Dear Editor,
The quota/reservation system for SC/ST/OBCs was introduced in the Republic of India, in the Constitution to protect and uplift certain sections of Indian society who were systematically discriminated against for millennia by the caste social system which made them lag behind others socially, economically as well as politically. Reservation was the least the nation could do to uplift them from their centuries old deprivation and backwardness.
However, today it has taken it’s own unique form. We have all given our own meaning to the provision. Nowadays we seek reservation not as compensation for our genuine socio-economic backwardness but to further our own advantageous position. That’s why we see even the Forward castes pushing the govts in several states to give them the status of reserved category, though they may be socially and economically well off.
Today “Reservation politics” has become a nightmare for administrators and people alike who wish to see the unity and integrity of this great nation intact.
Reservation policy really is a positive force to bring about socio-economic uplift of the genuinely deprived sections for whom there had been systemic, organized discrimination for centuries like the ST/SCs. But let us remember that it can also be divisive and destructive. That’s why even the British cunningly introduced reservation for Muslim community in 1909 and thereby sowing the seeds of communal disharmony and partition of India later on. The makers of the constitution therefore removed the provision of reservation on the basis of religion after independence.
For whatever the reasons, I appeal to the GoAP from refraining themselves, or in case, to rectify it, from taking actions which can create communal disharmony and distrust among the peacefully co-existing tribes at least till now. We are all APSTs and we all belong to the same socio-economic class as tribe. There are no major differences between us as tribes. Unnecessary reservation will have its repercussions worse off than it’s supposed few pros for the state. Does the GoAP want another headache with torrent of demands for more districts even when it may not be necessary or counterproductive? If at all, GoAP should make provisions for those few tribes who are considered very “minor” due to their lack of representation in the state polity and administration. Reservation on the basis of district, just like the reservation on the basis of religion won’t help this state.
Sincerely,
Dite Pertin