“agar aap aarakshan k saath nahi hai to aap uske k khilaaf hain!!” “If you are not in favour of reservation, than you are against it!” I was watching the trailer of the soon to be released flick Aarakshan, when I came across this dialogue. Does this mean that if I am in favour of merit, I am against all those people who unfortunately come under the category of backward class? Well I don’t agree!
The trailer of the movie very easily gives a negative shade to the character that fights against reservation, but what is wrong in asking for a fair competition? Why can’t everyone compete on the basis of their capabilities and not on the basis of their caste?
According to the reservation system, those not belonging to the designated communities can compete only for the remaining positions, while members of the designated communities can compete for all positions (reserved and open). That means, the open category students can compete for just 50.5% of the seats where as the reserved category students can apply for all the seats. Studies based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) indicate that many communities that fall under the Backward Caste category in many parts of India are socioeconomically better-off than those belonging to Forward Caste category. Does this fulfil the idea of ‘equality’ - the basis on which reservation was created? Allocating quotas is a form of discrimination which is contrary to the right to equality.
The most important question is has reservation really helped the needy? Reservations have been present in the country since 1902. It has been 109 years and no backward class has moved to a forward state. Several generations have gone by and still there is hardly any improvement in the said backward classes. Then what is the point of having reservations?The concept of having reservation in higher education is totally wrong. A seat in a premier institute wouldn’t really help if the person cannot cope up with what teaching there unless and until he has the basics in place. A person who may lack the basic knowledge may get in a good institute through reservation and somehow manage to get a job again through reservation, but he will not be benefitted as sooner or later he will struggle to compete with the more able colleagues. Unfortunately, reservation in higher education and jobs doesn’t provide a solution, it just ignores the problems. Emphasis should be given to proper primary and secondary education so that groups under-represented in higher education institutes and workplaces become natural competitors. A proper basic education will assure that everyone would be able to compete solely on the basis of their competencies and capabilities.
The 60% of India that is rural needs schools, health care and infrastructure in rural areas, not reservation in urban institutions.
P.S. This is not meant to hurt anybody's sentiments. I am not against any individual, I am just against the faulty system.
