Madras High Court in this week's judgement made a poignant observation regarding reservation system in the country. It observed that the Constituent Assembly had envisioned the reservation system to be in force only during the infancy period of independent India, however it is now being endlessly extended through repeated amendments thereby perpetuating the caste system in the process.
The Court further opined that while the life of a nation state may not be relatable to human life, but at over 70, it ought to be more mature. The Court also remarked that it is high time that citizens are empowered so that merit may ultimately decide matters as to admission, employment & promotion instead of the reservation system.
The Supreme Court too, earlier in March remarked that "For how many generations would reservations in jobs and education continue?" and raised concerns over "resultant inequality" in case the overall 50 per cent limit was to be removed. It further stressed that, if there is no 50 per cent or no limit, what is the concept of equality then. Further, how many generations will continue to benefit out of it?
The Court said that 70 years have passed since independence and the states have been carrying on so many beneficial schemes and "can we accept that no development has taken place, that no one from backward caste has moved forward?" It also observed that the purpose of reviewing the Mandal judgement was that those who have come out from backwardness must be eliminated.
While hearing the Maratha reservation case, the Court told that Marathas have been dominant
"socially and politically" as almost 40 per cent of MPs and MLAs of
Maharashtra are from this community and the entire hypothesis that they
have been left behind, faced historical injustice is completely flawed.
Simultaneous to these observations, there were also two more recent developments regarding reservation which has created lot of noise around politicians.
There is a growing clamour for conducting caste-based census during the upcoming enumeration, led by Nitish Kumar of Bihar and other politicians. While the Central Government has till date manitained their stand that, as a matter of policy it would not enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in Census. But a caste-based census is against the idea of a casteless society envisaged by leaders in the Constitution and will weaken ongoing efforts to create social harmony.
Apart from that, few days back parliament passed the Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill to restore the power of states to make their own OBC lists. This was aligned with another announcement made by the Central Government where it announced a 27-per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year, 2021-22.
So, a new reservation race is going on for qualifying more & more castes under OBC and thereby expanding the coverage beyond what is permissible. Further, the stand of Central Government is also contradictory, fueled by political compulsions.
And what is going on at ground level?
1. We have every caste jostling to get its name included in the reservation list including dominant castes like Patels in Gujarat, Marathas in Maharashtra or Lingayats in Karnataka.
2. On the other side, general category people are moving out in drove to countries like USA, Canada & Australia for their higher studies & employment.
3. In the end, the list has become so exhaustive that, in many cases we see higher competition in reserved category as against general category.
4. While people from specific castes who have already benefited from reservation in earlier generation and are amongst the 'elite' in terms of entitlement captures lion's share of benefits, leaving behind the really needy.
5. Merit goes for a toast and even when a reserved category member fails to qualify for minimum criteria has to be accepted for admission or employment just in the name of reservation, quality suffers.
This speaks volumes about the mockery of reservation system in the country, promoted by politicians, for the benefit of dividing the society and garnering votes on the basis of castes. While the entire concept of reservation goes against "Fundamental Right of Equality" as enshrined in the Constitution and tagging more & more castes under reservation and thereafter clamouring for increasing the Supreme-Court mandated ceiling of 50%, also defeats the very definition of reservation, as majority would be enjoying this benefit rather than needy few.
While there is nothing wrong in providing special privileges to needy class of people in the society to help them develop and create an inclusive India, caste should never be the sole criterion.
What is required to remove disparities are economic growth, better quality of education, employment generation for masses and better quality of life ultimately.
Top Courts of the country are holding their stand till date, hope good sense prevails amongst legislators as well.
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/madras-high-court-reservations-caste-system-obc-reservations-aiq-seats-180294
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/madras-high-court-reservations-caste-system-obc-reservations-aiq-seats-180294
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