Enough has been said recently about how reservations based on caste are bad. And more so in Private institutions and companies.
Although a little late, let me put forth a few points.
I tried to look at how this problem was tackled since independence. There were some castes which were historically poor and backward because they were oppressed socially and economically by the rest of the society.
The government needed to do something to facilitate these castes to come out of their poverty and improve their social status.
To resolve this problem, the government started with reserving around 22.5% of seats for such castes in government and affiliated educational institutes and offices.
After about 30 years, the government felt that the above solution is doing no good. Hence they set up a commission to identify the actual backward classes and a solution to alleviate these castes of the backwardness. The commission reported (Mandal commission) that more than half of the population in India can be termed a backward. So the government increased these reservations even after a lot of opposition from the public to about 50% (Which is the limit set by the supreme court .. otherwise, it could have been anything) and increased the number of castes that could take advantage of these reservations.
After 20 more years, the government still feels that this solution hasn't worked. So they are now contemplating increasing these reservations in private companies and private educational institutes.
Successive governments have only been reinforcing reservations as a solution for this problem, even though it is a proven failure.
So, why is this government doing the same mistake again?
It is pretty clear that this is being done more as a populist measure to gain support of the backward castes, than for the larger good. What the government seems to be doing is reserving some votes for themselves in the next election.
Even if the law doesn't pass, they have the sympathy of the lower castes in backward areas.
The best way to tackle this problem is probably to increase scholarships for backward castes. There are so many scholars in our country who could suggest so many better ways to tackle this problem, but our politicians would agree only if these solutions would result in reserving some votes for them!!
Although a little late, let me put forth a few points.
I tried to look at how this problem was tackled since independence. There were some castes which were historically poor and backward because they were oppressed socially and economically by the rest of the society.
The government needed to do something to facilitate these castes to come out of their poverty and improve their social status.
To resolve this problem, the government started with reserving around 22.5% of seats for such castes in government and affiliated educational institutes and offices.
After about 30 years, the government felt that the above solution is doing no good. Hence they set up a commission to identify the actual backward classes and a solution to alleviate these castes of the backwardness. The commission reported (Mandal commission) that more than half of the population in India can be termed a backward. So the government increased these reservations even after a lot of opposition from the public to about 50% (Which is the limit set by the supreme court .. otherwise, it could have been anything) and increased the number of castes that could take advantage of these reservations.
After 20 more years, the government still feels that this solution hasn't worked. So they are now contemplating increasing these reservations in private companies and private educational institutes.
Successive governments have only been reinforcing reservations as a solution for this problem, even though it is a proven failure.
So, why is this government doing the same mistake again?
It is pretty clear that this is being done more as a populist measure to gain support of the backward castes, than for the larger good. What the government seems to be doing is reserving some votes for themselves in the next election.
Even if the law doesn't pass, they have the sympathy of the lower castes in backward areas.
The best way to tackle this problem is probably to increase scholarships for backward castes. There are so many scholars in our country who could suggest so many better ways to tackle this problem, but our politicians would agree only if these solutions would result in reserving some votes for them!!
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