Reservation Syndrome

The recent agitation by the Patel community in Gujarat and the Jat agitation in Rajasthan have brought the issue of reservation to the forefront. Today it is these two but tomorrow will bring more castes to agitate and demand reservation and hold the public and nation to ransom. This type of agitation will not only inconveniences the general public but also leads to loss of money for the nation in terms of loss of production but also loss of property of government but also of public at large. Does in the name of agitation some group of persons permitted to hold the public at large to ransom and loss of property? The time is right for the government to think whether the right to agitation and hold nation to ransom is a right at all or needs to be taken away and replaced by a public right to live peacefully devoid of such disruptive right. What about my right to peaceful enjoyment of the public services or my right to peaceful existence in the society?

The reservation was brought by the framers of constitution for the upliftment of marginalized section off society to occupy their useful place in the society and was initially expected to be only for a few years. Successive government instead of finishing this after 10 years not only kept on extending it but also added more and more people not on the basis of economic criteria but on the basis of caste. The basket or reservation kept on increasing and now as per Supreme Court it is restricted to 50%. But people are not happy with it and more and more castes are demanding the reservation and this basket is set to grow larger and larger. The dilemma is that the benefit of reservation is going to a few people who are already well off or had become well off after taking benefit of reservation but not to other persons in the caste. It is being cornered by some persons in that caste and a majority of persons are denied this benefit.  Why could not the government come out with a policy that once the benefit of reservation has been given to a person then his son and daughters will not get any benefit and it should go only to those families who have not so far availed it? But the politics demands that such a move will not get them votes and hence vote bank policy forces them not to bring out such a bold move.

Is the reservation answer to all our ills of the past? People think so, that is past mistakes can be corrected by making more mistakes. It is the famous Sunk Cost dilemma and we are very good at it. Whatever mistakes we have committed in the past cannot be corrected by making more mistakes of the same kind or sinking more costs in the same mistake. More reservation is definitely not the answer.  Either, you take away the reservation for caste by replacing it with economic criteria only and that too for one generation only or the other option is to say that all tribes and castes will come under the reservation and it will be 100% for all citizens of India. The third option is to remove the reservation at all so that there is no reservation for any person in India and all are equal. This will remove the problem of inefficient persons from occupying high positions and will bring in efficiency, expertise and boldness in the government machinery. Of course there will be still the issue of persons belonging to marginalized section of society. There issue can be addressed by giving them the right to food, shelter and education so that they or their sons and daughters can become responsible persons the society and can contribute with their intelligence and expertise.

Either way it will have to be a bold decision and this will shape the destiny of the country in years to come and for this all political parties will have to come together and rise above their vote bank politics and shed their personal agenda in favor of a national agenda for making a better, more educated, skilled and prosperous India..