared to general category person. (ofcourse implementation is another issue)
      So we can on whatever, logical basis there are possible, we can scale the scores of the guy with bad environment to the good environment. Hoping that he will use this opportunity, he has been given, for upliftment of his society and his family!!

      • Vishal Goyal

        Those dumb people are result of deficient selection criteria (like typewriter test is taken for candidates who will be actually working on Computers). So you can’t say the selection procedure a chance.
        And whatever are the reasons of less competence, the truth is people taking the benefit of reservation are less competent (People actually competent from Reserved Categories make their place in general merit and don’t use quota)
        Govt opportunities should be for upliftment of nation not for upliftment of its nationals or someone’s family or someone’s society.
        See, if nation progress, then surely its nationals will progress But converse isn’t true at all.

        • Mayur P.

          See, if nation progress, then surely its nationals will progress But converse isn’t true at all…I wouldn’t agree with this. If this would have been the case India has progressed tremendously, but the development is uneven because of the diverse social fabric. And what do you mean by Upliftment of nation and not for upliftment of its nationals? The point I am trying to make is you cannot measure development index of a nation so diverse with the same yardstick. It wouldn’t be logical!

          • Vishal Goyal

            If development would be truw, then converse also would have hold true. But when there is tremendous development, despite it being uneven all are developed. There may be disparities in amount of individual developments but all except some exceptions will follow the trend.

        • Ushma Pahuja

          Vishal sir….sometimes I really feel you’re stalking me!?

          • Vishal Goyal

            If it looks so to you, okay no problem, It is my last comment to your any post/article/comment/whatever.

          • Ushma Pahuja

            It wasn’t intended that way. I said it jokingly. I’m sorry.

      • Ushma Pahuja

        Did I tell you that I love you? Well I do.

  • SAM

    Well said vishal..! Reservation may be a good way to provide chances, but at the same time it has been taken for granted. I believe to give more reservations as possible but keeping in mind that person is socially backward and not mentally hampered or mentally backward. Let’s take the example of entrance exams nowdays. Let the number of seats for reserved classes be as it is, or even more, but the qualifying cuttoff should be the same. Then one can have a real test of merits with special care for reserved classes.

  • Mass Idiot

    Ushma u look like an amateur writer to me. Maybe u didn’t do ur research well.or maybe u r backward category yourself. Anyway the point is: if u want to educate backward caste give them free education means books coaching classes etc but there is absoluty no need to provide them seats in prestigious institute like IIM. I don’t take IIT name because it is filled 98% with sc st obc guys.
    If u have GUTS just answer my 1 question -
    What should I do? I am general male enginner. Lost my IIT seat to some sc st guy. Then I joined private college with no good placement.now after 4 years I have to face the heat again compete with sc st for either IIM seat or prestigious government service like IES.as usual sc st will come n snatch away everything from me. I am my only support to my family. How to bring money to my house?
    Please answer this simple question if u have guts