Caste based Reservations

Hi Readers,

There are endless debates on reservations in India. Our India has lot of potential and it can excel in all fields undoubtedly but as the wise man once said, success can’t be achieved without crossing hurdles, and between India and success, there are numerous hurdles and one of them is reservations. For readers who are not aware of reservations, it is a practice followed in India, in which people are divided into groups based on their caste and tribes (considered as backward) and they are allocated few percentage of seats in all government institutions.

This all started way back in early 20^th century. There were few communities which were not given equal rights as Brahmins, who were the dominant or so called forward caste. People realized that, it might not help backward caste and it will worsen their presence later on. So, noble people like Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj, Maharaja of Kolhapur introduced reservation system in 1902. He made it very clear that people from backward caste would get free education and allocated few jobs only for them in the state of Kolhapur. He wanted to give equal rights to everyone and it was indeed a good move in that era.

Many opposed this move and many accepted. As days passed, there were so many reforms made in reservation system. Many communities were added in the backward category which is now known as SC (Schedule Caste), ST (Schedule Tribe) and OBC (Other Backward Caste). Apart from this, even minority caste (Non Hindu) were given special privilege. Everything was going well when they really needed help but now time has changed. Communities mentioned under backward castes are no more backward. They have almost everything to live in a society.

Now it’s the people from general caste suffering to get admission and jobs in good colleges and government offices. Though they are better than the backward caste, they fail to get seats because of the reservation systems. I have seen people from general caste who lack resources to shape their future but they don’t get any help because they don’t come under SC, ST or OBC.

Chart depicting percentage of seats allocated to different communities.
                                        Source : Google Images                                        

I am not saying that reservation should be removed but it should be changed in such a way that needy people get help. Instead of helping people on the basis of caste, we can help them on the basis of their financial condition. Government can set a mark like BPL (Below Poverty Line) so that people under such marks, irrespective of their caste can get help. It will be great move and a relief to everyone.

Thank you.