OBC quota upheld, a take
The judgment has finally arrived. A long fought issue of reserving 27% of seats to the Other Backward Castes (OBC’S) is finally resolved, not in tranquility but. The apex court has upheld the decision by the central government.
So the total quota in academic institutes’ finally sums upto close to 50%, 22.5% already kept aside for the SC/ST. The deprived people(forward castes) have long forgotten the previously set aside quota and have learnt to live with the pain. So an aspirant from this community now has to pull a fight over the available 50% of the seats. The supreme court judgment however has a clause that the “Creamy Layer” from the OBC’s would not be eligible for admissions under the quota. The apex court has coined a new term “Creamy Layer” and held the economic and social conditions the judging factors as in who falls into this. If the economic conditions did mean a concern to the governments and the courts, why not give quota to economically and socially oppressed from the forward communities?
Afterall, reservations are not all bad. India is a gigantic country and development has not been uniform. True there are many socially oppressed sections. Lack of resources and opportunities are a deep hindrance to getting quality education. The talented and the abled from the communities have to be supported and education is the best means of doing it. Until then no negatives.
But how have they come to the figure 27% ? Is it just because there exists a constitutional clause that reservations have not to exceed 50% in total and 22.5% is already reserved? As such the government still doesn’t hold a clear idea as on what is the population of the OBC’s. Mandal puts it at 52 per cent, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) at 32 per cent, the National Family and Health Survey at 29.8 per cent. How can there exist a wide variation in the figures, all three quoted being government operated. It would be fun quoting the HRD minister Mr.Arjun Singh in this regard, “I think that should be decided by people who are more knowledgeable“. If the government doesn’t seem knowledgeable and committed to establishing figures, who else is? Arrival at the number 27 has not been justified and a democratic government holds a responsibility to clarify to the nation.
And back to the “Creamy Layer” term. If the apex court feels that it is quiet feasible to categorise who is “Creamy” and who is not among the OBC’s, why can’t they do it to the forward communities? Does it want to potray that all of these people are financially well sustained and stable or Are the agencies so incapable to categorise? If the landmark judgement(as termed by UPA) is the victory of social justice, is this deprived section not eligible for justice?
There are many questions left unanswered and for the UPA, the judgement comes as an election gift as it is going to face polls in 6 states later in the year and probably mid terms to the lower house.
hari said,
April 10, 2008 at 6:54 pm
what should i comment…i am the deprived one…. is this the way Indian government is promoting the so called backward(OBC) classes????
santosh said,
April 10, 2008 at 8:28 pm
for all those who feel deprived once give a thought… u people may be (no u actually are)at a upper hand at certain things…
avva kavali buvva kavali ante kudaradu nanna
Vamshi Raj said,
April 10, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I am completely disappointed by seeing this.
What is the use in having a democracy when all the citizens are not treated equally? If the government want to encourage the backward communities it does not mean that it should restrict other communities. Moreover one cannot judge whether a person is backward or not just by looking at your community (OBC/SC/ST). Whom to be blamed for this – is it the HRD minister arjun singh or the apex court or our political and bureaucracy system??? The system which encourages more diversity, the system which lead to coalition and unstable governments, the system which do not treat all religions equally by giving special privileges to some and boasts itself a secular nation, the system which created some politicians who work for their own benefits and who cannot be questioned, the system which created localized powers who rule different regions of the nation and thereby lead to coalition and unstable governments, increased corruption, slowed down development and resulted in a nation comprising of different individual kingdoms. So the problem lies in the system and if this continues it will end up in chaos. India needs a democratic government with some changes in the present system.
vidyasagar said,
April 11, 2008 at 10:15 am
Reservations are on the top of the things to ensure equality in India- marked supreme court yesterday. it is indeed true for a country where development is non uniform. but the polices should be made in a way that the unprivileged lot get the fruit of it. Creamy layer issue has to be implemented properly. and why is the creamy layer issue prominent only in OBCs???? why not in the other scheduled castes. many of the questions remain unanswered.
gunj said,
April 11, 2008 at 4:08 pm
such decisions are gonna kill watever good dat was happnin!
why cant they see it?
Nagesh said,
April 15, 2008 at 3:06 am
aha …………. i completely disagree with santosh, this ain’t the B.C period my dear boy and India is an independent,socialist,secular and a democratic country. Give me a single example with regard to the education system ( as i may point here that the reservation policy in question is regarding the educational system ) where there has been discrimination on the basis of caste or does the govt. feel that there aren’t enough opportunities for the so called socially backward classes ( and mind that I’m not only talking about the OBC’S but also the SC/ST classes ).a person belonging to the so called backward castes is unable to study because of his economic status but what about all those financially backward forward caste people ??? shouldn’t they be given an opportunity?? We are in the 21’st century people cant the govt. think clearly at all? this is what happens when u hav uneducated illiterate obstinate fools for your leaders and it is not the mistake of the apex court it was the pressure from the Govt. that led to the decision. God hep the country . this decision is surely going to ruin any development which was in order ( no offence my dear OBC/SC/ST friends but when u hav a 50% reservation it definitely is going to ruin the quality of the students in the premiere institutes and thus ruining the quality of the future citizens of the country ).