The Mandal II and huge uproar

A few days back the government announced that centrally funded educational institutions like IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, JIPMER etc. should also have reservation for OBCs based on the guidelines of Mandal commission. This would take the total number of reserved seats in these insitutions to a whooping 49%. This when the population that is meant to avail this setup is about 5-10% of total Indian population.

There is at once a "huge" hue-and-cry in all parts of the country regarding this additional reservation - and that too in education system. This is largely because the present reservation system is misused. It has been misused for the past 30-40 years. To add more number of the already scarce resource (the seats) to this misuse is clearly unacceptable.

There are protests asking removal of all reservations. And there are protests that reservations, if any, should only be based on economic status. And there is also discontent amongst those who can avail these reservations that only the creamy layer amongst the caste get the benefits of these reservations and they are left behind.

So, the issue is not as simple as saying that all reservations should be abolished or that reservation should not be based on caste.

Though the present reservation system has outlived its utility, it doesn't mean that there should be no reservation. There clearly is a need for a reservation system - but definitely not in its present avatar.

The present system of reservation based solely on caste, tribe etc. should either be abolished or checks-and-balances introduced in it to prevent the flagrant misuse that is happening these days. These checks-and-balances should be put into any reservation system that is put in place.

I can think of a few checks-and-balances. Am trying to list some of them (in context of Mandal-II - related to admission to educational institutions) below:

All checks-and -balances should be reviewed by an expert committee every 5 or 10 years. The committee should include representatives of government, of non-government organizations, from different strata of society and also eminent social persons who have been working in the community for a minimum of 10-20 years etc.

• At the time of this regular review, there should be an advertisement in all major newspapers (public notice) asking people to comment on lacunae that they see in the system. The committee should tweak the system based on these inputs.
• In the event that this committee does not submit its review comments (including responses to a public advertisement for response on the topic) within the stipulated time, then the reservation in all categories should be reduced to 70% of total amount and only based on economic class kept at same levels.
• The committee should also continuously review different quotas and either scrap them or replace them with more relevant quotas (if needed). In an ideal situation, the need for reservation would gradually disappear and the reservations would be phased out over time.

Any person should be eligible for reservation only if the following criteria are met
- no one from the immediate family (clearly includes siblings/ parents/ chachas/ mamas/ grandparents/ great-grand-parents etc.) has earlier availed benefits of reservation

• this will prevent people who have already benefited from the system to not to misuse it. Like children of a government employee who has been recruited on the basis of reservation should not get any such reservation benefits.
• This limitation should be put on the basis of grade of employment in the service. A person hired at the level of a school peon may still need to avail this reservation, but not one who is enjoying the benefits of an IAS office.

The candidate has to qualify a subject-independent (analytical/ logical skills based) test

• This will ensure that people who can "live" with the system (say IIT system or IIM system) enter it.
• This will prevent mishaps like - children committing suicide or being unable to complete the course even in extended duration (6 years in place of 4 years). Such a person, who has entered the system on basis of reservation is in fact destroyed by this reservation. So, a qualification test is mandatory.

There should be a system to give fees concessions and/ or soft educational loans (independent of reservations - but definitely to the benefit of those who avail reservations).

• the concessions (either in terms of fees or softer interest rates) should be valid only for those who volunteer to take up a job in a rural area (or such parts that need development) in the first few years of his/her career.
• in an event that the candidate does not volunteer, he/she would need to pay the current rate of fees and should be levied interest at a rate equal to (or higher) than market. The funds generated from such individuals would provide cross-subsidy for those who volunteered.

The positions left vacant - because less number of students qualified the minimum threshold - should not be filled by people who are not eligible for reservations.

• This will ensure that people who can't avail reservation don't influence the minimum threshold.
• As a side-effect, this will only improve the quality of education in the institute further because of improved student-teacher ratio.
• The improved student-teacher ratio will also improve the chances of those who joined the institute on the basis of qualification aptitude test get more attention for subjects in which they were weaker than the rest of the class.

But I started this discussion by saying that some kind of reservation is definitely needed. Why do I say so?

• Because, I have had class-mates coming from such far flung areas where electricity was only a 2-3 hours affair a day.
• Because, I know that I was lucky to get into IIT Delhi because I could afford the fees of IIT coaching classes. There are many with more aptitude who could not make it because they did not have the financial condition to take such coachings.
  - the present system in which people can appear only once and will be selected based on aptitude test will help in ironing out this discrepancy. But this is the plan only for IITs, what about other engineering colleges and medical institutes.
• Because, people who have been at the other end of the development initiatives need special treatment
  - like outsees from Tehri dam site, or Narmada valley, or millions who will be displaced if interlinking of rivers kind of project takes off
  - people whose lives have been completely uprooted, whose livelihoods have been impacted- for the sake of many others who benefit from the irrigation facilities or from the electricity
  - these people are as good as victims of war or terrorism for whom reservations exist. These people sacrificed their lives/ livelihoods and most importantly their cultural identity for the development of the country. We should respect their sacrifice.
• Because, even today, there is no secondary school in a area of 5-10 km in thousands of villages.
  - Even where there are schools, the present secondary education system fails the students and drop-out rates are very high.
  - If someone persists to study in such a scenario, we have to respect the person for his determination and persistence.
  - Such people can make a positive difference to the society because they have found success the hard way and will work towards improvement of conditions for others. Our president is a very good example of such individuals.
• Because, we have to give due respect to our soldiers and appreciate their sacrifices for the country.
  - Soldiers who spend a majority of formative years of their children away from home - on duty- fighting for the country - are not able to spend time with their children
  - Growth of children of such soldiers may experience many different kinds of pressures which impact their studies
  - Such children should be given special treatment

Having explained a bit about why I think reservation system is needed in an unequal society like ours, let me move on to think out loud on the kind of reservations that should be sufficient.

• Total reservation in any educational institution should not exceed 40%
• All reservations should be subject to checks-and-balances describe above
• All the reservation quotas should be declared at the time of registration - this is sacrosanct and can't be modified for the given exam.
• In all the categories/ sub-categories of reservations described below, 35% of reservation should be for candidates who studied from 9th to 12th standard in a rural area
• Candidates availing this rural area benefit have to commit to take up first job in a rural area (either with government or NGOs or self-employed) for at least 2 years.
• A candidate can be considered in at-most one of the categories of the reservations described below (except if specifically mentioned in the reservation description).
• A candidate should have the option to not be considered for reservation - at the time of filling the registration form.
  - this should be valid even if a candidate is appearing from rural region (that is he may decide to be considered for a type of quota - but not the rural region quota under it)
• Qualifying criteria (in the aptitude exam) should be different for candidates appearing from rural areas
  - candidates appearing from rural areas may not have enough exposure and hence may not at once be comfortable with the IQ exam that is posed to them

The categories of reservations (including sub-categories) are defined below:

• Reservation for SC/ ST/ OBC etc. based on caste/ creed etc.
  - this reservation should be upto 50% of total quota
• Reservation based on financial condition of the family
  - this reservation should be upto 30% of total quota
  - all other categories of reserved can also be considered under this quota
  - only this quota can be increased if none (or one) of the state dependent quotas don't exist - such that total reserved seats are at most 40% of total
• Reservation for physically handicapped candidates
  - valid only if the handicap does not impact the effectiveness of the candidate in the desired career option
  - this reservation should be upto 2% of total quota
• Reservation for children of soldiers who died on duty
  - this quota is valid only if the soldier died fighting (and not in an accident etc.)
  - this reservation should be upto 3% of total quota
  - this can be at all educational institutions
• Reservation for children of soldiers who spent at least 7 years (after birth of child) in the field - on fighting duty (not office job).
  - this reservation is only valid at state level - but in both states - where the person is posted and also the state where person belongs to
  - candidates that qualify the previous point (regarding soldier died on duty) should also be additionally considered in this quota if they belong to the given state (or if the child qualified the 12th class examination from the given state)
  - this reservation should be upto 5%
• Reservation for communities that have been impacted by displacement due to development projects but have not been satisfactorily rehabilitated - based on standard international guidelines and as directed by an national level expert committee (defined above in the checks-and-balances section)
  - this reservation is again valid only at state level
  - this reservation can be upto 3% of total reservation for each location where displacement has occured

I am not an expert on reservation quotas that exist today, and therefore I might have missed a kind of reservation that is very valid. It is for that that I have left a margin of upto 8%. This margin is more if a state has a good record of social rehabilitation and less if the state has a bad history. If I have not missed any critical reservation , then this can be added to economically backward reservation quota described in above.

Looking forward to your inputs on this.