“Bihar se ho”?- My co passenger in the local bus for Ambala asked. I replied yes, and then he asked what I do. I told him I am pursuing masters in Physiotherapy and he was amazed to know that. “Aapke yahan to ladkiyon ko padhnen nahi dete, kam umar me shadiyan karwa dete hai na”? –he said.
I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t new for me anyways. So he is one of those among majorities of my fellow Indians who have officially declared Biharis as “other backward classes”. I wonder why government hasn’t thought about it and gave reservation to Bihari candidates who are scattered all over India for “better” studies or jobs, which their own state cannot provide, owing to its ‘backward status’. When our government is chosen according to the votes of majority then why not reservations too are according to the opinions of the majority?
Apartheid divided people on the basis of color, reservation divides people on the basis of birth. It’s about luck, lucky womb delivers a child with reservation.
When everyone else is fighting for reservation, why should I hold back? When reservations increase the probability of a promising career by 10 times, only a fool would not demand for it. Even Hardik Patel who is declared as “not so intelligent” is fighting for reservation. 500 families of Patel community have threatened to leave Hinduism and convert to another religion for getting benefits of reservation in jobs and education. So the benefits of reservation are above religion and people suddenly become secular to avail those benefits and don’t mind conversion at all which would otherwise have been a national issue. The community continues its agitation and incidents of violence have been reported throughout the protests and the reported property damage has been estimated as more than 200 crores (source).
The Patidar reservation agitation which started on 6th July 2015 and continues till date has got enough political attention and has been used by different parties to add on to their vote count. Recently to gain some advantage from the Patidar stir, BJP fielded 20 Patidars, its biggest representation to any community the poll.
When the Maratha community demanded for 16% Maratha quota the government asked the archives directorate to find out some “evidences” in history books, which can prove the state’s stand in the SC that Marathas need reservation (source). So we can clearly see the demand was taken so seriously that the officials didn’t mind turning pages of history books for the cause.
In 1990, during a protest against reservations by hundreds of upper caste students in Northern India, Rajeev, a commerce student of Delhi University, poured oil and set himself on fire in the middle of a crowd of spectators and supporters. He died due to the health complexities aroused by the Immolation on February 24, 2004 at the age of 33.
I wonder even after protests like this, why does the government fail to realize the consequences of this system on the youth who is deprived of opportunities in the name of caste. How valid is reservation on the basis of caste in the current scenario when caste is no more the criteria for socioeconomic status?
While introducing reservation Dr. B R Ambedkar would not have thought that, this step by him towards equality would create such a huge gap between opportunities and the upper caste people. The benefits given to lower castes were probably meant to be imposed on the times when they were really under privileged. But after all these 66 years when the lower castes availed the benefits of reservation throughout generations the system no longer seems valid. Now the one who is financially weak needs reservation, not the one who has enough bank balance but has a surname of a reserved caste or class.
In support of reservations I suggest our government to implement it on awards. Sahityasamman will be reserved 50% for those who wish to return it, 25% for those who wish to retain it and 25% for those who are not sure that whether they would retain it or may return if required.
Reservation reserves the thought process, divides friends, disturbs society and degrades the value of modern India. Hope our government realizes the loopholes in the reservation system and redesigns it in a way that the youth, the future of the nation benefits from this system rather than suffering due to reservation.
