"The present policy considers caste as the only impediment to equality and neglects many factors like economic status, availability of resources, residence(rural, urban) etc.Hence there is a need to take a comprehensive view and formulate a new policy"
The issue of reservations is always been a hot potato before elections. The reason is quite obvious and well known. Unfortunately, the reservation card is being played quite elegantly and reluctantly by our politicians to meet their own needs at the cost of livelihood of millions of people and more worryingly national integration.
London Daily long back opined that “While world is marching towards development, there is a race for backwardness in India”. This comment was made in the context of Gujjar agitation for better reservations. This clearly indicates that there is something wrong with the current reservation policy. The recent demands of Gujjars, Jats and proposals for religion based reservations are signs of disintegration.Caste based reservations in the short run may pacify these communities but where is the end to such kind of demands, today Gujjar tomorrow somebody else. By saying so I meant no disregard for their problems but highlighting loophole in the current reservation policy. If not the current policy is reformed on a war footing, it may pose grave threats to the national unity in the long run.Hence, it is high time to introspect and review the reservation policy to achieve its larger goals without compromising on building a national identity while preserving diversity.
In our society discrimination is persistent since time immemorial. For India to be a global leader in the contemporary world where equality and fraternity are the buzzwords, there is a strong need to eliminate these deep rooted discrimination .It is our moral responsibility too. With this noble idea our forefathers had introduced the concept of caste based reservations which they felt was compatible to the situations prevailing in those days.
After decades of its inception, it is quite evident that its achievements are completely blurred by the pernicious caste identity that it perpetuated. There is no wrong with the caste based reservation policy per se but its failure can be attributed to political parties, leaders and ignorant society. Many lessons are to be learned from here.
There is another view against the whole idea of reservations. It argues that in the pursuit of social inclusion, we are compromising with the merit in public employment. There is a point in this argument too. But at the same time, we as a society cannot ignore the people who are being oppressed throughout the ages. There is a need to act on war footing to provide all sorts of opportunities to them to grow. As Supreme Court opined , we need to balance both merit and reservations.
Now a day’s major parties & leaders are shamelessly luring the minority voters by proposing religion based reservations. Which policy our forefathers did not dare to pursue out of apprehension that it may further widen the gulf between the religions and disturb the communal harmony. Adding to the fault lines of caste identity, these newly proposed religion based reservations may further widen the cracks and remain a stumbling block on the road to the national integration.
There is an urgent need to a fresh debate across India on this sensitive issue. The present policy considers caste as the only impediment to equality and neglects many factors like economic status, availability of resources, residence(rural, urban) etc.Hence there is a need to take a comprehensive view and formulate a new policy. In this context, it is worth trying a very novel idea proposed by Prof.Purushottam Agarwal some time back click here to view the report.His idea of MIRAA(multiple index related affirmative action) takes into account most of these factors and suggests a new approach to the current problem.
It may be quite hard to convince our rotten political class to proceed with the reforms .But, thanks to the vibrant and more assertive civil society which kept our hopes alive. With its iron will, it can bulldoze the reforms over the heads of our politicians to achieve an egalitarian society. All that we need to do is to trigger another Lokpal like agitation……can we???
