RESERVATION

Disclaimer: I support affirmative action for underprivileged sections of society. These are arguments
that I see on social media. Views expressed here may have bias. Reader discretion is advised.
These are the fundamental premise that anti-reservations activists use
1. Against meritocracy
2. Against right to equality
3. Effectiveness of reservations
4. Causes all things bad about India - corruption, brain drain, slows development
5. Inability to cope
6. Cut-offs are lower than GC therefore lower quality
Meritocracy
The fundamental premise of Meritocracy is that society (the collective) benefits the most by giving
opportunities to those who have the most meritorious. This is based on the flawed principle of
survival of the fittest. Especially, the one dimensional idea of fitness.
 Most human deaths are caused by mosquitoes[1]. Mosquitoes aren’t the fittest of our
opponents.
 Individual skill or merit does not matter against the collective. In the Battle of Stalingrad,
Soviet Union sent troops who were barely trained to defeat the trained German army mostly
with perseverance of its people. Germans were out numbered by Russia.
 The theory itself has long been discredited for not being able to adapt to changes in
environment causing mass extinctions. The emphasis today is to protect the biodiversity. In
other words, protecting species that are threatened by successful species.
Criticism of meritocracy comes from the inability to define and measure merit objectively and
principles of justice.
The term "meritocracy" was originally intended as a negative concept.
One of the primary concerns with meritocracy is the unclear definition of "merit".
What is considered as meritorious can differ with opinions as on which qualities are considered the
most worthy, raising the question of which "merit" is the highest — or, in other words, which
standard is the "best" standard. As the supposed effectiveness of a meritocracy is based on the
supposed competence of its officials, this standard of merit cannot be arbitrary and has to also reflect
the competencies required for their roles.
The reliability of the authority and system that assesses each individual's merit is another point of
concern. As a meritocratic system relies on a standard of merit to measure and compare people
against, the system by which this is done has to be reliable to ensure that their assessed merit
accurately reflects their potential capabilities. Standardized testing, which reflects the meritocratic
sorting process, has come under criticism for being rigid and unable to accurately assess many
valuable qualities nor the potential of students. Education theorist Bill Ayers, commenting on the
limitations of standardized testing, writes that "Standardized tests can't measure initiative,
creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment,

1|Page
nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What
they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and function, content knowledge, the
least interesting and least significant aspects of learning."
Merit determined through the opinionated evaluations of teachers, while being able to assess the
valuable qualities that cannot be assessed by standardized testing, are unreliable as the opinions,
insights, biases, and standards of the teachers vary greatly. If the system of evaluation is corrupt, non-
transparent, opinionated or misguided, decisions regarding who has the highest merit can be highly
fallible.
The level of education required in order to become competitive in a meritocracy may also be costly,
effectively limiting candidacy for a position of power to those with the means necessary to become
educated.
Source: Meritocracy
Some argue that natural selection (not survival of fittest) is inevitable. While this may be so, this does
not necessarily ensure our survival as a species or life of planet. Dinosaurs were selected naturally
too, but went extinct. Life on many other planets show that natural selection does not guarantee
success.
The caste system and patriarchy is itself a form of artificial selection. Reservation spreads the
opportunities to all humans and cultivates diversity of ideas. The idea is similar to that of protecting
biodiversity of the planet as opposed to letting the fittest (humans) destroy it.
Right to equality
The principle of right to equality is that all humans should be treated equally.
Our society is not equal to start with. Women and under-privileged social groups such as caste are
discriminated socially now and in the past. This causes the inequality in society in terms of
educational achievements, wealth and power between these groups.
Affirmative Action, is simply a mechanism to achieve the equality between unequal sections of
society. Reservations protects the opportunities of the under-privileged castes and gender from being
taken away by inequalities they suffer from - discrimination, lack of access to education and lack of
encouragement.
This exception is made and clarified in the constitution of India. Universally, affirmative action is
recognized as a protective mechanism against discrimination.
Also the principle of meritocracy can only be applied after all participants have an equal start. Many
falsely claim that all social groups are equal using Anecdotal evidence and logical fallacies such
as Misleading vividness.
Effectiveness of reservations
Reservations are measured against the progress made by protected under-privileged castes and gender.
The argument is that reservations are not effective therefore it must be stopped.
It is true that reservations have not made rapid changes in society. However, this is not because of
ineffectiveness of reservations but rather because of it feeble implementation.
The reasons are
 reservations affect less than 1% of work force - about 5–6M government jobs in a country of
850M SC/ST/OBCs and 487M workforce. There is no reservations in 99% of workforce

2|Page
 which is either private or unorganized sector, therefore the impact of reservations on
workforce is low. Less than 1% of SC/ST/OBCs actually get use reservations.
 neglect of public schools - Many Indian schools don’t even have toilets, leave alone books
and computers. Huge number of children from under privileged sections drop out because the
school is too far or for the girl child, there are no toilets. A large section of privileged castes
however use the private schools.
 caste discrimination in schools, colleges, jobs and housing - research after research show that
there is rampant caste discrimination in schools. This results in school dropouts and campus
suicides.
 neglect of higher education - Higher education in India is poor and grossly inadequate. While
India needs 4 time more doctors to come out of medical colleges to meet the demand of 2 per
1000, government shows no urgency to build medical colleges. This limits the access to
health care for the under-privileged sections of society - slowing their progress down further.
 OBC reservations are disproportionate to population - 69% of people have just 49%
reservations because of a small mistake in constitution of Indian calling is a ‘special’
provision.
So reservations should be made more effective by the following
 extending reservations to private sector - education, jobs, promotions and housing covering
more people.
 proportionate reservations for faster upliftment by covering more people
 building good public schools especially with facilities for the girl child, labs, teachers and
facilities.
 ensuring caste discrimination in schools and colleges are stopped by a caste diverse staff.
 ensuring we have high quality colleges for the 1.2B people of the country.
Causes the ills of India - slow development, poverty, corruption
On the contrary, India was poor, illiterate, superstitious and corrupt much before caste based
affirmative action was introduced. In fact, after introduction of India’s economy progressed in
comparison.
Tamilnadu’s progress as a state increased rapidly when reservations were introduced and increased to
69%. It is clear that (near) proportional reservations was the reason why the state progressed rapidly
in comparison to other states that had lesser reservations.
Selective highlighting is used by caste supremacists to ignore the massive corruptions indulged by
other castes like Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya while highlighting corruption done by reserved category.
This is unrelated to reservations.
Inability to cope
Quoting the low cut-off as an example anti-reservation lobbyist often argue that SC/ST/OBC will not
be able to cope with rigors of high-education.
The student suicides the quote are often a result of caste discrimination by privileged caste staff and
bullying by fellow students. They use the excuse of marks in covering up their crime of abetting the
suicide.

3|Page
On the other hand Tina Dabi and Dr. Ambedkar have proven it is simply a question of opportunity,
not capability that is the bottleneck. Given the opportunity, almost all the 49.5% of SC/ST/OBC pass
out of their exams earning their degrees in IITs and AIIMS.
This shows clearly there is much more talent in the country that needs the opportunity to prove
themselves than what our IITs could train them for. In other words, the more we build IITs many
more students would get the necessary education to work for our country.
Cut-offs are low
The cut-offs are a function of demand versus supply. If the demand is high and the supply low, then
cut-offs will rise and vice-versa.
The cut-off being high for general categoey is simply an indication of the privileges that the general
category enjoy. This is reflected in several parameters such as wealth, education achievement of
parents, access to schooling, coaching classes, transportation, lack of discrimination etc.
The cut-off being low for SC/ST/OBC is simply an indication of the poor access to schooling, caste
discrimination, illiterate parents, lack of knowledge about private tutoring etc in these categories.
There is no reservations for passing out. Those who earn their degree have cleared the necessary
criteria for their degrees.
Often anecdotal stories are narrated about how low the cut-off marks are. This is an example of logical
fallacies - Misleading vividness. When taken as a category, the privileged castes are among the
richest, getting the best of education and tutoring that an Indian would get. Without caring to improve
the facilities available for all SC/ST/OBCs, they conclude that the low marks is because of lack of
hard work, talent or interest.
Conclusion
Almost all the arguments made so far in my interactions don’t stand the scrutiny of rational thought or
evidence. One can see that most arguments are made with logical fallacies or blinded by privileges.
Below are some common myths about reservations that you may want to avoid while making your
debate points

4|Page
What are some misconceptions about reservation in India?
Myth 1: Reservation is a poverty alleviation program
The biggest misconception about reservation is that it is a poverty alleviation program.
No, reservation in India is a Affirmative Action Against Social Discrimination program.
Poverty is a symptom of the problem of social discrimination by caste in India.
Caste discrimination causes segregation (untouchability - 27% of Indians practice untouchability).
Segregation causes illiteracy.
Illiteracy causes ignorance.
Ignorance causes poverty.
Affirmative action is a program to protect backward castes from social discrimination by the
privileged castes of India who are among the richest, politically powerful, social influential in India.
Other poverty alleviation programs
There are many poverty alleviation programs Public Distribution System (PDS) popularly known as
the Ration Card system, Employment Guarantee Program (MGNREGA), public hospitals, free public
schools, free vaccination programs are all part of helping the poor in India. There is no caste-based
allocation. Clearly, reservations in India are a different program.

Myth 2: Rich are not discriminated

Discrimination by caste, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation is a different problem. It has nothing
to do with economic status.
Serena Williams is one of the most accomplished tennis players in the world. She is rich, no doubt.
But let's compare the accomplishments
Serena Williams : Winnings 11.6M, Total 24.6M (2015) - 22 Grand Slams (total)
Maria Sharapova: Winnings 6.7M, Total 29.7M (2015) - 5 Grand Slams (total)
Source: The World's Highest-Paid Female Athletes
Maria’s has been banned for taking performance enhanced drugs putting into question her
performance in the past.
Now, Maria gets more endorsements than Serena, thanks to the ‘acceptance’ of the white skin in the
western nations. Even though she comes from a hostile cold war country, she is more accepted in the
USA than local born Serena.
1. Mr. Williams Alleges Racism at Tennis Tourney
2. Only sexism and racism can explain why Serena Williams doesn’t earn more in endorsements
3. Serena Williams subjected to racist, sexist remarks following French Open victory
The contrast between the players is striking.

5|Page
Serena has to work 4 times harder to earn as much as the white player from a different country while
being subjected to abuse. It does not matter that she is rich, a celebrity and a legend in her chosen
profession. She will still be earning less than the doping foreigner with white skin.
This is the nature of social discrimination. Be it the rich and talented Serena or the powerful president
of USA, they are still discriminated by the color of their skin.
In India, there are tons of stories of caste based discrimination
1. Biggest caste survey: One in four Indians admit to practising untouchability
2. No Dalits, Muslims please: Study shows rampant discrimination against tenants in NCR
3. Social boycott of 40 dalit families in Belagavi village
4. "They Say We’re Dirty"
Power to discriminate
Privileged social groups often have the power to discriminate. By power we mean - wealth, education,
political, physical, numerical, military, media. As long as there is an uneven distribution of this power
among the social groups, the privileged social groups tend to use it to promote their social group and
pass on this power to the next generation.
The reason why Serena is not endorsed as much is simply because the African American community
does not have the economic might in the USA to accomplish that. Wealth in the hands of hands means
that they pick the winners with the economic might in the form of endorsements.
Affirmative action is a way to redistribute this power to discriminate to all communities fairly and
equally. Redistributing the power means protecting the opportunities of the discriminated social
groups by ensuring there is enough representation of these social groups in positions of power.
Correct, Compensate and Prevent
We need affirmative action to
1. Correct the discrimination in the present (in access to schooling, discrimination in schools).
2. Compensate for the discrimination in the past (resulting in poor parenting, socioeconomic
conditions)
3. Prevent such discrimination from happening in future (by distributing the power to discriminate to
all communities equally).

Myth 3: Reservations are meant to uplift people or a ‘benefit’ or a ‘charity’ or an ‘act of

benevolence’
It is a right, not to be discriminated. Reservations protect that right.
Reservation are meant to protect the rights and opportunities of discriminated social groups. It is
not to uplift people, it is meant to protect people. People may or may not get uplifted by the protection
of opportunities. But that is a side effect, not the intent of the program.
Reservations work like helmets.
Helmets protects the rider. Reservations protect the discriminated.

6|Page
Helmets don’t make riders healthy. Reservations don’t make the discriminated wealthy, intelligent or
powerful (or uplift people).
Helmets are not compensation for accidents. Reservations are not compensation for discrimination.
Helmets are not one-time use. Reservations are not one use only program.
Helmets are required as long there are bad drivers. Reservations are required as long as there are caste
supremacists who discriminate.
Helmets are required even though you never had an accident in the past. Reservations are required
even though you have never experienced discrimination in the past.

Myth 4: Everybody in India is against reservations

Another popular misconception caused by privilege blindness. No, 90–95% of Indians are supporting
reservations in some form or other.
All major political parties from the right end of the spectrum to the left support reservations.
No politician who opposes reservations has won any election on that platform.
Case settled.

Myth 5: Reservations are misused by the rich SC/ST

Purpose of reservations is misunderstood by anti-reservation activists. As explained earlier it is not
a poverty alleviation program. Therefore being rich does not matter.
The problem is not them, the problem is the ignorance of the purpose of reservations.

Myth 6: Reservations causes under-development

The State of Tamilnadu has had 69% reservations for several decades and is one of the top states in
terms of development in India. Needless to say, reservations aids the development of state. Several
studies about the efficiency of operations indicate the opposite.

These are the biggest misconceptions over which the anti-reservation activists place their arguments.
The clamor for ‘economic condition’ based reservations is based on the misconception that
reservations are a poverty alleviation program.

7|Page
What are the misleading facts about reservation system in India?
In reality, reservations in India are
 Affirmative Action Against Social Discrimination
 given when the following conditions are satisfied
o evidence of under-representation of a social group (caste or gender etc.)
o evidence that under-representation is a result of active or past acts of discrimination
against the said social group.
 for the following reasons
o Corrective - discrimination in present society.
o Compensatory - overcome the effects of discrimination in the past.
o Preventive - ensure adequate representation so that the discrimination does not repeat.
 for adequate representation of people discriminated by caste/gender (in the past or present)
 protection against discrimination (like helmets for a motorbike rider)
Misleading facts about reservations
The misleading facts about caste based reservation system are the following
 Reservations started post independence, 68 years ago.
o Caste based reservations in education and jobs existed for 3000+ years in India. It is
called the caste system.
o It was 100% reservations for certain jobs based on caste.
o What we have now is affirmative action aimed at reversing the effects of caste
system.
 Reservations are a poverty alleviation program
o No, they are not.
o Poverty alleviation programs are MNREGA, PDS, Mid-Day-Meal program, public
schooling, vaccination etc. All castes are covered under this schemes.
o Reservations are corrective, compensatory and preventive measures against caste
based discrimination. That is why it is based on caste.
 Reservations are there “everywhere”
o No. Reservations apply only to government colleges and jobs.
o Government jobs are only ~2% of workforce. Government colleges are only 38% of
available seats
 Reservations are taking away all my chances
o Approximately, 1% of work-force and 19% of available higher-education seats have
reservations.

8|Page
 o If you cannot succeed with 81% of college seats being available and 99% of jobs
being available, then you should look for something else.

Figure: Distribution of workforce in India

 Reservations lowers cut-off marks
o No. Cut-off marks are function of demand vs supply. Demand increases, cut-off
increases. Demand decreases, cut-off decreases.
o Higher cut-off marks indicates higher competition in that category. This indicates the
category has access to better schooling and coaching.
o Lower cut-off marks indicates lower competition in that category. This indicates that
category has less or no access to good schools and coaching.
o Poor education and caste discrimination in government schools lowers cut-off marks,
not reservations.[1]
o Give them proper education, they will shine like Dr. Ambedkar, UPSC topper -Tina
Dabi etc.
 Reservations ruined my life or ‘snatched my dreams’
o No. The lack of investments in education and economy by the government ruined
your life.
o Demand that government build more high quality educational institutions for
everybody.
 There no colleges in top 100 universities in the world.[2]

9|Page
  The selection ratios for IIT/IIM/AIIMS are 1 in 50 to 1 in 100 range among
the highest in the world.
 In spite of having the lowest no of doctors per thousand, government does not
invest in building medical colleges.
o That is a sour-grapes argument, because even if reservations are removed, most of
them will not get high quality college education.
 Reservations are for minorities, GC are the majority.
o No, GCs are a minority. [3]
o Excluding religious minorities such as muslims, christians, sikhs, jains etc, privileged
castes are just 10–15% of Indian population.
o Reservations cover under-represented people - SC/ST/OBCs - 69% of population.
They are the majority.
o Jains and Christians are minorities in India too. They are not given reservations -
because they are adequately represented.

Figure: Showing category distribution in India

 Reservations are punishment for caste discrimination in the past
o No, they are not.
o Caste discrimination is present, not past. Caste discrimination caused the poverty,
illiteracy in India.
o Reservations are correcting for present discrimination, compensating for effects of
past discrimination and preventing future discrimination by diversity (representation).
o Nothing is taken away from GC. They occupy ~62% of government jobs - more than
double their 31% in population. Where is the punishment?

Figure: Showing category distribution in government jobs

 Reservations contradict right to equality given in Indian Constitution
o No. Read the relevant section of Indian constitution and its directive principles.
o Supreme Court has confirmed validity of this articles and approved 49.5%
reservations. This has been vetted out by great legal luminaries of our times. This
aspect was not missed out.
o Special provisions are made for representing the under-privileged Indians as deemed
fit by government.
 Reservations are opposed by everybody (or educated or intelligent or civil society)
o 99% of population support some form of reservations - they may differ on who gets it
or misunderstand why it is given.

10 | P a g e
 o No, anti reservations party has won elections - not even one parliamentary seat.
 Reservations are used by politicians for vote-banks
o No, nearly all parties support reservations given in proportion to population.
o Every extension of reservation (for Jats, Gujjars and Patels) was passed near
unanimously by parliament, state assembly. There was no SC/ST/OBC protest.
o Most parties that extended reservations, lost power including former PM - V. P.
Singh.
 OBC reservations were given arbitrarily
o OBC reservations was based on socio-economic-educational status of castes.
o There is
 evidence of under-representation
 evidence that under-representation is a result of past acts of discrimination.
o Criteria for selection was based on 11 criteria in 3 groups - which included economic
conditions, educational achievements and social status. [4]
 Reservations happen only in India
o Affirmative action is common where ever there is significant discrimination.[5]
o Gender and ethnicity based quotas are common in many countries.
o Germany, USA, neighbors in South Asia have reservations.[6]
o Singapore has reservations in housing as well.
 Reservations lowers merit
o No, it does not. It gives opportunities to meritorious students from under-privileged
communities.
o 90% of IITians including the 49.5% of reserved category pass out of IITs in flying
colors. Given the opportunity, all caste and communities are capable of completing
the necessary criteria for their degrees.
o Reservation increases competition by giving chances to the under-privileged.
o Indian Olympic Sports has no reservations. It has not excelled compared to other
poorer and smaller countries. Lack of reservation does not mean meritocracy.
o Spreading the sport, spreading education helps build talent from all castes and
communities - not just the privileged. Thereby increases merit.
 Reservations causes under-development
o No. Reservations develops country, by sharing developmental opportunities to the
under-privileged.
o Proof? Tamilnadu has 67% reservations. It is one of the most developed states in
India. Among the larger states, it is one of fastest growing economy, urbanized state.
It is one of the top state in many social measures such as literacy, malnutrition,
institutionalized births, population control, electrification, urban

11 | P a g e
 o Other states that did not have OBC reservations till 1990’s lags Tamilnadu.
 Reservations causes corruption
o No, it does not. Corruption exists in all castes. In fact a lot more than in the under-
privileged communities.
o There are thousands of black money hoarders, tax-evaders, corrupt politicians,
government officials from privileged castes, their caste is not highlighted - Vijay
Malya, Suresh Kalmadi, Neerav Modi.
o SC/ST/OBCs are highlighted because of unethical casteist bias of privileged caste
media.
 Reservation causes brain drain
o Indians have been migrating out of our country in almost constant rate since British
took Indians as indentured laborers.
o Reservations are simply an excuse offered by privileged to leave India.
 Reservations do not reach the poor
o No. Research in IIT Delhi, indicates that reservations reach their targets people in
lower economic strata.[7]
o Another indication that caste selected by SC/ST/OBC criteria are indeed poor.
 Reservations do not work because poverty is not eradicated.
o Reservations are not a poverty alleviation program.
o It is not meant to eradicate poverty. This is irrelevant.
 Reservations do not work because discrimination is not eradicated.
o Reservations does not change the attitudes of the caste supremacist. Reservations are
protection against discrimination. It is not caste supremacist reform program.
o Helmets don’t prevent accidents, they just protect you from the consequences of the
accident. Bullet proof vest does not prevent war, they just protect the wearer from the
consequences of war.
o Reservations don’t stop caste discrimination, they just protect the under-privileged
from being discriminated in present and events in the past.
 Reservations are limited to 49.5% by Supreme Court
o No. They can be extended by government, by providing sufficient justification. Read
the judgement.
o Supreme Court said reservations cannot be arbitrary. That is, it cannot done without
evidence of discrimination and proper justification.[8]
 Reservations had a 10 year time limit, that are extended periodically.
o No. Reservations in education and jobs did not have time limits.
o Only political reservations had time limits that are extended periodically.
o No, Ambedkar did not set limits for reservations. Read the constitution.

12 | P a g e
  Reservations (and laws) cannot be applied to private companies
o Germany provided reservations in private company boards to prevent gender based
discrimination
o Slavery laws, child labor laws, labor laws, sexual discrimination laws all apply to
private companies too.
o If the parliament (as elected by people) passes a law providing reservations in private
sector, then it is well within its rights to frame such laws.
 Reservations causes reduction in FDI.
o No.
o Tamilnadu is one of the top destinations for FDI. One of the reasons is availability of
work force.
o Companies outsource for competitive human resources. Reservations make workforce
competitive by empowering the poor in India.
 Indian army does not have caste based reservations
o No, it does.
 Army recruitment done on caste, region, religion lines, SC told
o It continues to do so for ‘operational’ reasons.
o How else is there a “Jat” Regiment, “Maratha” Regiment etc?
 Reservations are only based on caste
o Reservations exist for other criteria in various states
 Gender - reservations for women, trans-gender.
 Religious minorities - Muslims in some states
 Home state - almost all states reserve seats for their residents
 Rural/Urban districts
 Medium of instruction (vernacular)
 IIMs have reservations for non-engineers.
 Reservations are a benefit or charity or help given to poor
o No.
o Reservations are a right - not to be discriminated by caste
o Reservations is social justice for the practice of caste/gender based discrimination in
the past and present.

13 | P a g e
INDIAN POPULATION RELIGION WISE - 2017 - 2018
Over All India
Hindu Population : 74.33% to 80.5%
Muslim Population : 13.4% to 14.20%
Christian : 2.3% to 5.84%
Sikh : 1.86% to 1.9%
Ethmoreligionist : 1.35%
Buddhist : 0.82%
Non religious : 0.48%
Other : 0.47% to 1.8%
Unspecified : 0.1%
Further Hindu population consists of 22.2% SCs , 9% STs, 42.8% OBCs and remaining 26% as
General and other classes.
This implies that 74% of Hindu population is availing reservation. The remaining 26 % as upper casts
about 60% is engaged in such jobs which do not require reservation as engaged as traders,
Agriculturists and alike. One can say that only 10.4% ( 8% of Indian population) of Hindu population
is in actual competing as general category.
Questions on Reservation
Q: What is reservation?
The word reservation is a misnomer. The appropriate word for it used in the Indian constitution is
Representation. It is not given to anyone in his individual capacity. It is given to individual as a
representative of the underprivileged community. The beneficiaries of reservations are in turn
expected to help their communities to come up.
Q: Why reservation?
The policy of reservations is being used as a strategy to overcome discrimination and act as a
compensatory exercise. A large section of the society was historically denied right to property,
education, business and civil rights because of the practice of untouchability. In order to compensate
for the historical denial and have safeguards against discrimination, we have the reservation policy.
Q: Were Reservations incorporated by the founding fathers of the constitution only for first 10 years?
Only the political reservations (seats reserved in Loksabha, Vidhansabha, etc) were to be reserved for
10 years and the policy review was to be made after that. That is why after every 10 years the
parliament extends political reservations. The 10 year limit for reservations is not true for the
reservations in education and employment. The reservations in educational institutions and in
employment are never given extension as it is given for the political reservations.
Q: Why give reservations on basis of caste?
To answer this question we must first understand why the need for the reservations has arisen. The
cause for the various types of disabilities that the underprivileged castes in India face / have faced, is
the systemic historical subjugation of a massive magnitude based on caste system having a religious
sanction. Therefore if the caste system was the prime cause of all the disabilities, injustice and
inequalities that the Dalit-Bahujans suffered, then to overcome these disabilities the solution has to be
designed on basis of caste only.
Q: Why not on basis of economic criterion?
Reservations should never be based on economic status for various reasons as follows:

14 | P a g e
1. The poverty prevailing among the Dalit-Bahujans has its genesis in the social-religious deprivations
based on caste system. Therefore poverty is an effect and caste system a cause. The solution should
strike at the cause and not the effect
2. An individual's Economic status can change. Low income may be taken to mean poverty. But the
purchasing value of money, in India, depends upon caste. For example a Dalit can not buy a cup of tea
even in some places.
3. Practical difficulties in proving economic status of individual to the state machinery are many. The
weak may suffer.
4. In caste ridden India infested with rampant corruption, even for an unchangeable status like caste,
the false "Caste Certificate" can be purchased. How much easier will it be to purchase a false "Income
Certificate"? So income based reservation is impractical. It is no use arguing when both certificates
can be bought, why caste only should form basis of reservation. It is certainly more difficult to buy a
false caste certificate than a false income certificate.
5. Reservation is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. The main aim is to achieve the active
participation and sharing by the "socially excluded" humanity in all the fields of the affairs of the
society. It is not panacea for all ills, neither it is permanent. It would be a temporary measure till such
time the matrimonial advertisements in newspaper columns continue to contain the mention of caste.
Q: Should there be a creamy layer criterion or not?
The demand from anti-reservationists for introduction of creamy layer is ploy to scuttle the whole
effectiveness of reservations. Even now out of all seats meant for SC/STs in IITs , 25-40 % seats
remain vacant because it seems IITs do not find suitable candidates. Just imagine what would happen
if by applying creamy layer criterion the SC/ST middle class, lower middle class people who are in
position to take decent education are excluded from reservations benefit ! Will the poor among
SC/STs be able to compete with these ‘privileged ‘students’ trained under Ramaiah and at various
IIT-JEE training centers at Kota ? Of course Not. This will lead to 100 % seats in IITs for SC/STs
going vacant.
Q: How long should the reservations continue?
The answer to this question lies with the anti-reservationists. It depends on how sincerely and
effectively the policy makers which constitute “privileged castes” people in executive, judiciary and
legislature, implement the reservations policy. Is it just on part of “privileged castes” people who have
enjoyed undeclared exclusive reservations for past 3000 years and continue to enjoy the same even in
21st century in all religious institutions and places of worship, to ask for the timelines for reservations
policy? Why do not they ask, how long the exclusive reservations for particular community in the
religious institutions and places of worship are going to continue? The people who have acquired
disabilities due to inhuman subjugation for 3000 years will need substantial time to come over those
disabilities. 50 years of affirmative action is nothing as compared to 3000 years of subjugation.
Q: Will not the reservations based on castes lead to divisions in the society?
There are apprehensions that reservations will lead to the divisions in the society. These
apprehensions are totally irrational. The society is already divided into different castes. On the
contrary reservations will help in annihilating the caste system. There are around 5000 castes among
the SC/ST and OBCs. By grouping these various castes under 3 broad categories of SC, ST and OBC,
the differences among 5000 separate castes can be abridged. This is a best way of annihilation of
castes. Therefore rather than making rhetoric about reservations leading to divisions in the society the
anti-reservationists should make honest and sincere efforts to annihilate castes. Have these people
made any efforts towards this direction? In most of the cases the answer is NO. The people making

15 | P a g e
these anti-reservations rhetoric, all this time have been enjoying all the privileges that the Indian caste
system offers to the “Privileged Castes”. As long as they enjoy the privileges of the caste system they
do not have any qualms regarding it. But when it comes to making castes as basis for achieving social
equality by providing representations these same people make noises. These are the double standards
of highest order practiced by the ‘privileged’ people.
Q: Will not reservations affect the Merit?
As regards to how Merit is defined in a very narrow sense and what it actually means, following is the
quote from an article by Prof Rahul Barman of IIT Kanpur.
“Is merit all about passing exams? After all, are the exams a means or an end? If the exams are means
to look for ability to make better engineers, doctors and managers, then can there be better methods to
look for such ability? After all in my first engineering class I was told that a good engineer is the one
who can produce the best out of the least resources and similarly, management is supposed to find
one’s way in an uncertain situation – or allocate scarce resources in the most optimal way possible. If
that is so, whatever I have seen of our deprived masses (of which overwhelming majority belongs to
the backward, dalit castes or adivasis), they have the astonishing capacity to make something
productive from almost next to nothing! For the last few years I have been studying small industry
clusters, like Moradabad brass, Varanasi silk and Kanpur leather. Put together (all the clusters in the
country), they are exporting more than the IT sector and their cumulative employment will be several
times of the whole of IT industry. In all these clusters they operate with miniscule resources – small
investment, no electricity, forget about air-conditioning, non existent roads, lack of water, and little
formal education. These clusters are primarily constituted of these so called backward/ dalit castes and
are truly a tribute to the genius that our society is. But in spite of centuries of excellence these
communities have hardly produced any formal ‘engineers’, ‘doctors’ and ‘managers’, and conversely
these elite institutions have not developed any linkages with such industries and their people. “
Reservations of more than 60 % have existed in the 4 states of southern India and around 40 % in
Maharashtra since last 50 years. On other hand in the north Indian states the 15 % ‘privileged castes’
have been enjoying 77 % of the seats in educational institutions and in employment (assuming that 23
% reservations for SC/STs are totally filled, which is not the case). The World Bank study has found
that all the 4 south Indian states are much ahead of north Indian states in terms of their human
development index. It is a common knowledge that all the southern states and Maharashtra are much
ahead in fields of education, health, industrial development, in implementing poverty alleviation
schemes, etc. than the north Indian states. This shows that reservations have indeed helped the
southern Indian states in making progress on various fronts. Whereas lack of adequate reservations is
responsible for the lack of development in most of the north Indian states.
Q: Have existing reservations for SC/STs been effective or not?
The reservation policy in the public sector has benefited a lot of people. The Central government
alone has 14 lakh employees. The proportion of Scheduled castes in class III and IV is well above the
quota of 16 per cent and in class I and II, the proportion is around 8–12 per cent. So, the middle and
the lower middle class that we see today from the Dalit community is because of reservation. With no
reservation, the entry of these people in government services would have been doubtful. The situation
is similar in education. An article in the EPW (Economic and Political Weekly) estimates that there
are seven lakh SC /ST students in higher education and about half of them are there because of
reservation. Reservation has certainly helped but there are limitations in any policy with the way it is
implemented.

16 | P a g e
There are many strong points against caste-based reservations:

1. Caste-based reservations are misused by the ‘creamy layer’ in SC/ST because this layer with
its access to better coaching, education in good schools etc sport the ‘dalit’ tag and grab the
quota seats (although they do not need them) and prevent really under-privileged (poor)
SC/ST from getting the benefits of reservation. The most prominent example is a 2017 IAS
‘topper’ who being the daughter of two gazetted rank govt/PSU officers could hardly be
called socially backward or under-privileged. Yet she used her SC reservation to grab an IAS
seat denying it to a truly under-privileged SC candidate. So it is time to implement a ‘creamy
layer’ bar on caste-based reservation even for SC/ST.

2. The second reason derives from the above. Caste -based reservations have NOT been able to
improve the lot of SC/ST despite being around for 70 years now. So it may be time to try
something else now like income-based reservation .

3. They say the SC/ST were ‘oppressed’ for thousands of years in the past. Agreed ! but does
that mean that a counter-oppression of non-SC/ST people for thousands of years is called for
by denying them an equal opportunity to compete? Is it ok to punish people for something
which may have been done by their ancestors?

4. Caste-based reservations bolster and re-inforce the caste identity far from eliminating it.
Today a person from the SC/ST does not want caste to be done away with because caste
means advantages in the for of reservations. So caste - based reservations have become the
new caste system.

5. SC/ST have been asking for reservations rather than for upliftment. had the aim been
upliftment, educational scholarships/grants and other forms of aid would have been more in
order than reservations. It is like a group of kids where one kid cannot jump as high as the
others to reach a shelf (on which sweets are kept). What if the kid whho cannot jump were to
be given the sweets without jumping? Would he/she ever be motivated to try to jump? What
should be done is to train up the weak kid, give it a better diet and finally make it capable of
jumping.

17 | P a g e
~Reservation was meant to be an uplifter for the society but turns out that it has
become a life long process of spoon feeding.

~ Yes we agree that in earlier 80’s and 90’s caste system had its roots deep down in very
aspect of life but now this reservation system has turned the tables all the way round. Dear
opponents, I don't see even a single ray of equality in such a system which is now
indeed standing upon the dead hopes, lost morales and killed opportunities of every
second child in our country.

~How do you even expect fair education to all when one child knows that burning the night
oil is not even enough and the other one knows that only few efforts will make it. I'm a
student myself and I've seen the ominous fear in the eyes of general students (or your so
called high class society people) discussing college cut-offs sky rocketing every year for their
category.

~Indeed respected Dr. B.R Ambedkar was successful in securing a good amount of
opportunities for the OBCs, SCs and STs but I guess now is the time when a new B.R
Ambedkar from the general category will rise and fight.

~Progress is impossible without changes. It's time our government should bring in a
big change in the reservation system ensuring India’s progress and we being the
citizens of India should understand “It's not our right, it's just a privilege we are being
endowed with”.

 I don’t understand how reservation in promotion will help in the uplift of the SCs and the STs.
Promotion should be based on merit and ability. The proposed amendment will only lead to
the widening of the rift between the upper castes and lower castes.
Reservation was introduced to ensure that the historically underprivileged communities were given
equal access to resources. The argument ‘irrespective of the economic progress we make, we continue
to remain socially disadvantaged’ by those benefiting from it is unacceptable. Reservation destroys self-
respect, so much so that competition is no longer on to determine the best but the most backward.

Is it fair to extend reservation to the children of professors, scientists, bureaucrats, MPs and MLAs
belonging to the SC, the ST and the OBC? If, in the bygone days, the “manuvadis” deprived the backward
sections of opportunities, today the educated and well-placed SCs, STs and OBCs are denying them to
the lesser privileged among them.

 Reservation in promotion is a natural and logical corollary of reservation at the entry level.
Since a majority of reserved category candidates enter the services at a comparatively higher
age, there are almost negligible chances of their being promoted to the top posts. One of the
criteria for promotions is the number of years of service. Reservation limited to the entry level
is thus incomplete and partial.

Those opposing the proposed amendment are only exposing their thinking that Dalits and other
backward sections should remain subservient to the ‘upper’ castes and should never be allowed to
participate in the decision-making process. As long as this attitude remains, reservation will continue.

The ruling elites do all that they can to prevent Dalits from gaining the benefits of reservation. Merit is
not the monopoly of the ‘upper’ castes. Those who oppose reservation should realise that the backward
sections constitute the majority and the majority is for reservation.

18 | P a g e
Once I went on a date with a girl and while talking somehow we landed on reservation topic.
She belonged to reserved category and a staunch supporter of reservation system.
Me: I am not saying, I am against the reservations. But I feel only deserving candidates should get the
reservation.
She: On what criteria do you think the government should decide who are ‘deserving ’ candidates?
Me: Well, to start with I think the reservation should be based on economic status rather than caste
basis.
She: That is not that easy to implement. Everybody can produce a fraudulent income certificate.
He: Then the government should find a way to curb the corruption. Don't you see the problem with
current reservation system? Can't you see how much it demoralizes someone if they can't get into
their dream college or get a dream job due to reservations despite having the merit?
She: I understand it hurts few people but the pros of having reservation clearly outweighs the cons.
He: I am not sure how you came to that conclusion. Let me tell you an hypothetical scenario. If you
are about to undergo a bypass surgery and there are two cardiac surgeons available in the hospital.
One got there through reservation and other through merit. The surgeon who got there through
reservation has 60% success rate and the other surgeon who got there solely based on his merit has
90% success rate. Since you are a staunch supporter of reservation, would you pick the doctor who
got there through reservation(and has only 60% success rate) to perform your surgery if given a
chance?
She: Well, you need to factor in various things to determine why there is a difference in their
performance.
Me: I just said it is a hypothetical scenario. Lets assume all the factors are same for both the doctors.
She: (Interrupting)But, how do you know that? You were not present in their lives right?
Me: But, I said it is hypothetical scenario where the circumstances are same for both.
She: But you still can't say that for certain right?
Me: .....

19 | P a g e