Reservation in India

The system of reservation in India comprises a series of positive discrimination measures such as reserving access to seats in the various legislatures, to government jobs, and to enrolment in higher educational institutions. It is intended to favour castes and tribes listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by the Government of India. The reservation is undertaken to address the historic oppression, inequality and discrimination faced by members of those communities. It is intedned to realise the promise of equality enshrined in the Constitution.

The Constitution prohibits untouchability under its Article 17, and obligates the state to make special provisions for the betterment of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, also spelling out that such special provisions would not be considered discriminatory, as it would address existing inequality.

Over the years, the categories for affirmative action have been expanded beyond the lists of Scheduled castes and tribes to include a special category of Other Backward Classes (OBC). Consideration has also been given to economically backward in providing reservations.

Reservation is governed by constitutional laws, statutory laws, and local rules and regulations. The Scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), and in some states Backward Classes among Muslims under a category called BC(M), are the primary beneficiaries of the reservation policies under the Constitution – with the objective of ensuring a level playing field. In recent years, reservation has been highly criticized in the education institutions and has been deemed one of the primary causes of talented and brilliant students leaving India for better opportunities abroad. It has also been observed in many cases that it has proven detrimental to the quality of education and students in institutes of national importance like IIT's as shown by the performance graph of the students and by the highly debated expulsion of 60 students admitted through reservation in IIT Roorkee. It has also been argued that the system is used largely by the dominant and powerful in the SC/ST/OBC quota, leaving out the people who really need it. Many scholars and intellectuals think that it is high time to revoke reservation in India. The issue has often been debated by and demand raised by students of IITs to remove reservation. In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court of India advised the government to revoke reservation in the education sector.

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