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I Want Reservation Because I Am In Majority

I am a male in my mid 30s living in India. I am a Hindu Brahmin which means that I belong to the section of this country which comprises 79% of its population. So statistically speaking I belong to the majority population of this country. However, with almost 52.50% reservation in education, jobs and promotions to the Scheduled Class, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes I am left to fight for what is left with more than half of the country's population. Hence, really speaking I belong to the minority in this nation. Therefore, today I want to ask for reservation for me and all the citizens of this country who are majority in numbers but minority in options.

It seems that India is the only country in the free world, where the majority population is fighting a loosing battle for higher education and jobs for their children.

I do not blame the citizens of this country who receive benefits under these various reservation schemes and neither I blame the citizens of this country who despite being economically well off and with quality education at their disposal ask for their share in this pool of reservation. Everyone wants to achieve more with minimum effort. But I would like to start a debate here because I feel that now it is time to reverse this system of reservation. Now it is time to give the reservation to the majority population of this country so as to create an equilibrium in the country when it comes to knowledge and economical growth.

This class divide is not new to us. India has had a long association with class system. A system that was created to ensure that people are assigned work according to their skill, was turned into a system of oppression of some classes by others who wanted to hoard power. Ever since Mahabharata, where Karna was not allowed a dual with Arjuna because he was known as the son of a Charioteer and not a Kshatriya, we have been looking at this misuse of Class/Caste system. 

At the time of independence of India from British rule in 1947 and before it, there was a huge division in the country based on Religion Caste and Class which created a gaps in the society. In order to reduce this gap and provide the opportunities to the deprived, the makers of our constitution decided to give reservation in education institutions and jobs to carefully selected sections of India's population. However, in order to ensure that this reservation is not misused and is only utilized till the time one generation of these special classes is uplifted, Article 334 "Reservation of seats and special reservation to cease after 20 years," was included in the constitution.

But, as we know our country's politicians, in order to save their vote banks, they continued to increase the time limit for next 10 years and it is still there and instead of reducing the class divide they have increased it manifolds. In fact, there is even reservation in the promotion in the jobs. 

Today we have come to a point where, a child curses his/her forefathers for being a Hindu and in that too belonging to so called higher caste. Because when that child even after scoring more that 90% marks in the entrance exam for a prestigious government university, is not selected, because another student with even 80% has this seat reserved for him/her, he/she feels cheated. And even after that when somehow that child gets the degree from a private institute by spending the lifetime savings of his/her parents, tries to get a government job based on his qualification, again the same student with reservation pushes him/her aside.

So what is the benefit of belonging to a majority section of the population in a country where all political parties are jostling to appease the minorities in order to ensure a strong vote bank. This is because these minorities are made to believe that the majority in this country would not let them live here if they do not stick together and hence their vote is never divided. And this fixed vote share can make or break a political career.

More than Hindu-Muslim, Upper Caste-Lower caste divide, this reservation system has divided the country into pieces so small that if this country is divided among all the stake holders, the size of individual country would be microscopic. Today in every corner of the country there is some call or movement for a demand to be added to the reserved category is taking place. 

Have you ever looked in the eyes of the children whose career was snatched away by someone with reserved status, or have you ever listened to the cries of the parents who lost their children to suicides because their future was stolen by a less deserving candidate just because he/she belonged to reserved category? This country is sitting on a pile of anguish of such people and it would burst if the political class of this country continue to play with the future of these bright children.

If reservation has to stay, then the government and all the representatives of the people in the center as well as states should specify a time frame for this reservation after which it should cease to exist. Moreover, reservation, should be given for only school education and system should be placed to monitor and ensure that the quality of education being imparted in the government schools should be at par with the private schools. The government should involve all the local bodies, civic societies and panchayats in this field and should fix responsibility. Post school there should be an open field for all, entrance to all the government run colleges and higher education institutes like IIMs and IITs should be based upon merit through a common admission test.

Even for the government jobs, only merit should be the criteria as we require only competent people for the job. Most importantly, if one generation of a family receives the benefits of the reservation system, than they should be excluded from the scheme. The job of the government is to empower the backward classes of our population, so that they can stand on their own feet and can compete with the rest of the nation for opportunities. However, our successive governments, through this reservation system, have created an atmosphere where weak are still dependent on government for everything and do not want to be competent. They have started to enjoy this easier lifestyle with lesser struggle.

I am not against the upliftment of the backward classes and people who do not have access to better education and jobs due to lack of resources. But this cannot go on forever and government is responsible for completing this task by ensuring that best education up to high schools is provided to everyone and enough job opportunities should be created for everyone to get a livelihood.

And if that seems like a task too hard to achieve for our lawmakers, then the government should also give reservation to the actual minority i.e. the section of population with minimum opportunities.

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