In the years preceding independence, India adopted a system of affirmative action that aimed to positively discriminate in favour of groups of society that have been historically neglected and disenfranchised. Reservations has been the term used to refer to the implementation of this system which mainly involves reserving quotas or seats in higher education admissions, employment, political bodies and other such institutions. It is important to note that reservations, in their entirety, cover a lot of social spheres, including caste, religion, disability and gender. However, most of the primary discourse, debate and controversy surrounding the topic of reservations focuses on caste. In this article, we will aim to dissect the discussions around caste reservations and its continued importance.
Reservations vs. Meritocracy
A meritocracy is defined as a system in which advancements within the system are determined by merit only. Ideally, this would be the best way to determine individual progress within the structures of education and employment. Only those deserving of promotion get promoted.
Critics of reservation have continuously argued that reservations infringe on the idea of meritocracy as it offers a group an in-built advantage on the basis of identity. It goes without saying that this argument is, at best, short-sighted and, at worst, selfish. Positive discrimination and affirmative action in any context (race, gender, disability, etc) exist because of pre-existing social harms. In this case, the socio-historical discrimination, segregation and continued marginalisation of a people on the basis of caste on the basis of caste.
Put simply, reservations do not infringe on meritocracies because we do not live in one, particularly in this context. A meritocracy would require that the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes (STs. SCs and OBCs, respectively) start the race at the same point as everyone else, but as we know, that is not the case. The 2022 Bihar Caste-Based Survey (which is the only modern state-level dataset available) highlights the disparity in employment, educational attainment and income levels, with the general category having better representation in government jobs and educational attainment whilst members of ST, SC and OBC accounted for a majority of the population living in poverty.
To say that reservations challenge or infringe upon a meritocracy is to say that society has been fair to everyone, which is simply not true, and while discrimination on the basis of caste is illegal according to the letter of the law, it does not a) mean that this form of discrimination is not prevalent and more importantly b) does not mean that the effects of it have been reversed.
In the words of President Lyndon B. Johnson.“You do not take a person -who for years has been hobbled by chains- then take the shackles off and put them at the starting and then say you are free to compete with all the others and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.”
Shortfalls of Reservations and The Creamy Layer
It would be hypocritical to pretend that reservations have been without their pitfalls, shortcomings or outright abuse. For one educational infrastructure remains inaccessible for the most marginalised communities. While it can benefit many of the “lower caste” members, the full extent of marginalisation is often experienced in rural areas where the benefits of reservation are at their most scarce. In this perspective, reservations become inefficient as they do not help the most affected.
Additionally there is the existence of the so-called Creamy Layer. The Creamy Layer was a term coined for members of the OBCs who are highly advanced socially as well as economically and educationally. The Supreme Court of India has set several criteria to identify members of this Creamy Layer as they are no longer in need of government-based reservation quotas. This exclusion, however, does not extend to those in STs and SCs, the primary argument being that discrimination against members of the SCs and STs, particularly through the practice of untouchability, makes it such that advancements in social and economic areas do not eliminate or alleviate the pre-existing damage caused by the aforementioned discrimination.
This argument is not without merit, studies across the world do show that victims of discrimination suffer mentally. However, reservation quotas are not meant to address this particular problem. In essence, people who do not need reservation quotas, especially in higher education institutions, take them away from those who do. This not only robs the people who need it most but also devalues the entire system of reservations.
Political manipulation is also another aspect, with parties promising and attempting to provide reservation quotas as an almost indirect bribe for electoral gain. Cases in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh amongst many other places saw castes that were/are not socially backwards gain or attempt to be granted OBC status particularly around the election cycle with varying degrees of success as some of these cases were struck down by the Supreme Court.
Conclusion
Reservation quotas, in their ideal form, serve a purpose, even in modern India. Property, wealth, educational and employment distribution still fall along the stratifications of caste, and until this inequality is dismantled, then reservation quotas and other forms of affirmative action and positive discrimination have a role to play.
However, questions need to be raised about the efficiency of the system, with nearly 90 years since implementation, there still remains a lack of data, and the data that is collected suggests that marginalised communities have remained as such, especially in rural areas. Reservations were initially meant to last 10 years but have made it to nearly a century, an effective exit strategy needs to be drafted, as well as judicial safeguards to ensure that the people meant to be protected by the system are protected.
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