“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.
Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”
When India got her independence and the constitution was written, it stated that a portion of educational and civil services seats were to be reserved for scheduled castes and schedule tribes. Originally supposed to last 10 years, reservations are still going on.
There are numerous reasons why so many people are against reservation:
- There are a lot of OBCs, could be more than half of India's population. Giving them extra seats in universities and jobs means they will vote for the party whoever increased their quota.
- Not all, for whom seats are reserved, are poor; and not all the open competitors are rich. Often richer and politically well connected people get into the best jobs and university without trying too hard, thus squeezing out the real poor and backward people.
- Our best institutions are good in part because the government does not interfere with their management. If the policy continues, these institutes would lose their independence.
- No doubt reservation is positive discrimination, but it is still discrimination. And instead of getting rid of caste system, government is making it stronger.
- Despite being in effect since last 65 years, the reservation policy already in place doesn’t seem to have improved the position of the weaker section, so why would more of the same make a difference!
All this may be true, but the government still must do something to improve the position of the weaker section. However, I support reservation, reasons being:
- Reservation is needed to provide social justice to the most marginalized and underprivileged which is their human right.
- Just because life has been made easier for some people do not mean that other people should suffer. Meritocracy is meaningless without equality, so all people must be brought to the same level first.
- Few sections of the society have been kept out of good jobs and higher education only because of their caste, or because of the community they belong to.
- Another positive benefit is that reservations ensure that there is a wide variety of people in offices and campuses. Such 'social diversity' is a positive thing for society as a whole.
- Reservation system provides mean to slow down the process of ‘Forward becoming richer and backward becoming poorer’
These are the reasons why, in spite of the arguments against it, governments all over the world still push for affirmative action.
MY TAKE:
- Support reservations at the schooling level, till the 12th standard. Build more schools.
- Support some reservation for EBCs (Economically backward class) and people from rural area.
- Do not spoon-feed people who’ve already made it past the 12th. They should fend for themselves. If they weren’t good at this level, there are very less chances of them becoming better off later.
- Reservations (not based on merit) at the post-graduate level (IITs, IIMs, AIIMS) is ridiculous, no way this should be implemented.
- For EBCs, provide monetary support at any level. (Making sure merit is not compromised)
- Remove the concept of castes. In a learned society, no one is inferior or superior. We have to get rid of this. No one should ask for the castes. Unless it’s for things like statistics that identify how a tribe has been evolving, moving around, etc.
