Sorry, reserved

While many would claim that the concept of reservation is redundant after 60 years of independence, the bitter reality is that the practice is here to stay.

Sorry, reserved

While many would claim that the concept of reservation is redundant after 60 years of independence, the bitter reality is that the practice is here to stay. No politician would ever dare to raise his voice against special preference to a particular segment, the reason obviously being the fear of losing the loyalty of his vote bank.

Even if we do away with the debate around the logic of reservation, we must measure its validity till date. We need to ask whether it has helped the reserved class in the manner it was intended to. If it has, we must pat our backs; else, pack up the burden for good.

India has come a long way. But the status of the downtrodden hasn't changed much.

It has been observed that the benefit of reservation has been availed only by handful of families, and the larger sections of those groups are still waiting for their chance. Leaders like Ram Vilas Paswan, who became member of the parliament several times due to dalit reservation, have been lucky. When Paswan became somewhat of an institution, he brought his siblings in, too. During the recent elections, his son Chirag was heard saying that politics is in his blood, and he will definitely make an entry one day or the other.

On the other hand, the status of Paswan's voters, also dalits, hasn't improved during this period. The real purpose of reservation, to provide opportunity for the hitherto deprived sections of society, doesn't stand fulfilled. If the same thing happens to the Women's Reservation Bill, then it's definitely no good.

There are many questions that need to be addressed. What type of reservation should be entertained? What will the 'formula' of reservation be? Where does one draw the line, and who decides the fine print? I believe that it is not only RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, JD (U) president Sharad Yadav and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, but also many senior leaders of the Congress and the BJP, including many women leaders, who should synergise their expectations and opinions to build on the present form of the bill.

Past incidences of protests on introducing OBC reservation in higher education, particularly institutes like AIIMS, and more recent ones by the Gujjar community of Rajasthan for their inclusion in ST list have intensified inter-caste rivalry, only to prove that so far, most of the governments have used reservation for political benefits over people's welfare.

Implementing new reservations won't help. Digging out older ones, neither. The intention of our politicians should be honest, idealistic as it may seem. Lets us put some long term plans in place first, like how to improve girls' education, and then, they will find their way into the parliament on their own. There's not such a need to grant reservation as there is to grant transparency and cleanliness to our country's administrative machinery.

Otherwise, no woman from a good family will dare to come into the parliament anyway.