What have been the consequences of Reservation in India (Reservation of jobs/seats in academic institutions for certain sections of society)?

The consequence is that even the wealthy rich who come under the category of SC/ST/OBC avail this facility and avoid competition from the general category. It has led to more corruption. Relaxation of norms has led to degradation of premier institutions like IITs and IIMs. The reservation was given only to be extended upto a certain period in order to reach to the oppressed part of the society. People and politicians have (mis)used it to raise their votebanks. It's time to scrap such systems in order to safeguard the interests of this nation.

I'd like to answer this question with the help of few stories about what impact caste based reservation is making in India... Please be patient as it is going to be long..... The stories are inspired from real people. Scene.1: Education for Harish was a different affair then most of the kids. His father was a janitor in government office and barely earns meals for his big family of 4 siblings and parents. He belonged to SC category. While studying in school in a small village in Uttar Pradesh, he had to face a lot of discrimination, demotivation from everyone and what not. If it were not for his zeal to do better and the various schemes of government he could never continue his studies. He got scholarships provided by government for SC students and free education in school. He didn't have access to expensive books, coaching and competitive training but since the cut-off marks in entrance exams were lowered, he made it to a top government college and graduated. He and his other friends from category then appeared for many exams like GATE and CAT where again he availed the benefit of reservation of seats and lowered cut-off marks. Through these exams, he got job in a government organization as an officer, even though he scored almost half of marks of any general candidate. Today he is on a high designation of this organization, thanks to further reservation in promotions and he is earning very well. He and his family have revived from the ills of the society and todays he is respected among all his subordinates many of whom are from general category. Nobody in his whole family is in bad financial condition and everyone is living a prosperous life. Reservation played a great positive and constructive role in this situation. Scene.2: Mr. Harish Kumar of scene 1 who has already received the benefits of reservation is now a senior officer in the organization he was working with and is very well off financially and socially. His son Rahul is studying in the best school of the city. He has access to best of resources and education. He was recently enrolled into IITJEE preparation program of a coaching class with fees amounting more than 1 lakh. He had his hands on everything a student could ask for. Rahul was a happy go lucky guy who liked playing and has lots of friends. Most of his friends were from general category and there was no difference between them in any way. There was no discrimination at all. In tenth standard, while filling in board registration form, Rahul and his friends came upon the concept of caste and category for the first time. They came to know that in past, Rahul's ancestors were tormented and they were looked down upon by their high caste ancestors, and because of this reason Rahul belongs to SC category and to compensate that injustice all the coming generations will get reserved seats in education and jobs and for that they have to score half the marks than the general category people. This registration form was the first introduction of kids with the caste system. But this day onwards Rahul changed, he felt a rage inside him towards others and automatically he felt himself lower than other kids, the other kids too when realized that Rahul is going to get an easy ride and a shortcut to every exam became jealous of him. He himself started to have this complex of being different from others and started to mingle more with people of his own caste. Government reminded him of his ancestors past, and created a division just by the mere introduction of reservation. When reaching in 12th standard, Rahul analyzed the past year records of entrance exams. It was clear that the cutoff marks were almost equal to half than general in his category and a significant number of seats were kept reserved for him. He felt relaxed inside and stopped giving his 100 percent to the preparations. When results came he was not selected in IITJEE but he got a rank of the order of 50 thousand in AIEEE. He got admission in a good branch in the NIT of his home state. His classmates who were from general category and had ranks of the same order were not even eligible for counseling. On joining the college, he found out that most of his classmates who were from general category had top ranks. Rahul also got the scholarship in college for being from the category despite being son of a rich father and he had to pay a very nominal fees. He found it very difficult competing with his pears and ended up with a year back. Then during the placements also, the PSUs visiting campus selected people with reservation criteria and even having a year back, he bagged the job. Scene.3: Murari Lal Sharma was a peon in Mr. Harish Kumar's department. He was a hard working but a very poor man. His wife was suffering from a terminal case of TB and he had spent all his savings, whatever there was in her medicines and doctor's bills. Sharmaji had 2 kids, an elder daughter Asha and a son Amit. Amit was a brilliant student and sportsman. He was selected for district level cricket tournament but had to back out as his father could not arrange the money to buy kit. Also when their mother was critically ill, both the kids had to leave school as Sharmaji didn't have money to pay their school fees. Amit being a meritorious student, searched for scholarships but he was disappointed to know that the scholarships are only given to students from SC and ST category and not to general students in any case, no matter how much they needed it and how deserving they were. Rahul from scene 2 was getting the scholarship, his fee was waived and free books were provided to him, even though his father was a millionaire officer. Amit and Asha had to leave studies ultimately. The doctors could not save their mother form the inevitable and she passed away along with every single penny Sharma family had along with a debt of 1 lakh rupees from Sharmaji's PF.  Amit and Asha were admitted to local government Hindi medium school. As Amit grew, he started giving tuitions to kids nearby and Asha started to stitch dresses and assist in beauty parlors nearby to meet family needs and buy books for school. Somehow both of them supported their education till end of school. As Amit and Asha were very good in Science and Math, their obvious choice was to pursue engineering and medical respectively. They came to know that even in buying application form; there was difference in cost of form. Amit met Rahul from scene 2 standing in the que besides him; Rahul had to pay half of the price to buy the form whereas Amit paid all the savings of his month to buy a 1500 Rupees form for IITJEE. Asha didn't even fill the form when she came to know of the fees and the money that goes in preparation of medical exams. She silently opted for a small time government college. When results came out, it was a shock for everyone, Amit cleared the mighty IITJEE exam with a medium rank and he was allocated Mechanical Engineering at IIT Roorkee. He came to know that this year, IITs had increased their tuition fees by 80% and hence his family could not afford this kind of education. He came to know that if he were an SC ST guy, he could have got his fees waived off too but nothing can be done given he is from general category, no matter how poor he is. Frustrated he had to go back and take admission in a local polytechnic and do a diploma. He continued his life in misery and never got any help from government just because he is from a so called upper caste and according to government upper caste people never need any help from it as they are always rich and resourceful. Scene.4: Bansi Ram, who belongs to ST category is another peon in the office working with Sharmaji also had a serious financial problem. He was not aware of reservation and didn't have any background to do any good out of it. His son Prakash, who lives in a remote village in Chhattisgarh, could not take any advantage of the reservation because all the privileges and advantages are already being over used and occupied by the people with resources. The fact remains that majority of benefits which are provided to SC ST candidates is being utilized by people whose previous generations has already taken its advantage and are at very good positions. Because of this practice, the real deserving benefactors never get the benefits and people like Rahul whose father has already taken the advantage of reservation is again using the benefits because of which people like Prakash don't get what they need. Scene.5: Rahul in scene 2 had a classmate Akash who was also from category but he was a very brilliant student. He scored well in AIEEE and got a seat on general category as government keeps the number of reserved seats intact and if any student from category performs at par with general, he get seat from general quota's part but number of reserved seats remain same. Even though he was a very good student, nobody gives him that credit. Everybody always have the feeling for him that whatever he has achieved is due to reservation. This feeling brought in frustration in mind of Akash. Analysis: Inclusion and equality were the core intentions of the people who first introduced the concept of reservation in India. Reservation has undoubtedly served its purpose of uplifting the un-resourceful in a very effective way. Lives of millions of people have changed, their financial status, their social status has turned around and they are living a life of respect and comfort. But soon many started to take it as granted. Many high caste people are struggling to declare themselves as backward due to this reason. What started as a good intentioned action has turned into a Frankenstein. Its killing the quality of workforce and stopping meritorious and deserving candidates to get their rightful place.

Agitation by Hardhik Patel and his society cannot be justified completely since it is not the right means to achieve the end. The demand to completely eliminate the reservation system is too extreme since it would crumble the transcendental ideology of equality which is idolized in our preamble. Reservation has been included in the Indian Constitution as per the circumstances that prevailed in the society at the time of independence. It was established in order to achieve equality and inclusion of lower castes as well as to uplift them economically and attain social justice. It was solely bought in to the action to protect those who were oppressed at that time. As the time passed, this good institution that once considered as boon to oppressed has become bane to the upper castes today. It is completely misused by those oppressed, for their future generations, even though they availed the benefits and hold a better position than many upper caste people. But this does not mean that they are no oppressed people in Indian society. The present problem is that only those uplifted section of once oppressed class are still availing the benefits, which is not only depriving the upper castes who are meritorious but also those of the same class who really need the reservation. So therefore, one cannot ask complete banishment of reservation from the system but a little change where it can be given to those who really needed it. The government can amend some rules in a following way 1. Introduction of creamy layer in SC and ST as it did for OBC. 2. Making it an obligation to people belonging to SC/ST to declare their income and once it crossed the marginal line where he/she can be considered financially stable and above the poverty line, his status shall be changed to special class where he cannot avail any reservations to him or to any of his descendants. 3.Division of classes according to their economic standing in the society but not through caste based system. 4. Availing of reservation should be constrained to only two promotions after getting a job in government sector. After two promotions, person from SC/ST must be considered on same footing as general category in any government organisation. 5. Decrease in cut-off marks for general category class in order to achieve a merit-oriented society.  Only when the following changes are made by the government, India can be a merit - oriented society.

Upper caste being a minority has no say in democracy and hence is being marginalised at the cost of lower castes who multiply rapidly. Hence, justice is being denied to the righteous.