Reservation in India- an analysis

 Reservation in India is the process of facilitating people in education, scholarship, jobs etc that were faced historical injustice. It is a form of quota-based affirmative action and is is governed by constitutional laws, statutory laws, and local rules and regulations.

The system of reservation in India comprises a series of measures, such as reserving access to seats in the various legislatures, to government jobs, and to enrolment in higher educational institutions. The general ethos of reservation being providing with social equality and justice to everyone as enshrined in the constitution of India. The primary objective of the reservation system in India is to enhance the social and educational status of underprivileged communities and thus improve their lives.

Historical background :-

In May 1949, Vallabhai Patel had said during the Constituent Assembly debates that rather than quotas on the basis of religion, he would wait for the blossoming of toleration and fair-mindedness for the growing conscience among my own countrymen, for there can be no future for this country except on the basis of true democracy and fair opportunity for all

The caste consciousness still runs deep in Indian society and it shapes socioeconomic structures in negative ways.

A dedicated study has to be made analysing the relationship between the reservation, growth and development. Based on the study, the reservation policy has to be revamped. Reservation pleas without proper justification and rationale should not be accommodated.

Constitutional Provisions: -

• Article 46 points to promote the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs, and other weaker sections of the society and to protect them from social injustice and exploitation. 
• Article 338( National Commission for Scheduled Castes) investigates and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the SCs and to evaluate their working while enquiring  into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the SCs.
• 338-A  (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes)  functions same way as in that of NCSC but with respect to STs than SCs.

Need of Reservation :-

• When it comes to certain groups that have been systematically oppressed for centuries, community identity and economic outcomes are difficult to disentangle.
• The Dalit experience has often been compared to the African-American experience.
• Centuries of slavery followed by decades of discrimination in housing, education, employment and law and order continue to affect exploited communities today in terms of capital formation, social capital and economic mobility.
• Decades of a closed economy failed to deliver the growth necessary for socioeconomic progress and rid the country of entrenched modes of crony capitalism.

The reservation nourishes the historically disadvantaged castes and tribes, listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs) by the Government of India and also those designated as Other Backwards Classes (OBCs).

It would take political courage and effective governance of a high order to push back against quota politics. Even then, results would be slow in coming.

Reservation is no doubt, one of the appropriate positive discrimination tool for the benefit of downtrodden and backward section. But in India the policy of reservation has never been subject to a widespread social or political audit.

By: Shashank Shekhar