For my second post I thought of writing about something that we all have an opinion about and that is reservations in educational institutions. Before writing about what I feel about this topic I will give you a brief overview on why reservations were introduced. As you all know our Indian caste system was divided into four groups the Brahmins( priests, scholars), Kshatriyas(warriors & kings), Vaishyas( agriculturists & traders) and the Shudras(service providers & artisans). These divisions were made at that time so as to clearly demarcate the roles of each person living in society and for the proper functioning.
But gradually this caste system started to erode the people. The Brahmins kept the knowledge to themselves and denied others the right to study the scriptures. The lower sections of the society were outcast and denied the right of proper living. But you know the beauty of our Indian culture is such that it adapts itself according to the changing times and adopts the good and throws away the bad practices which were followed in the past. We have many such examples. Practices like sati, untouchability, child marriage have been abolished.
So with the prevalent caste system many reformers like Mahatma Phule, Raja Ram Mohan Roy took upon themselves to bring about a change.
When India won Independence in 1947 Dr Ambedkar was given the charge of drafting the constitution. He was of the firm belief that since the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were oppressed for long they should be given reservations in educational institutions and jobs so they also get a chance to uplift themselves. He allocated 15% and 7.5% reservations for SC and ST respectively. But the important thing here is he also mentioned in the constitution that this was for a temporary period and it needs to be reviewed after a period of 10 years.
I feel Dr Ambedkar was right at that time to include reservations for the SC's and ST's as they should also get a right to education. This set of reservation rules was followed till 1978. Then in 1979 a new commision called the Mandal commision was set up to review the situation of the backward classes. They decided to include the Other Backward Classes(OBC's) also under the reservation umbrella and give them 27% which increased the reservation quota to 49.5%. These recommendations were implemented by VP Singh in 1990 which led to widespread revolts all over the country by student bodies.
With the passage of time reservation has been used as a tactic by the Cong govt for votebank politics. I cant believe even after 60 years of our Independence reservations still exist and is continuing to thrive. The purpose of introducing reservations was to uplift the lower sections of society and then gradually it should have been phased out as more and more people used it.
But no the Govt saw this as an opportunity to generate vote banks by giving more and more reservations. Even the IIT's and IIM's have not been spared. These are the premier educational institutions in our country and the effects of such reservations are for all of us o see. Do you know the cutoff for getting into IIT for a student from SC caste is nearly half of a student from Open Category!!! Can you believe that?? I also came to know of an astonishing fact that many students who enter the IIT's with low cutoffs after a peroid of 1-2 years drop out as they cannot cope up with the studies. Now due to these dropouts those seats are wasted and deserving students are denied the chance.
I feel that reservations should be based on the economic conditions of a person and not on his caste. I have seen so many instances where people who flaunt their caste certificates are very rich so where does the question of upliftment come here. The creamy layer states that any person whose annual family income is above 2.5 lacs should be excluded from the reservation status. Also children of doctors, engineers, media professionals, etc are also excluded. But in our country there is a way of getting around anything. People produce fake creamy layer certificates inorder to avail the reservation facility. Now instead of basing it on caste if the reservations are based on economic conditions then it is more logical.
For example there is a student who is brilliant in studies but cannot continue his higher studies as he doesnt have the money then in such cases he should be provided all the help to fulfil his dreams. If we want the best IAS officers, best policemen, best engineers and best doctors then merit only should be the sole criteria. Otherwise we are letting mediocrity to set in and things to worsen.
I myself have many times felt frustrated by this reservation system during my college days when I see people with lower marks than me getting better colleges than me.I have nothing against the people who make use of their caste certificates to get admissions to colleges. They are just using the system to suit their ways.The change need to be brought about in the system. The time has come to review and adapt the reservation system according to the need of the times. If we want to become a progressive and developed country we have to promote merit and merit only.
Before I end my post I ask you this one question
How can we force the govt to review and reform the reservation policies?
Although I am not much familiar about it with the introduction of RTI we have an opportunity to voice our concerns and demand an explanation from the authorities.
Wishing you all a Happy Independence Day in advance I end my post.Please write in your comments and feedback.
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