Reservation was introduced to ensure that the historically underprivileged communities were given equal access to resources. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the original proponent of reservation had planned for reservation for a period of 10 years time only, and not indefinitely, as the present politicians are portraying. Trade unions with political parties come together in times of need but caste-based unions always side with the employers. It seems the reservation policy is being used in the state mainly in vote bank politics played around the castes and has failed in including the people at the bottom in the mainstream economy and society. Continuing reservations for generations mindlessly is nothing but a scorn of the constitution. If successive governments had worked towards the upliftment of weaker sections by empowering them, the violent agitations we have seen in the recent past would not have occurred. The reservation requires a fresh look as the existing scheme does not serve any fair purpose either for its beneficiaries or those who really deserve it from the forward communities because of economic backwardness. One’s eligibility for reservation needs to be assessed on an economic basis. The time has come for the government to set up a special committee to look into the policy of reservation.
Vinod C. Dixit
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
