Demystifying the Myths Associated with Caste-Based Reservation

Abstract

Affirmative action of the State policy (caste-based reservation) was essentially inserted into the Constitution of India to bring historically exploited, discriminated and marginalized scheduled castes and schedule tribes into the mainstream public life by ensuring the dignity of life through better representational opportunities in public employment. Contrary to its professed aim, it has, in practice, ensured only a skewed representation of people from reserved castes. The conscious attempts are being made to slowly eroding it by vilifying it on various pretexts such as reservation is a compromise with merit, efficiency and the most deserving candidates suffer and so on. The underlying objective of such disparaged attempts is to replace caste-based reservation with an economic-based reservation which evidently defeats the very purpose of caste-based reservation. The introduction of 13-points roster system and 10% reservation are twin attacks on caste-based reservation in recent times apart from the otherwise ‘normalized’ attacks like privatizing the public sector, recruitment on contract/ad-hoc basis and tardy implementation of reservation policy apart from attempts to weaken and demonise SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. These demonising and casteist attacks on caste-based reservation are clearly not isolated and disconnected but obvious manifestations of the interests of select castes. It defeats the essence of affirmative policy of the state. It is clearly a travesty of social justice. This article tries to explore and demystify different facets of reservation policy like the basis of reservation, flawed merit logic, the impact of privatization on reservation, newly introduced reservation for economically weaker section (EWS) and the way ahead to annihilate the caste system.