oppn parties Should Reservations Be In Place For Ever?

Story Of The Day

The Sensex Did Not Crash. Its Closing Auction Did Its Job Too Well.

September 02, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About the Language of Gen Z

News Snippets

  • Calcutta HC asks why are MPs facing egg-pelting, in the mohua Moitra case, allows the MP to enter her constituency with police protection
  • Police find fingerprints and other evidence of both the two accused and the rape survivor inside the bus in the Delhi gang rape case
  • Abhishek Upadhyay, the journalist who exposed the embezzlement of Ram Mandir funds, has sought Supreme Court help as Ghaziabad Police have sought his digital footprint from X. He claimed that such information will compromise the sources who provided him the information
  • Supreme Court quashes 127 FIRs in 5 states against students who took part in CJP stir. In repsonse, CJP cancels the September 5 march from India Gate to Delhi Police headquarters
  • TCS buys Best Buy's GCC operations in India, pips Accenture to the post in a deal worth around Rs 2000cr
  • To avoid stiff tariff, Aun Pharma offers to supply cheaper drugs at Most Favoured Nation pricing to US Medicaid programme
  • 5-member NCLT bench stays Subhash Chandra's Rs 6.5cr repayment order
  • Reliance entered the icecream space by launching Bombay Creamery
  • Copyright office rejects AI system as artwork author, says Parliament needs to make the legal position clear
  • GST collection jumps 15% in August to Rs 199853cr on the back of 29% jump in tax from imports
  • Asian Games: Japan Cricket Association says participating cricketing teams can arrange their own hotels as the Games are not directly under JCA
  • T20s versus Afghanistan: Bumrah and Samson return, Hardik still unfit. Sooryavanshi keeps his place
  • Duleep Trophy: South Zome have upper hand in the other semifinal
  • Duleep Trophy: East Zone beat Central Zone by four wickets to enter the final
  • PM Modi asks youth to make social media content on drug abuse
Duleep Trophy: South Zone beat North Zone by 7 wickets to set up the final clash with East Zone ////// Air Marshall (Retd) Jeetendra Sharma appointed the first CEO of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya
oppn parties
Should Reservations Be In Place For Ever?

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-11-08 07:35:23

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

While upholding the 103rd amendment to the Indian Constitution which provided for 10% quotas in education and jobs for the economically weaker sections among the general category of citizens with a split (3-2) verdict, two judges on the bench advised the government to revisit the entire reservation scenario and do away with quotas within a given time frame. This is welcome. What started as affirmative action (which the framers of the Constitution wanted to run for just 10 years) is now being treated as a life-long right.

No affirmative action can go on indefinitely, as the Supreme Court rightly pointed out. If it needs to run for an inordinately extended period of time it means that something is wrong with the entire process and it is not achieving the ends for which it was started. Caste-based affirmative action in India was started to correct the historical injustice meted out to marginalized castes who were treated as untouchables and left to fend for themselves. It was necessary to include that vast mass of population in a free, democratic India that promised inclusive development for all its citizens.

But the results of 75 years of affirmative action are not along expected lines. There still exists a huge mass of marginalized castes that have not benefitted from quotas in jobs and education mainly because such quotas have been cornered by a select and privileged class among them. Hence, in India, merit suffers just because 10% of the backward classes who have the awareness, means and political privilege to enjoy the benefits of reservation and who, in tandem with the political class, manage to dupe the rest 90% into believing that they too enjoy the same benefits, have hijacked the system. It is time for the government to revisit the entire quota system and make the necessary corrections to ensure that the benefits percolate to the lowest level. A time limit must also be set to do away with the quota system.

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

 Accountability Cannot Be a Precondition to Debate

Accountability Cannot Be a Precondition to Debate

In Depth

The Taxman's Doppelganger: How India's ITR Filing Deadline Became a Phishing Season

The Taxman's Doppelganger: How India's ITR Filing Deadline Became a Phishing Season

Editor's Pick

Kangana Ranaut's War on 'Generation Gutter'

Kangana Ranaut's War on 'Generation Gutter'
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.