Reserved!

I still remeber those days when Mr X used to burn midnight oil incessantly

for two years to become an IITian. There was Mr Y who took everything lightly even though he was an underperformer. The final result facilitated Mr Y an entry into IITs with scores less than one-third of Mr X as Mr X unfortuantely belonged to the politically irrelevant 'general' category. The most interesting part is that despite the sufferings of so many X's, the governement has proposed to ensure a bigger number of Ys. That's the reservation policy of Government of India, for you, in short.

The Motive

The original constitution prescribed a period of ten years for the reservation of seats which was extended by 8th Amendment Act, 1959 for a period of ten years. Till date, it has been extended five times- the latest amendment being the 79th Amendment Act, 1999. Add to it the fact that the percentage of seats reserved has been consistently increased over this period of fifty-six years, and then try to understand the logic behind the belief that reservation has a strong contribution in the upliftment of backward classes! Well, there's one area where reservation had significant contributions- in creating vote banks. No government ever left any opportunity to play the reservation game for ensuring its vote banks. There's something so attractive about this reservation that even if a government had no significant achievements during its rule, its electoral fortunes are revived by securing reservation for the politically significant classes. This government gives no heed to 300 farmer suicides in Vidarbha which occurred in a span of just seven months. This regime is ignorant about the plight of the thousands relocated in Narmada valley until Medha Patkar's fast threatens her death. It announces, amidst all this, reservation of 27% for OBCs in all central universities just before the commencement of assembly elections in five states. And you believe that shows the government's concern for the suffering 'Aam Aadmi'! The motive behind the reservation game has been nothing more than attracting the consolidated vote bank of backward classes.

Why the backward classes have been so significant in Indian Politics?

In a popular youth blog, i read about the insignificance of caste among the educated youth of today. But, people always miss out the insignificance of this youth in Indian politics. They watch RDB, they talk RDB and on the election day, you will find them picnicking! The same stands true for the 'general category', to a large extent. They're the most vocal group of Indian politics but least significant. You closely monitor the electoral equations in the states individually and you'll find the ground reality. In Bihar and UP, its still Yadav+Muslim. In AP and Tamilnadu, its again OBCs and Muslims.(I'm not covering any more state as that would make a long list.) In fact, the Congress government in AP has even implemented a 5 pc reservation for Muslims to pocket its minority vote bank for long. In almost all the states of Indian union, the reservation percentage for SC, ST and OBCs has touched the upper ceiling of 50% set by the Supreme Court.

These backward classes remain significant in realpolitik because of the consolidated nature of their votes. It has been observed that these castes always take sides with a single political party and the deviations have been small. As opposed to this, the castes which belong to the general category, have a larger educated class which becomes individualistic in its voting pattern. Moreover, when we look at the combined picture of the voting pattern of all these castes put together, they have never been amalgamated. There is a large section among this general category which is economically backward. But, there had been little talk of reservations for them all these years. The number of affluent families has been burgeoning among the backward classes but there have been no effort on the side of government to check them availing reservations. That defines the power they command in Indian politics.

Reservation for central universities

Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar had stated the purpose of the provision of reservation as the upliftment of the impoverished masses. If we consider what purpose the reservation in central universities is going to serve, we'll find that it just helps the lower middle class or middle class of the backward castes to move to the next higher class. The impoverished masses belonging to these backward castes have nothing to do with this. Upliftment doesnt mean moving from middle-income to high-income class. It very clearly implies the betterment of the people below the poverty line. That is one area where India has to do a lot to become a developed nation. But, then we had a long history of 'power-politics' and even today, 'development-politics' takes backseat when realpolitik comes into consideration.

I wont talk of the miserable fate of the general category students as a result of 49.5 reservation. I wont even talk of the dilution of the IIT and IIM brands as a result of severe blow to meritocracy. Just because much has been said about it and it doesnt matter at all for our veteran Arjuns.

The state of the reserved category students

They are facilitated an easy entry to the esteemed institutes. But, has anyone ever tried to look into their lives? I recently read the statements of some SC, ST students at IIT powai in which they described about all that they have to go through after they get into the college life. I remember an incident that happened during my first year. There was a guy who had to be sent back home for psychiatric treatment. It was revealed later that he was suffering from an inferiority complex and he used to think that everybody around keeps talking of him and making fun of him as he was SC candidate. That led him to attempt for suicide even.

This is a general phenomenon that the reserves category students live an isolated life, confined mainly to the group of other reserved category people. Most of them find it difficult to overcome the inferiority complex and it curbs their growth as an individual. They would have been much stronger as an individual had they been in some REC with the confidence of having got through on the basis of merit.

There is a good number of cases among the reserved quota people who belong to well-to-do families and they lead a truly luxurious life during their college days, aided by the minimal fee structure for them. This again proves that the advantage of the reservation policy is not reaching to the people it was meant for. In fact, it's being availed by those who least deserve to avail it.

What remains as a big question mark in the backdrop of all the discussions over the issue is how to stop the government from implementing it. Well, it again comes to being significant in the political scenario. We must realize now that to avoid unfavourable government exercises of this scale, youth has to play an active role in the democracy. They need to assume their role of significance. This realization is also a must that the protests in virtual world are not going to make any difference apart from venting our frustration. We need to make our voices heard before people with merit are obstructed at every avenue and greeted with- 'Reserved!'.