Discriminating Reservations - Caste based policy

Going through the newspapers these days I am taken back to time two years back when like all the students I was also hooked to cut offs and checking eligibility criteria for my college admissions. With the sky rocketing cut offs of Delhi University which is the headline of almost all the nation daily I couldn’t help but notice the ridiculously high cut offs of some courses and more importantly the wide gap between the cut offs of different categories.

This reservation implies that higher education institutions, public sector units and government bodies must reserve 22.5 % of available seats for students belonging to Scheduled Castes (15%) and Scheduled Tribes (7.5%) and an additional 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes.

Just to fulfil this criteria colleges release cut offs with relaxation up to 10% or more for students applying from reserved categories.

Initially the system of reservation was established to uplift the condition of ST, SC and OBC(s) but with time the purpose of this reservation has failed. Upliftment of socially and economically weaker section of society is needed but reservation on the basis of caste is not a solution for this problem. To eradicate this problem reservation on economical basis should be implied. The economic division between the general and the reserved category is not clear. 

                                          So a student of general category belonging to a family of below poverty line status is not eligible for admission if he/she fails to get the desired percentage irrespective of the economic background and hardships faced in securing those marks whereas a student from a reserved category is entitled to all those privileges even at a lower percentage even if he/she is economically rich and can afford all the luxuries of life.

These caste based reservations are not uniting different sections of society but further dividing them by labeling them as General, SC, ST and OBC. They don’t even provide equal opportunities to all the people but ironically the system which was once implemented to establish equal opportunity is now highly discriminating towards one section of the society, the General category.

The people at fault here are not those who belong to these categories but the policy makers who are oblivion towards the adverse effects the caste based reservation is causing. Reservation is needed to establish equal opportunities for all and unify the nation but it should be based on economic background and not on caste. Caste should not be a measure to determine how certain people are eligible to enjoy benefits that others can’t even dream of.