Reservations in India

Drafting Committee of Constitution headed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar provided reservations in Indian constitution to protect vulnerable sections of India from social, economic and political discrimination. They wanted to give opportunities to different sections of society fairly. With that good intention they included reservations in the constitution as Fundamental Rights. Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950. During 60 years, India made several amendments to the constitution including reservations. At present India provides for a quota system whereby a percentage of posts are reserved in employment in government and in the public sector units, in all public and private educational institutions and for representation in Parliament of India and Assemblies of States. Furthermore, constitution was amended to extend the reservations in promotions to government and PSU employees.

Reservations give opportunities to the backward communities of society to improve themselves. Because in India the level of regional imbalance is very high, so those who are economically forward they can get resources easily compared to those who relatively poor. Where different sections of people are enjoying different resources than merit only cannot be the factor for jobs and recruitment. Merit based recruitment always favors elite class in the society because they have accessibility to the knowledge at their disposal. Certainly, reservations helped some of the backward sections of India to develop themselves in different areas, where they were not there earlier.

Reservations are provided to the weaker sections of society, so that they can be economically and socially strong. Though reservations are started with very good objectives, there are three problems in implementing it. First, In India, reservations are based on caste. Every caste has economically forward and backward people, so forward people of that caste have an undue advantage over backward people of that caste. Ultimately, proceeds of reservations not optimally reaching the target group. Second, reservations are based on religion. Constitution of India considered only one religion for reservations. Reservations should be based on humanistic approach; it should be applied to all weaker sections of the country irrespective of religion they belong to. Third, reservations in getting jobs and placements are fine but reservations in promotions are not good to the organization they work for. Once they are part of an organization, they should be treated equal and merit should be the criteria. Otherwise, the organization's existence may be in danger.

The concept of reservations is virtuous but the problem is with the implementation. Economic factor should be the criteria for reservations but not caste and religion. As Supreme Court of India said "Every forward cast has backward people, and every backward cast have forward people".