Archana. B, School of Law, Christ University
ABSTRACT
This paper explores various loopholes that prove caste-based reservation to be a policy that defeats its own purpose and Additionally, the paper also demystifies logic in present day context. According to 2019 school enrolment data, around 75% of the total population came under SC/ST/OBC, providing for a non-merit opportunity will surely be a threat to the rest 25% which also includes economically weaker sections. This paper further points out a discriminatory effect of OBC having 27% cap which is exceeded by some of the state governments like Bihar, TN, as against General-EWS which remains 10% across all states, which is a travesty to social justice. As an affirmative policy, caste-based reservation was inserted into the Constitution of India to bring historically exploited, marginalized and underprivileged in the same font as the mainstream public through better representational opportunities. However, the gap that this paper focuses on is the problems arising out of conflict among policies, multigeneration reservation, drop out ratios and interpretation of oppressed caste in today’s context. To support the question in discussion, the paper focuses on the philosophy behind the concept of reservation in congruence with Aristotle, Thomas Paine and Bentham, uproots the reasoning by drawing parallels with relevance to current state policies. Upholding the concept of justice, equity and good conscience along with public policy this paper recommends to annihilate the caste-based reservation system and ratify economic based reservation policy with care.
Keywords: Caste-based reservation, General- Economically weaker sections, SC/ST/OBC, Reservation cap, Centre- state conflict.
