Affirmative Action

New Delhi

Driving around New Delhi, Vidvec, my guide, talked about the reservation system, India's affirmative action program. “I’m totally opposed to the reservation system. I have a friend who scored 92 on an employment test, but was denied the job because it was awarded to a scheduled caste member who scored 60. He was devastated. I also know wealthy people who have gotten preferential low cost housing, which they then rent out at a higher rate. And although I’m not rich, I have to pay the top rate for my daughter to attend college, whereas my boss’ son pays less because his family is in a selected caste. A person’s caste never changes, even though his economic status may have improved, giving him and his offspring continuing preferential treatment in just about everything; education, health care, housing, employment, etc. The original problem was the caste system who’s roots go back to the fifteenth century BCE in which the Brahmins were the intellectuals, the Kshatriyas the soldiers, the Vaishyas the merchants, and the Shudras the workers. A fifth group, the untouchables, were ostracized by the others. Gandhi wanted to do away with this discriminatory system. As a result the government implemented the reservation system, giving preferential treatment to scheduled castes and tribes, especially the shudras and untouchables. The reservation system was to be discontinued overtime, but instead it has grown so that now it comprises over 50% of the posts in some sectors and has now become a serious drain on the economy.”