Religion-Based Reservation Policy In India: A Critical Analysis

Dr. Lalit Kumar Roy & Brajendra Nath Mandal

ABSTRACT

The adoption of the reservation policy is based on caste-based age-old discrimination in India. The framers of the Constitution of India found the injustices faced by the lower caste people and provided them reserved seats in education and employment for their upliftment. The goals and objectives of this policy were not to provide education and employment to every individual from underprivileged classes but to raise their confidence in competition with others and to establish equality in society in a true sense by protecting their rights. Nationally, the then-targeted group of people were from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who were socially, educationally, and economically deprived but later the group included the Other Backward Class and Economically Weaker Section. Initially, while the framers of the Constitution found the basis of reservation as deprived and exploited caste, now it has become backwardness, economic and even religious. The goal of this system was to eliminate the inequalities among the citizens within the next ten years of independence but now the reservation itself has become a ground of inequality. Formerly it was adopted constitutionally but now it becomes political agenda to find a grip on elections, which is unfortunate for the nation and its development. The absence of political wisdom has been found to eradicate inequality in the country since its inception. Several states have adopted the religion-based reservation policy, which will bring devastating negative impacts on society. The authors of this paper would like to assess the goals and objectives of the reservation system, examine the grounds of reservation policy and find out the justifiability of religion-based reservation.

Keywords: Reservation, Religion, Religious Minority, Muslims, Christians.