The key to revitalising India’s reservation system

GOVERNANCE/ SOCIETY

• GS-1: Indian Society & its challenges
• GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors

The key to revitalising India’s reservation system

Context: Introducing reservations for OBCs in the All India Quota of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examinations.

Why Reservations?

• In deeply unequal and oppressive social order of Indian Society, some sort of state support (like reservations) is needed to promote inclusive development.
• Through reservations, marginalised groups — which have suffered generations of oppression and humiliation — would be able to find place in the power sharing and decision-making processes. 

However, reservation has not translated into an equalisation of life chances for many groups in our heterogeneous society.

Issues

• Intra-Group Demands: There is now a strong demand to revise the policy, from those who have not been able to enjoy the benefits of reservations from within the marginalised sections
• Asymmetrical distribution of reservation: 97% of central OBC quota benefits go to just under 25% of its castes. As many as 983 OBC communities — 37% of the total — have zero representation in both central government jobs and admissions to central universities. (G.Rohini Commission report)
• Insufficiency of Data: There is hardly any legible data on the socio-economic conditions of varied social groups at State & local level. Also, we do not know what liberalisation has done to castes which remained tied to more traditional sources of income.

Way Forward: 

There is a need for an institution alike the Equal Opportunities Commission of the USA or UK which can undertake the following: 

• Make a deprivation index by using the data from the socio-economic-based census of different communities and rank them to make policies specific to each deprived community.
• Undertake an audit on performance of employers and educational institutions on non-discrimination and equal opportunity provided.
• Issue codes of good practice in different sectors.

Connecting the dots:

• Reviewing Reservations
• ‘Creamy layer’ and exclusion from reservation
• Andhra Pradesh Locals First Policy
• Madhya Pradesh domicile based quota
• Reservation is not a fundamental right