Sona Sree V M, Christ (Deemed to be) University, Bangalore
“You cannot build anything on the foundation of caste. You cannot build up a nation. You cannot build up a morality” are the words of the Father of our Constitution - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
ABSTRACT Post-independence, under the chairmanship Dr. Ambedhkar, the reservation system was framed in the constituent assembly. It was necessary to undo injustices done to a particular set of people in the past and provide a level playing field. The paper critically examines the reservation system, Judiciary’s approach to the system and studies the primary problems associated with the system. The paper mainly focuses on reservations in higher education and why the policy imposes problems in the present times. The researcher has used various articles, journals, and judgments to substantiate the arguments. The positive discrimination given through the reservation system, which aims to uplift disadvantaged sets of people in society, had turned out to promote casteism and support casteification in politics. The policy undoubtedly helped reserved categories to secure admission in institutions, which otherwise would not have been possible, but it had come up with great costs. The paper analyses the costs attached to the existing reservations in higher education institutions. The way forward will be to have minimum reservation policies for a specific period of time during which a level playing field can be achieved with no further extension of the same, which by doing so, will eradicate the costs and problems attached to it.
Keywords: Reservation, Constitution, Caste, Politics, Education.
