Every one wants reservations in India. Seems no one wants to be in the so called 'OC - open' category. Most caste leaders are comfortable for their's to be called Backward caste. If there was no Supreme court order on a slab of 50% for all reservations we would have already been at say 90% of the country reserved. History is a burden for India and it is upon the state to correct the historic wrongs in all possible ways - are we choosing the right way?
No one questions that weaker sections/backward castes require support to climb the societal ladder, the larger question is whether the current model is efficient and is it impacting the breadth and depth of the society so that larger numbers can come up at a faster rate.
Current reservation system may entail some things - 1) Seats in education institutions/hostels 2) Some government goodies - ration cards etc 3) promotions if you are in government i guess. May be or may not be much in the scheme of things.
In most cases demand for including some caste in a reserved category is a political demand to consolidate a particular vote bank to kick of a political career. Hence even if successful these movements fail to make a whole sale impact on a particular caste in terms of relevant metrics of human development.
I was in college during mandal agitation and saw the raw emotions attached to reservations firsthand, i am not aware of any of my friends benefiting form this since most of them are into private sector and doing very well.
It is time to re-assess reservations in the current form and look at alternative models. One often touted is economic basis, this may be good since there are equally poor and needy citizens in the so called 'OC' category. This is complex too since determination of economic backwardness will be a big challenge and political.
Some of the Western nations ( US) has affirmative action in place for about 60 years. There are noises for and against but that is a debate they are having in their country too.
There should be a inclusive and full debate on this in the parliament - backed by data to help our leaders to define backwardness and help the truly helpless.
