Effect of the recent change in reservation system on meritorious students
On the 75th Independence Day of India, our honourable prime minister has decided to aid the deprived communities and make some changes in the pre-existing reservation policy. This was an attempt like many others to promote equality and equity in our country. However, a large portion of the population is unaware of this change and does not even know really how this will affect anyone belonging to a particular social group. This blog will cover all the essentials.
The concept of reservation:
Reservation was an idea that was proposed to promote the social groups that were suppressed in the colonial period. Dr B R Ambedkar had proposed this pioneering idea in an attempt to equalize all the people of India, to lend a holding hand to the backward castes and bring them up to pace like the other so-called upper castes.
This reservation system ensured that everyone gets equal opportunities and receives a handhold when and where necessary through reduction of requirements like marks for admissions in colleges, the increased age limit for government jobs, and higher priority for various jobs.
The effects and consequences of reservation:
The consequences of reservation like any change have both pros and cons, while it has prevented some meritorious students from achieving what may have been their dream college/job it has helped several students belonging to the backward sections of the society achieve goals that they may have not even imagined.
While this promotes equality, it pushes some of the meritorious students to strive to be the best and not one among the best in fear of being overcut by the system this has led to some problems in the past, while others may lose the total interest and competitive spirit making them never discover the potential that they had.
The revised reservation system:
The revised reservation system has given a slight preference towards OBC (other backward castes) especially in the field of medicine, giving them a reservation up to 27% and 10% quota for EWS (economically weaker section) some estimates have analyzed that this would help about 1500 OBC students in MBBS and 2500 students in post-graduation and 550 EWS students in MBBS and 1000 in post-graduation. This is a very radical change that is being criticized by multiple social scientists.
The effect on meritorious students:
There will not be a radical difference from the previous effect, just meritorious students who do not belong to the backward sections will push themselves further to an extent that it is dangerous in an attempt to be the best and not just one among the best, while some of the students belonging to backward castes may take advantage of this scenario and may put in lower effort due to guaranteed admission/priority.
This advantage should be a little more conditional and not be entirely based on caste, various factors like economic condition, resources they could access during their preparation, etc should also be considered, as preference/handhold based entirely on caste has all of the above-mentioned effects.
The decision taken by the government has a very high probability of modification as mentioned by multiple social scientists. However, we can rest assured that the Indian government will take the appropriate decision to ensure that all the citizens of the country get equal opportunity and ensure equity among the people of the country. Thereby allowing everyone in our glorious country to achieve their full potential.