By- Nishtha Trivedi.
“When more people aspire for backwardness rather than of forwardness, the country itself stagnates”
This statement was rightly given by Justice Ravindran in the case of Ashok Kumar thakur vs. Union of India.
Caste discrimination was the topic before Independence and the discrimination got into the picture by British government by amending reservations for some caste. India has diversity in religion, caste, race, etc. After Independence of India in 1950 there was a major advantage in favour of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes, during 1980 it was also for Other Backward Castes (OBCs). In 2019, these reservations took place for the people who were poor but were in the upper caste.
The reservation scheme was introduced to get benefit to the poor and backward people but in today's life they don't use these schemes for the purpose to come ahead, they use it as a scheme of benefit. There was a huge riot for the reservation providing for general categories, where Brahmins, Rajputs, etc came for the demand for reservation. The main reason for having or demanding reservation is a push to get into any sector although it is education, employment, states, gender, religion, etc. Reservation was done to make the backward class people to get a chance. Firstly, the reservation was done for 5 years in the 5-year planning of India but after which the continuation was there and due to which excess amount of backward class are now taking advantage of the reservation although they are good and wealthy in life. Many times, it is observed that being the individual of SC or ST caste they prefer to take the general seat in the college rather than having a reserved seat, due to this one student of the general category don't get the admission in the college. And the seat which is reserved for SC and ST can't be allotted to general caste.
As every coin has 2 sides, similarly the reservation also has. There are 2 aspects in which one can understand the reservation thing which are as follows: -
Advantage of reservation based on caste
Disadvantage of reservation based on caste
Advantage of reservation based on caste
Reservation made backward people aware and giving opportunity in every sector. They are even equal opportunity in every sector. Reservation helps the poor people of SC and ST caste to get knowledge, education, employment, etc. They get opportunity in both the categories for government as well as private which are Reservation Category (SC, ST, OBC, EWC and other minorities) and Open Category (General, SC, ST, OBC, EWC and other minorities).
And for hiring any person for the employment or for the job the major priority is given to the reservation category which includes 33% reservation for women and priority is also given to minority women, SC ST and OBC - Men; Women. 33% posts are been reserved for women in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh in departments like education, police, health and administration. In education, the SC, ST and OBC have reserved seats due to which a low score getting student can also be educated and cannot be deprived from studying and getting the education. The reservation was done to achieve the goal of having no discrimination on basis of caste and also to maintain Article 15(prohibition of discrimination of Indian on the bases of race, caste, religion, sex or place of birth) of Constitution of India.
Disadvantage of reservation based on caste
In the sense of selection this system is not at all affective. As for the employment one individual who is of general category & second is of SC category, the SC category individual has low academic score and is low chance to get selected first in comparison with General category Individual still the SC category individual will be selected first as the seats are reserved for them which helps them to come up but opportunity of a general category individual is been snatched away by the SC category. Same thing happens in the Education Department where the SC category individual who is a scholar wants to get admission, he tries to get admission in the general category due to which the General Category individual cannot get admission in his/her specific college as the seat is taken by SC category and as he/she comes under general category he/she cannot take admission under SC/ST category.
Some more advantages are given to SC, ST and OBC for the scholarship in the education by just showing the Certificate of Reservation Category whereas to general category in scholarship the individual has to give and appear for exam for scholarship that is what the biasness is. There is one more disadvantage where reservation category person who is from Uttar Pradesh (for e.g.) and wants to get education but due to his/ her score, he/she doesn’t get admission in his/her state so he/she tries to take admission in a different state rather than trying in a different college or university in his/her state. This effect the students in that state as some students can get admission over that college but seat gets full by the other state students.
What can be the solutions for removing the discrimination of caste.
Firstly, the reservation should be based on economical status rather than on the basis of caste. It is totally unethical and unacceptable that the reservation is on the basis of caste especially when our country is democratic and believes in equality. There should be a fair and just reservation o uplifts the poor condition of life also who are not necessarily of lower caste. There are many upper caste people who has a poor condition of life does not even have food to eat of shelter to live life. The reservation should be based on the financial condition of a person rather than on caste.
The process of reservation should be such that it will filter the individuals in who is truly economically deprived to give them a fair chance to come up and brings justice to them.in education field like many foreign countries they should be given an opportunity to do part time work while studying so that they can earn and fulfil there own basic needs and does not have to be rely on the family for this and would release a bit of burden from the family. Bring a change in the reservation system from a grass root level must be difficult but also in long run will improve the quality of performance and condition of the country and would completely change the scenario of the nation.
We don’t want to abolish or say no to the Backward classes to come forward, it is just the biasness of selection where they get advantage of both in the reserved category as well as in general category in employment, education and due to which the seat for which a general category individual who is eligible is been snatched away by the Reserved categories by selecting the general category. The merit should be equal and with due importance in the process of admission as well as in the employment opportunities. The Reserved categories get scholarship by just shows the certificate and for general it is to appear for exam.
It is a bitter truth that some of the Reserved Caste persons are very rich in terms of wealth whereas some of the General Category persons are very poor in terms of wealth. These is the thing which need to be changed from Selection by reservation to Selection by eligibility or may be by wealth. Majority of lower castes have stepped up the social ladder and are now on an equal status compared to the general population. Hence, there is no need for reservation anymore. The thing which needs to be change is from Reservation for Caste to reservation for Economical weak section in a wide manner.
Therefore, concluding to it, reservation is totally different from equality and development. We don’t need reservation on the bases of caste or race or religion but we need it for those people who does not have sufficient resource and to uplift such people. In this manner we can be a successful in the eliminating the discrimination on the bases of caste and unite each and everyone economically rich to support all the economically poor to uplift them as well as the nation regardless of their caste or religion.
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