Reservation policy essay

Also known as affirmative action, the reservation can also be seen as positive discrimination. Reservation in India is a government policy, backed by the Indian Constitution. Before 2019, the reservation was provided mainly on the basis of social and educational backwardness (caste).

However, the policy of reservation has to be scientific and rational. In the given economic and political structure, caste (or birth or family) should not determine one’s life chances. It is assumed that SCs (and for that matter STs and OBCs also) represent a homogeneous group but actually they are a heterogeneous group.

Reservation has become an electoral tool nowadays. Reservation policy has also bluntly promoted caste over intellect and hard work. As a result we are producing substandard engineers, doctors, bureaucrats and other professionals under the present reservation policy.

Reservation for women can be a temporary sort of relief, as a means to clear the backlog as far as possible but the greater aim of achieving complete equality between men and women demands a much broader political, social and economic policy.