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Politics was a sacred, hallowed ground before 1947 when a dynamic leadership led one of the greatest movements in history towards the freedom of millions of people in India. Infact, the word politics was seldom used for a mass upsurge that saw millions of people sacrifice for the sake of freedom from imperialism and colonialism. Many of the participants were lodged in jails for varying periods and quite a few became martyrs too. None of them saw freedom as the attainment of an opportunity to grab positions of power, though many of them became leaders by virtue of accidents of circumstances. But today, politics has become a dirty world, the haven of the corrupt and criminals, opportunists who are prepared to stoop to do anything to grab or retain power. But there are indeed exceptions because of which our democracy still thrives.

Neither the Government of India nor any of the States has made any real effort at evaluating and appraising as to how far reservation has made a dent in the socio-economic life of the so called marginalized and disadvantaged groups in society.

We, In India want every section of the community to get equal opportunity for education and employment and we strongly feel that none should be denied the right to a dignified life on account of the socio economic condition caused not only by the inherited caste factors but also by such compelling factors as poverty that affects all.

Reservation is not the panacea for all the ills that plague those who have not been able to reach the level of merit required for admission in IIT’s or IIM’s. Its obvious that the boys and girls who have reached the top have not become bright overnight, the foundation of the intelligent power of these extra ordinary students would have been laid right from the primary schools offstage. Years of sustained effort could alone raise them to the pinnacles of excellence. Can the govt provide this kind of education to the SC’s/ST’s, backward classes and bulk of the poor among the so-called “forward communities”? Then there will be no need for any reservation. Are we phasing out reservation or making reservation a perpetual phenomenon till such time as the poor become sufficiently marginalized to wage another struggle for reservation.

Let every decision maker take a resolve to separate education from the contagion of politics. The empowerment of our youth does not lie in the short cut of dilution of merit by reserving the seats for the less meritorious on the basis of caste.

There is need for a national consensus on the burning issue of reservation as it affects all sections of the people-Caste wise, Class wise-and because of the inescapable need for preserving merit at a time when India’s position in the world economy and science and technology is increasingly being recognized. All along, we have left it to the politicians to call the shots. None will disagree that politicians are more interested in their vote banks and the next elections. We have to go into the entire spectrum of reservation, right from the time it was instituted and prepare date State wise and to examine thoroughly whether reservation has secured the purpose for which it was introduced. Decisions taken without foresight and hindsight will ruin the country and engender rift in society and turn back the clock of progress.