Reservation System: Government Approved Crutches

Amid the hullabaloo over the reservations in the country, because of the Patels going nuts in Mahatma Gandhi’s state (you’ll get the context if you remember Poona Pact), we get to read dozens of articles every day. So why did I choose to jump into an already overcrowded pool?  It was because none of the articles were blunt enough to tell the entire truth. Moreover I could no longer tolerate the immaturity of my fellow countrymen who call themselves proud Indians but don’t understand the true meaning of citizenship.

So what on earth is this reservation shit? Why do we even have this fucking system? Read along to know.

Reservations were initially introduced into the Indian Constitution to uplift the underprivileged section of the society and put them at par with the rest of the people which would ultimately result in every individual getting an equal opportunity to thrive and succeed in life. Oops! We are talking about reservations in the education system so let’s not consider thriving and succeeding, it’s out of syllabus.

Reservations were introduced to empower the helpless; to give the victims of caste-based discrimination limbs, so that they’d get equal opportunities to work, and at least feed themselves and live a normal life. But due to the undying hunger of our politicians for votes during elections, they are instead crippling those who are capable of working-thriving-succeeding by making them dependent on this system just because their caste was underprivileged decades ago. Over the decades, due to selfish reasons the politicians have taught them to take the easy way at every stage in their lives which is the sole reason for the immaturity and mediocrity in Indian society even today.

A person born in an average SC/ST/OBC family who goes to an average school is pushed to the next level until class 10 irrespective of his performance in annual exams, thanks to Mr. Kapil Sibal for not imbibing the competitive spirit in our young generation. If he does clear his class 10 and 12 exams, which is rare (less than 10% of their population does), he chooses to be a graduate. Quite ambitious, but that is encouraged, especially if you belong to the SC/ST/OBC category. Now, here’s the kicker. Despite reserving seats in academic institutions and waiving off almost 90% of their fees, only 4% SC/ST and 8% OBC people are graduates (as per 2014). According to an Indian Express report, 90% of the expelled students from IIT Roorkee in 2014 belonged to SC/ST/OBC category as they couldn’t cope with the syllabus. The average CGPA was 5.9 for SC/ST, 6.6 for OBC compared to 8.09 for the General category.

Is it their fault? Not really. Here, the greedy, selfish politicians are to blame; politicians who time and again fool these people into embracing reservations, telling them reservations are better for them when in reality, it is the very thing which is obstructing them from growing. Maharashtra has 52% seats reserved, Andhra Pradesh has 66.7% reservations! Holy fuck!

Is this fair? Reserving more than half seats on the basis of caste, and ignoring merit, and crushing the hardworking, meritorious students this ruthlessly is revolting! The General category students are left to compete with other general category students along with SC/ST/OBC for the unreserved seats! Aren’t they the victims of caste-based discrimination due to the dirty politics?

If the politicians for once forget about filling their already-bulging pockets and stop deceiving the ignorant and intolerant public, and instead start focusing on nation building, they can adopt American education system wherein they can improve the quality of public schools right from kindergarten level. Provide the public schools with good facilities, good pay-checks for teachers in order to improve their quality and eliminate the quality difference between public and private schools making sure everyone gets same quality of education until class 12. As per the current system it’s everyone’s loss. Open category is not getting a fair opportunity in education and public sector jobs, reserved category due to poor schooling is not able to fair well in higher education and jobs despite of the reserved seats and the nation as a whole is not able to work at its full potential.

Backwardness is a manifestation caused by several independent circumstances which keep on changing. New methods and yardsticks have to be continuously evolved moving away from caste-centric definition of backwardness. Seats should be reserved for the meritorious people from EBC (Economic Backward Class). Financial help should be given to the people belonging to the EBC. Today only 0.7% of the total scholarships in India are based on merit. That is pathetic and doesn’t make sense to the sensible people!

Now we have got the perspective, so can we help our country out of this crisis?

As the enlightened minds say be the change you want to see; let us start making changes in ourselves instead of simply relying on the government. Let’s improve our thoughts and actions. Stop recognizing people by their caste or religion. Avoid taking easy routes to success. Never forget that hard work always brings out the best in you. Respect and help fellow countrymen. Respect and promote merit. Be selfish but don’t cheat others by supporting insensible biased systems. Remember that you’ll live a better life provided you are true to yourself and to your country. Let’s do this and I’m sure soon we’ll be successful in our goal of making India a superpower. Cheers!