The Great Indian Debate: Reservations

I have been watching some interesting debates on some interesting happenings in the country. I would have liked to shy away from these debates as I have seen that debates do not make much of a difference anymore but somehow having association with UP and Bihar, I am unable to not say something for long! Atleast I can blog about it!

The Reservation debate

The recent SC ruling on the 27% reservation for OBCs has sparked about another debate on ‘affirmative action’.

Some points I don’t fully understand:

1. The reservation is based on the premise that ‘wrong’ was done over the ages to certain sections of societies and now it is our responsibility to give them privileged status to ‘undo’ all that was ‘done’. The Japanese PM’s apologies, for all the atrocities that Japan committed during the World Wars, comes to mind.

2. What’s difficult for me to understand is how long a period to consider while deciding that social injustice has been inflicted. Will two generations (100 years) be enough or does that have to be something over 1000 years? There are priests in my village who have been poor by any standards since as long as I or my dad can remember! Are they facing social injustice?

3. Also, how long should the affirmative action happen till we can say that the historical sin has been adequately compensated for? Have we set a time frame for this or is it perennial? Will two generations of benefit for a deprived family do or should it continue till the family has atleast an IAS, IPS, an IIT and an IIM grad or should it be till they are given a certificate of social justice?

4. Who should pay the price now for this affirmative action to succeed? The so called ‘forward classes’ are composed of various castes. Some have inflicted more injustice than some others so why should all suffer equally now? When caste based benefit is being given, why isn’t caste based suffering also imparted?

5. What is the injustice we all are talking about? If I can recollect my history classes properly, the caste system made sure that only certain castes could do certain activities (Like ‘Khatriyas’ only could fight.) So, was that injustice? It was a deprivation. So, why is there no reservation in the armed forces now? The backward classes were not allowed to enter temples. Now it has been abolished but I don’t see people saying that backward classes should be given a reservation to enter temples. Why not? So, why isn’t the same thing being done for education? If backward classes were deprived of education, why not just allow them to enter like others without any discrimination and let the injustice correct itself?

6. What is the success (or failure) of the existing reservation policies? Has it been assessed? Who is accountable for it? If the constitution initially had set the provision for reservation for only a certain time frame, why has that time frame not been honored? Who is to blame? Have we learnt any lessons from it? Are we doing it right? What will be done differently with the OBC reservation? If we can’t say whether the SC/ST reservation has been successful, why are we going ahead with a similar provision for someone else?

It is important to give equal opportunities to all. We all are the citizens of this country, sharing the same passions and the same plights. It’s the duty of policymakers to help all those who need help, irrespective of the caste, color or creed. The help should not be dishing out freebies but providing the right environment, basic amenities that makes people of India strong and confident and able to compete with the global workforce in this globalised era.