Efficacy of India's reservation policy

Indian parliament may see many heated hours on two contentious issues in this winter session. One is long pending Women’s reservation bill (Thanks to Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Yadav for their support) and another one is Sachhar panel recommendations. In both the cases, reservation for women in parliament and muslims in educational institutions and public services are the moot points. Whatever may be the outcome, but one thing is definite i.e. Indian polity after 60years of independence sees reservation as a tool for social justice.Positive discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of caste, gender, religion and domicile are part of the reservation policy in India, which is enshrined in its constitution. The logic behind such provision is to form an egalitarian society by empowering those who are victimized by accumulated disabilities and disadvantages for years. Reservation as a policy measure for creating an equitable society may not be fool proof but it is one of those vital measures whose importance can’t be underestimated. According to data collected from Indian Institute of Technology for the year 2003-04, though the stipulated slot for SC students is 15%, the total number of students joined under this quota was barely nine percent. The analysis of this trend shows that when the seats under stipulated quota couldn’t be filled up where the admissions criteria was lowered for the students, how can one expect that without quota, IITs will be ever filled up by any SC students.Also, there is no dispute about the fact that Scheduled Tribes are largely out of the main stream. It’s only due to the reservation policy, STs are getting the chance to be part of the policy making body. J.M.Lyngdoh, the former Chief Election Commissioner vindicates the success of this policy. Further, when backlog appointment drive is taken up by any public agency for filling up the ST candidates, it points that without reservation, how the diversity in the recruitment process can be maintained.When 73rd and 74th amendment has taken up a provision of 33% reservation for women, the critics argued that in a male chauvinistic society like India, men were going to rule from the shadow of the women. But as statistics reveal, women are making strides taking the complete benefit of the reservation. Even in some of the most underdeveloped Indian states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajstan and Bihar; women representatives have exceeded the percentage of their quota. It shows that the reservation policy in local governance has helped in political empowerment of women folks.Further, taking into account the reservation issue for OBC, it can be safely presumed that implementation of the Mandal Commission report has benefited the OBCs immensely. After 90’s, both in political and executive level, OBCs have taken the center stage.Nevertheless, reservation policy isn’t free from controversies. Critics argue that as a policy it is an abysmal failure in Indian set-up, which is increasingly used as a poll plank for garnering vote bank politics. They point towards the fact that when jobs in public sector were shrinking with every passing day, what’s the point of sticking to a policy, which hampered meritocracy in society.This debate can continue for indefinite period but India can freeze its policy of reservation at its own peril.