caste based reservation in india

 

CASTE BASED RESERVATION

Despite the fact that India is the world's largest democracy, the caste system has resulted in a slew of scandals. For as long as anybody can remember, the caste system has been an essential component of Indian society. The "lower castes" were subjugated by the "upper castes" under this system. As a result, the Indian government implemented caste-based reservation in government positions and educational institutions in order to better the plight of the lower castes.

HISTORY OF RESERVATION

Some of the most noteworthy examples in modern India date from 1933, when the then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Ramsay MacDonald, introduced the Communal Award. Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and Europeans each receive their own representation. Mahatma Gandhi was outraged by the prize and fasted to death to convey his discontent. It did, however, garner a lot of support from people like B. R. Ambedkar. Gandhi broke his fast after many negotiations, and the Poona Pact was the product of those negotiations.

As a result, I believe that the central premise of reservation philosophy, that all members of the "behind classes" are disadvantaged while all members of the "ahead castes" are considered good enough to win admission on their own merits, is neither factual nor fair. Economic factors must be considered when identifying who in our society requires special attention.

The irony is that, despite the fact that our constitution is reservation-friendly, the word "backward classes" is not specifically defined in a plain reading of the document. What determines backwardness or what characterises backwardness are still unsolved questions that have only been given significance by legal declarations.

In all honesty, it must be understood that affirmative efforts are made to ensure that the under-privileged portions of our country are given an equal playing field. The problem is that for the past 30 years, practically every government – no matter how "secular" they profess to be – has attempted to convert this socioeconomic crisis into a matter of sleazy vote bank politics, communalism, and national pride.

 

The result: despite a Supreme Court order that 50 percent should be the maximum, nearly 80 percent of government positions are set aside in quotas in states like Tamil Nadu and the north-east, where backward populations predominate.

In addition, the reserve policy only applies to higher education institutions. As a result, it does nothing to encourage primary education. Millions of children will continue to be denied basic education, and it is this lack of primary education that frequently prevents access to future education and work prospects.

 

Furthermore, the elimination of final exams as a criterion for promotion to class 10 has fostered in students a sense of complacency, after which they are left to the mercy of indifferent and grossly underpaid evaluators.

This is not to say that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds or from lower social levels should be consigned to mediocrity or illiteracy. Instead, the solution is to improve the quality of education given by government institutions. This would necessitate laborious efforts in the selection of teachers, as well as a better compensation scale comparable to that of their private counterparts. Analyzing the American educational paradigm, where 87 percent of children from kindergarten to grade 12 attend public schools, is also a good concept. Unfortunately, in our society, the concept of private schools has come to be associated with elitism.

Furthermore, inclusion in the list of backward classes/SCs/STs is increasingly viewed as a "status signal," as evidenced by the recent Jat unrest. This demand, made by a "dominant caste" in the northern portion of our country, to be treated as a backward caste, put many people's lives in peril and impacted livelihoods in three states. So the question is how long can a "backward" class's desire for "privileges" be sustained at the expense of the bulk of the population.

THE OTHER ALTERNATIVE

Reservation policies based on caste fail to understand social backwardness as a fluid and changing category. Gender, culture, purchasing power, and other factors can all affect capacities, and any one of these factors, or a combination of them, can lead to deprivation and social backwardness. Caste attachments are eroding as a result of increased globalisation and urbanisation, necessitating the identification of new factors to characterise social backwardness. Economic criteria should be expressly stated in reservations. A wealthy person (regardless of caste) may afford to educate his or her children and does not require the reservation policy's protection. Because the link between the economically disadvantaged and the lower caste may not be as strong in today's world as it formerly was.Regardless of caste, it is the impoverished who require such protection. Instead of debating what constitutes the "creamy layer" and how it should be defined, everyone should be given an equal chance to demonstrate their merits. No one should be spoon-fed in society. Instead, they should be provided with enough resources, and merit should win out in the end.