There might be many articles that one must have read about this burning topic that is set to change the outlook of the entire nation. The topic in contention is about the dream that the UPA government set to envisage – the reservations to the other backward classes(OBC’s). The supreme court put on stay the ordinance that is set to provide the OBC’s a reservation of 27% in elite educational institutes like IIT’s and IIM’s, also, the court denounced the governments indulgence in ‘vote bank politics’.

The thing that baffles the people of the nation is, in taking such an important decision the government of India has not done enough of home work. The magic percentage of 27 was based on a census done in 1931. The fact that the basis on which this segregated section of community is formed is not clear. According to the Mandal commission there were three criteria based on which one could measure the backwardness of a particular group of people
The Economic condition
The Social condition
The Educational condition
Among the three indices given above we know that excessive weight age has been given to the social backwardness which is unverifiable.

The Apex court while hearing the case said that if there has to be any enforcement of this quota system then we need numbers and where can get them from. These are some of the standings
The National Sample Survey(NSS) states the percentage of OBC’s as 32.1
The National Family Health Survey states it to be 28.9
The Mandal commission states it to be 51%
Surely all the three cannot be true and the fact that needs more attention is more importance has to be given to the Economic and Educational backwardness rather than just by ‘cast criteria’. The fact that a community gets preference because their boys and girls marry before the legal age can hardly be accepted.

The option that we have in front of us with such kind of ambiguous situation is the Affirmative action – leaving it to the discretion of the individual university above a certain fixed percentage. But then in a completely diverse community as that of India whether this is really going to make sense is the question to be answered. The fact that the educational system is not independent and is always under tremendous pressure from the political hierarchy is a worrying factor.

The recent news that the result of all IIM’s having been withheld indefinitely is an indicator insanity of the inane ‘vote thirsty’ politicians. The court gave its hearing to withhold the ordinance and in retreat the government put a hold on the results. I am sure the IIT’s are up next in the line of fire.

The fact that is being ignored is, the OBC’s were primarily formed to eradicate the discrimination basing on cast system which is harming the spirit of democracy. The recent decision of the government surely reiterates the fact that ‘C’ stands for Casts but not Classes giving yet another example of their insanity.

The solution to this problem has been stated by many and that it has been followed successfully else where. The effective primary educational system in India is the only answer. When as a child you are not given proper nutrition then you are bound to face problems when you grow up and to cover this problems you need special care etc.. If we have a robust system of primary education in our country which is free to all and of good quality then there is no need to have any reservations in higher education.

The backwardness in a student lies not in his talent but his exposure to various things. If all the students are exposed to similar kind of primary education and ‘similar’ kind of exposure then all are bound to excel. So the primary educational system has to completely in the hands of government and the amount of privatization in primary education has to be decreased. The inability of the government to implement this obvious solution should not affect the creamy layer who carves to make their way into elite institutes in India.