Reservation: A Boon OR A Bane For Society

Touseef Hamid
The reservation policy/concept has created a ‘‘new class of vested interest’’ in the society, taking the benefits permanently. As 4 more percent has been added in the reservation rules 2005, I honestly feel that administration should do one thing, they should just demolish this Open merit category, which has been reduced to nothing, reduced to mere nominal percent of share with respect to the percentage age of population and competition in the category, & they should carry on with the concept of Absurd Reservation, so that open merit students will choose something initially rather than fighting for nothing, or this reservation needs to be kept in check, I mean it should be limited to one generation per family, once that generation of a family get their due from the reservation, then this reservation the certificate should get canceled straight away, with a Bar for the future generation as well for that family at least. Because unlimited reservation is not only an injustice/Problem for open merit student but also mostly for those who actually on the ground need the benefits of that reservation, to be very honest, there are so many students out there who are living a luxurious life, as their parents got the benefit of reservation, and are now on a Gazetted post, providing every facility to their children’s, sometimes even much more than any normal student does have, and who are now living far away from their actual birthplace, some of whom have never seen their birthplace actually, but when it comes to selection or something like that, they bring out the Certificates like Backward, etc, Firstly I mean isn’t it a slaughter on that very poor guy, who actually have mere nominal facilities for education at his home, who never affords to come out from his backward place to study somewhere else, but still, he works really hard, just to come out from thatmiserable situation, and when he tries to fight /compete, guess what, he gets to face or compete with such a student in his category, who have got the best of best means to prepare himself, how can that poor guy beat him, then make me understand does this reservation cause serve its purpose, isn’t it a big question mark on it, if that poor guy doesn’t get, what the purpose of Reservation is actually, secondly if, this reservation doesn’t get checked, or if a sort of bar won’t be put on it, then isn’t it an injustice with that open merit guy as well, when a student who got every(same) facility as the open merit candidate does, but when it comes to the selection, that guy with reservation gets selected despite having less points than the open merit student who doesn’t get selected because of high merit in his category than the reserved ones, how will someone justify it, Isn’t it a stepmother treatment with the open merit guy, That is why either the administration should find out creamy layer among the reserved categories and cancel their certificates straight away, so that an actually candidate who actually needs a reservation will get the benefit of this, Another point is that a clause then should be kept there that if a person gets his schooling/education in that place or in that institution, where best means for education are available for that student to prepare himself, then that student should not be eligible for reservation at the counseling time or in the selection process.
Meritocracy should not be polluted by injecting relaxation of entry barriers, rather should be encouraged by offering financial aid to the underprivileged candidates.
With due respect and without targeting anyone I want to quote an example here, see there are so many students from OBC category who are studying in Srinagar or other urban places of Kashmir, and they get every facility which every other general category student won’t get here, but when it comes to the selection they produce Category certificate and as such question can be asked that is it justifiable, isn’t it a slaughter on a student living in actual backward zone, who didn’t afford to come out from his/her birthplace because of various reasons . At the same time isn’t it an injustice with the open merit candidate as well, who gets dropped because of high merit in his category, but his friend with same resources gets selected on much fewer points than his friend because of category. So I believe if this reservation flaw can’t be addressed, then it’s high time to withdraw it holy so that it doesn’t stop people from open category from claiming right over the selections. It is not that I am completely against the reservation but it is that I just want either it should fulfill it’s actual purpose completely on ground, so that very student or candidate gets benefited who is actually in need of it and some creamy layer candidates should not be allowed to misuse its provisions and take unnecessary leverage from it. Another point is that even if the reservation is required then a student should be allowed to choose whether he wants to compete through open merit category or his own category only at the time of submitting his form. He should not be given an option at the time of counseling, as in case of high merit he claims a seat from open merit and hides his category status, because I feel that is a bit harsh and injustice for the student of open merit category, who is waiting outside the counseling hall. One more confusion which I don’t understand is that when girls outshine boys in every board exam, then why is it necessary to give a 50% reservation to the girls even in open merit category in exams like NEET (JK). I will end it on a personal note that, we need to come out from the concept of leverages as we just need to build such a system, where everyone will be there with equal merit. I am not saying we should avoid or discriminate the underprivileged, but we need to build such a system for them, where they can get the best means/facilities at their doorstep, take the example of education, the government have the best lot of teachers, why can’t we build such government institutions which can prepare these underprivileged students for the competitive examinations right from the day one. We should have the abilities to fight/compete with others through open merit, as I believe meritocracy should not be polluted by injecting relaxation of entry barriers, rather should be encouraged by offering financial aid to the underprivileged candidates. Moreover, till this reservation concept, I’m with a hope that the administration will make an effective mechanism in order to find out that Particular creamy layer regularly, and hope they will revise/review again those villages or communities, who were given the status of backward or other category, whether they actually need it now or not.
(The author is a student at Law Department Kashmir University Srinagar. Views are his own, [email protected])