Reservation - an idea that changed lives!

So since the ruling party in India has opened the can of worms that is Reservation, I thought on writing about reservation as the idea that has changed lives! My second idea for this new year.

So Reservation is an Indian law whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in academia/jobs for groups of people who have not been represented enough or socially backward groups. Groupings are historically done on the basis of caste in India and also historically the social ladder in India was divided on the basis of caste. So the constitution makers decided to have caste as the basis on which reservations will happen. 

So, supposedly lower caste people were given reserved seats in jobs/academia and also in the legislature. Over time there have been additions/deletions in who constitute a lower caste and also over generations, the reservation system had to undergo some changes since more and more people from those considered lower caste started climbing the social ladder. So for example, I am considered to have come from a lower caste though I don't believe in the caste system and in fact consider myself to be in the upper rungs of the social ladder. 

The reservation system is the reason for many people to have climbed the ladder. The ladder once dominated at the top by only people from the upper caste has now me, and many like me, who would not have had the opportunity to climb otherwise. Many never even had the opportunity to touch the ladder for many years and they were given the privilege of climbing it and climbing it along with people from the considered upper castes because of this concept of reservation. Reservation, equity is thy name! 

Yet, equity is a complex term; ain't it? How do we treat everyone in a country of more than a billion people fairly? Of course, casteism treated people badly. There was once the manual scavenger who was never allowed inside the street! He might not enter a few streets in the country even now.  And there are people from the clan of the manual scavenger who started the climb up the ladder two generations before! Is it fair to compare them both and keep the same starting line in the race up the ladder for the children of both of them? I think not! 

So, how do I define who will start the race first? Who will climb directly from the first rung? Which of those like me should be starting from ground zero? Do you get the drift? Isn't it complex?

So caste (only)-based reservation has run its course. It is a brilliant idea to build the reservation system on caste 75 years ago. And it has done wonders, through all its fallibilities. But I think it is time we go forward! And how? 

A complex phenomenon like reservations cannot be done on the whims and votes of a political party. The reservations going forward should take into account, the household income, parental education, health indicators, the place of stay, and of course to a small percentage the social affiliation (caste). 

But before a change, it warrants an in-depth study, a caste-based census to know the social mobility that has happened so far. For reservation has a long way to go; Reservation in the current form for all its achievements deserves a relook before it gets redundant. 

For reservation - an idea that changed lives, deserves a longer ride in bringing people equity!