Some views on reservation

The following is an article I wrote in mid-2001 and shared with a few friends. Out of laziness to write anything new, I have decided to recycle it.

Thirteen years have passed since Mr.V.P.Singh issued the ordinance implementing the Mandal Commission recommendations. Subsequently Mr.P.V.Narasimha Rao enlarged the consensus on reservations and passed the bill into law. The fundamental basis of reservation was the economic inequality caused by social disparity. It can be theorized that reservation is an economic programme with social objectives.

Any economic programme has to have specific verifiable objectives to ensure success. It has to have milestones to review and amendable to probable mid-course corrections. Long ago in a TV discussion one of the earliest proponents of reservation, Mr.K.Veeramani, representing the Dravidar Kazhagam compared reservation to a bye-pass road constructed in the absence of the social bridge. He added that as long as the construction of the bridge is going on, the bye-pass road has to be there. Interestingly various Dalit organizations and the BSP have said that reservation is not an end in itself and is not the ultimate remedy. It can be inferred then that the construction of the social bridge is not happening or it is not verifiable and objective.

This brings to focus the in-adequacy of reservation in achieving social equality. Large sections of our under-privileged people lack access to education to realize the benefits of reservation. The implementation of reservation in its present form is creating a division within the under-privileged by solidifying a fast thickening creamy layer, which is preventing the further percolation of benefits to lower strata. This programme has neither achieved credible success in expanding the benefit net nor in instilling self-confidence and restoring the self-dignity of our under privileged people. Implementing such a programme, which does not have specific verifiable objectives for an unconscionable length of time does not reflect the maturity of a democracy.

It is wise to go back to the times of the constitution of Mandal Commission to take an objective look at the working of reservation. Those were the days when India was firmly entrenched in mixed economy. Jobs in the huge public sector companies and vast number of Government staff positions were the primary benefits that could be awarded for social justice. Nowadays are the times of globalization and liberalization. This year alone 32 PSUs are going to be disinvested. National banks are cutting their staff strength by offering lucrative V R Schemes. The decision of the Commerce ministry to remove 1000 odd items from the list on Quantitative Restrictions on imports last year underlines the limited autonomy of the government in the new WTO regime. In short, the era of Big Government is over. The role of the government is limited to ensuring equal opportunity, fair play and preventing social discrimination. India is fast moving into an open market economy where competence alone ensures success.


This places our huge population of under-privileged classes in risk, a vast majority of who lack access to primary education and health, a significant section who have benefited from reservation, but who are still not empowered in terms of skill and knowledge. Currently empowerment is being used in a very narrow sense to denote political power. The effects of being mere vote banks are too obvious to state. Empowerment should be defined in terms of skill, knowledge and self-expression to attain economic prosperity. It can be theorized that Access and Empowerment are the twin objectives to attain social justice.



The key issue of access to Education can be addressed by committing significant percentage of our planned expenditure and more importantly, utilizing our huge potential of human resources. The vast number of our cream of young men and women graduates who receive subsidized professional and collegiate education could be asked to serve as teachers and doctors for a minimum period of time in our villages and small towns. This will truly enhance the spirit of sharing of our resources and build social bridges. With substantial participation from the local governments in terms of resources and co-ordination, the focus should be on enlarging the net of access to our under-privileged people. Enough importance should be given to realize the human potential and empowerment.

The issue of Empowerment needs different solutions as it is not unilateral and depends on large extent to the will of the individual to succeed. The Government can of course provide enough stimulus and encouragement. Setting high standards and help people achieving them are the keys to Empowerment. The stimulus can be provided in the following way. The number of times a person can use his/her reservation should be limited and it could be proposed that only the unused benefits could be passed to his/her children. This will skim off the creamy layer and bring in more and more under-privileged people into the net of benefit.