Well first of all to clear any doubts am not against reservation as a concept but am opposed to the strategy which has been adopted to implement it.
Before going any further let us try to understand the need for reservation.
Reservation is necessary for the upliftment of people who by themselves are not being able to break the shackles of poverty and cannot dare to dream and compete with the people with means and hence denied an opportunity and access to education which is the only way for them to climb out of the rut of vicious cycle they are in.
However our political parties have created such a powerful image in our heads that when it comes to reservation we only are able to think of people from the Scheduled Castes,Schedules Tribes and OBC's living their lives in penury that we seldom question the concept of Caste based Reservation.
It is said that Caste based Reservation is required for giving equal opportunities to the section of people who have been tormented and denied even basic necessities of life owing to the caste they were born into. Ofcourse it is true that for time immemorial people from the 'lower' castes as they call it have been subjected to a life which is hard to imagine for any of us and possibly I can never fully understand the denial, rejection and inhumane behavior they have been put through and possibly even facing today and till now it only seems logical that caste based reservation is what is required to give these people at least a hope to live of as equals.
But this ray of hope is tainted with darkness. Caste based reservation is only proving to be an eyewash since its real beneficiaries are people from upper rung of the ladder of these classes. The real beneficiaries are not people who cannot afford books, healthy environment, good schools and expensive coaching but they are the people who live in sprawling bungalows and apartments, dine at exquisite restaurants, sleep in the comfort of a cozy bed and buy more books than they can possibly read.
So is the situation improving? A clear answer is NO. What was supposed to bridge the gap between years of discrimination is creating yet another class of people. A group of people Have's and another Have Not's within the same castes and the reservation is only being played in the hands of these have's of the so called lower castes.
Yet no political party today can say it will put an end to reservation based on caste as even before it has finished saying so it would have already lost not because the parties and various groups which bank and thrive upon this single divide would bring down the party's offices, tear down their posters, the media would project the party as 'Danger to Democracy' and a 'Threat to the Concept of India' and make the people loose faith in that party but also because we as citizens stay quiet and accept what is happening feeling helpless to bring about any change or even be a part of the change.
But the question is what is the suitable substitute for Caste based Reservation. In my opinion reservation should be based on class rather caste since it takes within its stride people called 'INDIANS' who are struggling to make both ends meet and yet dream a future for themselves and for their children.
Of course am not being naive to imagine an ideal situation where in this basis too people with means would turn out to be the real beneficiaries and that too those people would now run into almost 4 times the number earlier. But now there would be a change in situation. Everybody would try to get reservation (come on even the 'general' class today wants reservation) but not all will succeed and then they would not let people in the same situation as theirs reap the benefits of reservation. A regulatory authority need is indispensable and after some more measures after critically analyzing the situation (that is what the parliament is supposed to do) i believe the real beneficiaries would get their share.
(This is based in the backdrop of the recent drama which took place in the Congress party where after a Congressman advocated for class based reservation , Mrs. Sonia Gandhi quickly retaliated by saying Caste based Reservation is a product of Congress and it would continue to 'CHAMPION' it...God knows what champion it means... )
Before going any further let us try to understand the need for reservation.
Reservation is necessary for the upliftment of people who by themselves are not being able to break the shackles of poverty and cannot dare to dream and compete with the people with means and hence denied an opportunity and access to education which is the only way for them to climb out of the rut of vicious cycle they are in.
However our political parties have created such a powerful image in our heads that when it comes to reservation we only are able to think of people from the Scheduled Castes,Schedules Tribes and OBC's living their lives in penury that we seldom question the concept of Caste based Reservation.
It is said that Caste based Reservation is required for giving equal opportunities to the section of people who have been tormented and denied even basic necessities of life owing to the caste they were born into. Ofcourse it is true that for time immemorial people from the 'lower' castes as they call it have been subjected to a life which is hard to imagine for any of us and possibly I can never fully understand the denial, rejection and inhumane behavior they have been put through and possibly even facing today and till now it only seems logical that caste based reservation is what is required to give these people at least a hope to live of as equals.
But this ray of hope is tainted with darkness. Caste based reservation is only proving to be an eyewash since its real beneficiaries are people from upper rung of the ladder of these classes. The real beneficiaries are not people who cannot afford books, healthy environment, good schools and expensive coaching but they are the people who live in sprawling bungalows and apartments, dine at exquisite restaurants, sleep in the comfort of a cozy bed and buy more books than they can possibly read.
So is the situation improving? A clear answer is NO. What was supposed to bridge the gap between years of discrimination is creating yet another class of people. A group of people Have's and another Have Not's within the same castes and the reservation is only being played in the hands of these have's of the so called lower castes.
Yet no political party today can say it will put an end to reservation based on caste as even before it has finished saying so it would have already lost not because the parties and various groups which bank and thrive upon this single divide would bring down the party's offices, tear down their posters, the media would project the party as 'Danger to Democracy' and a 'Threat to the Concept of India' and make the people loose faith in that party but also because we as citizens stay quiet and accept what is happening feeling helpless to bring about any change or even be a part of the change.
But the question is what is the suitable substitute for Caste based Reservation. In my opinion reservation should be based on class rather caste since it takes within its stride people called 'INDIANS' who are struggling to make both ends meet and yet dream a future for themselves and for their children.
Of course am not being naive to imagine an ideal situation where in this basis too people with means would turn out to be the real beneficiaries and that too those people would now run into almost 4 times the number earlier. But now there would be a change in situation. Everybody would try to get reservation (come on even the 'general' class today wants reservation) but not all will succeed and then they would not let people in the same situation as theirs reap the benefits of reservation. A regulatory authority need is indispensable and after some more measures after critically analyzing the situation (that is what the parliament is supposed to do) i believe the real beneficiaries would get their share.
(This is based in the backdrop of the recent drama which took place in the Congress party where after a Congressman advocated for class based reservation , Mrs. Sonia Gandhi quickly retaliated by saying Caste based Reservation is a product of Congress and it would continue to 'CHAMPION' it...God knows what champion it means... )
I agree with your views. But how do we make the ruling class agree with us?
ReplyDeleteThat's precisely what i intend to seek and am sure if we get ourselves organized like the people who sit on railway tracks and like a magic there demands are acceded to, we can devise a much better way...but a more fundamental question is do we all agree to this and more importantly if we are ready to do anything..
DeleteTo make our country developed, still we need to walk-through long path to eradicate Caste system
ReplyDelete