Odisha University of Technology and

Research Bhubanewar, Odisha

A Study on Reservation
System in India

Submitted By:
Sanjay Kumar Sahoo(2224100018) &
Biren Kumar Sahoo(2224100021)
Second Year(3rd sem)

Masters in Computer Application

School of Computer Science
A Study on Reservation System in India
Sanjay Kumar Sahoo(2224100018) & Biren Kumar Sahoo(2224100021)
Masters in Computer Application ,School of Computer Science
Odisha University of Technology and Research , Bhubaneswar,751006 ,Odisha

Abstract:
After India's independence, the legitimacy of the Indian government was closely linked to
its ability to integrate the large, historically marginalized population into Indian political
institutions. Prior to independence, Indian leaders favored preferential treatment for groups
that experienced economic and social discrimination as a result of the caste system. The 1951
Indian constitution(1st Amendment) mandated the representation of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes by reserving quotas for them in Educational Institutions. Over the years,
constitutional changes have added and revised the reservation system for providing Social
justice and now in 2019 it made amendments to provide reservations for the economically
backward sections of the society which is seen as an act of Economic Justice too. The aim of
this study is to find out the problems and to give some tentative solutions for the reservation
policy in India. We have formulated the following questions and has tried to find out the
answer-
 What is the concept of reservation policy in India and is its purpose?
 Who are the weaker sections of society for which regarding reservation?
 What are the problems and the solutions regarding reservation?

Keywords: Reservations, Underprivileged groups, Social Fabrication, Discrimination, Merit-

based System, Social Justice.

Introduction:
The Constitution of India, adopted in 1950, defines the nation as a “Democratic
Republic” which ensures that All citizens are equal before law, free from discrimination on
grounds of caste, creed, religion, sex, place of birth, and equality of opportunity in education and
public appointments. The Constitution also specifically abolishes untouchability. Under the
Indian Constitution, there are provisions in respect of following types of reservation
a) Reservation in admissions to educational institutions,
b) Reservation in posts and appointments in public offices.

The majority of the population of India was socially, educationally and politically backward. The
backward classes have been classified as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other
Backward Classes. The Government of India, through law, has made a quota system whereby a
percentage of posts are reserved for the Backward Classes in the employment in Government and
in the public sector units, and in all public and private educational institutions but not in minority
run educational institutions. This system has been made for the purpose of mitigating the
backwardness of the socially and educationally backward communities and the scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes who do not have adequate representations in the government services and
the educational institutions. The reservation policy is also extended to the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled tribes for the representations in the Parliament of India. Reservation in India is the
process of setting aside a certain percentage of seats (vacancies) in government institutions for
members of backward and under-represented communities (defined primarily by caste and tribe).
Reservation is a form of quotabased affirmative action. Reservation is governed by constitutional
laws, statutory laws, and local rules and regulations. Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes
(ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) (and in some states Backward Classes among Muslims
under a category called BC(M) )are the primary beneficiaries of the reservation policies under
the Constitution – with the object of ensuring a "level" playing field.

Review of Literature:
There is no comprehensive literature on this subject of the study. It came into the
spotlight following the Government's decision to implement the 103rd Constitutional
Amendment Act, 2019 which amended the constitution for providing reservations for the
Economically Weaker Sections(EWS). Though the Reservation system has received enormous
support from the Indian caste groups and Policymakers, there is a dire need of credible academic
literature to analyze the outcomes and shortcomings of the existing Reservation system.

History of Reservations:
The reservation system in India dates back to 2nd Century B.C.E. where the upper class
enjoyed some added privileges. The idea of caste based reservation system was originally
conceived by William Hunter and Jyotirao Phule in 1882. The reservation which exists today
was introduced in 1933 when British Prime Ramsay Macdonald presented the Communal
Award. This made a provision for separate electorates for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians,
Anglo-Indians, Europeans and the Dalits and this was opposed by M.K. Gandhi whereas B.R.
Ambedkar was supporting it whole heartedly. To address this situation, Poona pact was signed
according to which the country would have single Hindu electorate with seats reserved only for
Dalits. According to the Constitution of India there were reservations only for the Employment
and Politically reserved constituencies and there was no special mention to the reservations in the
Educational Institutions. There are some historical important events regarding the reservation
policy in India-
 When India was ruled by the Britisheres, reservation was there at that time.
 In 1882 Hunter Commission was appointed in which Mahatma Jyotirao Phule demanded
a free and compulsory education and government job for the people.
 In 1902 a notification made 50% reservation in services for backward people in the state
of Kolhapur. This was the first notification providing for the reservation for the welfare
of the backward people in India.
 In 1908 the castes and the communities which had some part in the administration in the
British rule, reservation was introduced in that favor.
 In 1909 provisions were made in the Government of India Act, 1909 which was known as
Morley Minto Reforms.
 In 1919 the provisions for the reservation were made in the Government of India Act,
1919.
 In 1921 Madras Presidency made a GO providing 44% reservation to non Brahmins, 16%
reservation for Muslims, 16% reservation for Anglo Indian Christians and 8% reservation
for the Scheduled Castes.
  In 1935 provisions for the reservation in the Government of India Act, 1935.
 On 26th Jan, 1950 our Constitution of India came into force.
 In 1951 In the case of State of Madras v. Smt. Champcam Dorairajan6 the court held that
caste based reservation violates Article 15 (1) of the constitution of India.
 The 1st Constitutional amendment was made to invalidate the above judgment and clause
(4) was added in Article 15.
 In 1953 Kalelkar Commission was established to see the situation of the socially and
educationally backward classes.
 In 1963 the SC put 50% cap on reservation in the case of Balaji v. Mysore.
 The Rajasthan exceeds its limit giving 68% reservation while Tamil Nadu 69%(under 9th
Schedule).
 In 1979 the Mandal Commission was established to see the situation of socially and
educationally backward classes. Submitting its report in 1980, the Commission
recommended the changes in the existing quota system.
 In 1990 the recommendation of Mandal Commission was implemented by the
Vishwanath Pratap Singh in Government jobs.
 In 1991 Narsimha Rao Government introduced 10% special reservation for the poor.
 In 1995 the Parliament by 77th Constitutional Amendment added clause (4) (A) In
Article 16 providing reservation in promotions to SCs and STs.
 In 2005 the SC in P. A. Inamdar & Ors. v. State of Maharastra & Ors case held that the
State cannot make reservation on minority and unaided private colleges including private
professional colleges.
 In 2005 the 93rd Constitution Amendment was brought to ensure the reservation policy.

Discussion:
The Present Status:
After introducing the provision for reservation once, it got related to vote bank politics
and the following governments and the Indian Parliament routinely extended this period, without
any free and fair revisions. Later, reservations were introduced for other sections as well. The
Supreme Court ruling that reservations cannot exceed 50% (which it judged would violate equal
access guaranteed by the Constitution) has put a cap on reservations. The central government of
India reserves 27% of higher education, and individual states may legislate further reservations.
Reservation in most states is at 50%, but certain Indian states like Rajasthan have proposed a
68% reservation that includes a 14% reservation for forward castes in services and education.
However, there are states laws that exceed this 50% limit and these are under litigation in the
Supreme Court. For example,
RESERVATION IN ADMISSIONS:
Under Article 15, reservation in educational institution can be made for ‘Women’ under article
15 (3), ‘Socially and educationally backward classes and the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled
Tribes’ under Article 15 (4), and Other grounds not falling under Articles 15 (3) and 15 (4) .
Whether State can reserve seats in privately run educational institutions?
In many cases the Supreme Court of India has gave judgment that the State cannot make
reservation of seats in admissions in privately run educational institutions. To nullify the effect
of all the above cases the Parliament added a new clause18 (5) in Article 15 and thereby
empowered the State to fix the reservation in privately run educational institutions also. But this
clause does not touch the institutions run by minority under Article 30 (1) of the constitution of
India. Now it has been clear that the State is free to make reservation in private educational
institutions also. Now the question is that what would be limitation for the reservation, it has
been cleared by the SC in Balaji case19. In this case the SC held that the state can make
reservation up to 50% seats only.

RESERVATION IN SERVICES:
Article 16 (4) of the constitution of India makes provision for the reservation of appointments
or posts in favour of any ‘backward classes’ of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not
adequately represented in the public services under the State. Here the term ‘State’ includes
Central as well as State Government and their instrumentalities. Article 16 (4) is applied only if
two conditions are fulfilled: 1. The class of citizens is backward, and 2. The said class is not
adequately represented in the services of the state.
Explaining the nature of Article 16 (4) the SC held that it is an enabling provision
conferring a discretionary power on the state for making any reservation of appointments or
posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which in the opinion of the state, is not
adequately represented in the services of the state. Article 16 (4) neither impose any
constitutional duty nor confers any fundamental rights on any one for claiming reservation.21
The scope of Article 16 (4) wa considered by the SC in Devadasan v. UOI. In this case the
constitutional validity of the ‘carry forward rule’ framed by the government to regulate
appointment of persons of backward classes in government services was involved. This rule
provided that if sufficient number of candidates belonging to SC/ST were not available for the
appointment of reserved quota, the vacancies that remained unfilled would be treated as
unreserved and filled by the fresh available candidates, but a corresponding number of posts
would be reserved in the next year for SC/ST in addition to their reserved quota of the next year.
The court held the ‘carry forward rule’ as unconstitutional. But in Mandal Commission case23
the SC overruled the Devadasan case and held that the ‘carry forward rule’ is valid so long as it
does not in a particular year exceeds 50% of vacancies. In this case the SC gave the following
judgments:
a) Creamy layer must be excluded from the backward classes,
b) Unlike in Balaji case Classification of backward classes into backward and more
backward is permissible,
c) Reservation shall not exceed 50%

Arguments Offered By Supporters of Reservation:

 Reservations are a political necessity in India.
 Although Reservation schemes do undermine the quality of education but still
Affirmative Action has helped many if not everyone from under-privileged and/or under-
represented communities to grow and occupy top positions in the world‟s leading
industries.
 Although Reservation schemes do undermine the quality, they are needed to provide
social justice to the most marginalized and underprivileged which is their human right.
 Meritocracy is meaningless without equality. First all people must be brought to the same
level, whether it elevates a section or decelerates another, regardless of merit.
 Reservations have only slowed down the process of “Forward becoming richer and
backward becoming poorer”.
Impact of Reservation:
From another perspective, the fact that literacy rates among the disadvantaged castes
(particularly the “Scheduled Caste”) are much lower than average is well-known. What is less
clear is why this contrast happens to be so sharp and resilient, even when different castes share
the same schooling facilities. Economic deprivations among the disadvantaged castes helps to
explain this pattern, but there is much evidence of a strong case basis in literacy rates even at a
given level of income. This basis has several possible roots.
First, the traditional upper caste view that education is not appropriate for the “lower”
castes continues to have some social influence. This view is bound to reduce the educational
aspirations of children from the disadvantaged castes, and the parental and social support they
receive in pursuit of these aspirations.
Second, there may be objectives difference in economic and other returns to education for
different castes. For e.g. an upper caste boy with good social connections often has a better
chance of finding a well-paid job than a low-caste boy with more or similar educational
qualifications.
Third, children from disadvantaged castes are still discriminated against the schooling
system. Example: teachers refusing to touch low-caste children, children from particular castes
being special targets of verbal abuse and physical punishment by the teachers, and low-caste
children being frequently beaten by higher-caste classmates.
Fourth, in higher / top undergraduate and graduate institutions in India, such as the IIT,
the IIM, that are among the most selective in the world, it is not surprising that most reservation
criteria are applied at the stage of entrance examinations for these institutions. Some of the
criteria are relaxed for reserved categories, while others are completely eliminated.
Examples include: The minimum high school marks criteria are relaxed for reserved
seats. For example, in IIT JEE, reserved category candidates scoring about 65% of the last
admitted general category candidate are directly offered admission. Candidates not meeting this
cut off but scoring as low as half of this are offered admission to a one year preparatory course.
In AIIMS, for example SC/ST students are eligible only if they score 50%. But this 50% is not
mandatory for the institute quota, and on an occasion, the Honourable High Court of Delhi had
found that "AIIMS students, who had secured as low as 14% or 19% or 22% in the (all-India)
entrance examination got admission to PG courses.”

Advantages of Reservations:

1. Equal representation: Increase in the number of people from backward sections in

various decision-making procedures, resulting in equal representation from different
sections of the society.
2. Equal opportunities to the deserving candidates: It has helped some people from
backward sections achieve higher posts or services in the public sector and some private
institutions as well.
3. Implementation of justice and human rights: It has encouraged the people to fight for
justice whenever there is a violation of their human rights.
4. Economic balance in the society: Reservation has slowed down the process of forward
becoming richer and backward becoming poorer.
5. Historical injustice: Caste-based reservation is necessary for India because of historical
negligence, injustice, and mistreatment caused to the backward communities.
Disadvantages of Reservation System in India:

a. Encouraging casteism: It’s propagating the notion of caste-based society instead of

eliminating it.
b. The benefit of the privileged only: Beneficiaries of reservation are primarily from the
creamy layer or the dominant class in backward castes. Hence, the marginalized section
still remains marginalized.
c. Opposing meritocracy: It’s resulting in the degradation of the quality of students and
employees enrolled in different institutions if the undeserving candidates get the
opportunities.
d. The privileged getting more privileged: As the reservation grows more prominent, it
becomes a mechanism of exclusion rather than inclusion. As we can see nowadays, the
previously advantaged communities have becoming disadvantaged to a large extent due
to the reservation problem. Many deserving people from the upper castes are still affected
by poverty and illiteracy.
e. A barrier between ethnicities: It is a form of ethnic discrimination. It works as a barrier
for removing casteism and racism and promoting harmony between castes and religions.
f. Social unrest: Reservation agitations may cause social unrest, such as during the Mandal
Commission (1990).

Problems:

 There is no data available to identify who are getting the advantages of reservation.
 The families who become rich also getting the reservation benefits.
 The real needy people many times don’t know their right to get reservation benefit.
 The real needy people many times don’t know their right to get reservation benefit.
 There is division of Indian society on the basis of caste, religion and gender.
 Well qualified candidates are left from going to the important administration places.
 There is lot of corruption in the name of reservation policy. Reservation benefits are
reached to the proper beneficiaries through the mediator; the mediators are misusing the
scheme of Government very easily, it is not a best way.

Solutions:

 First of all a database must be maintained by the government that who are the persons
actually getting the benefits from reservation. Such database should be accessible to the
public generally.
 Reservation shall not be based on castes basis. It must be on the economic, social and
physically handicap basis.
 Yearly observation on the reservation policy must be done and the Government should
create special and separate post for the weaker section of the society and not to interfere
with the general seats.
 Reservation should be based on the collective salary of the family, i.e. salary of the
husband and wife and the income coming from all other sources.
 The creamy layer concept should be applied to SC/ST categories also.
Conclusion:

Reservations are intended to increase the social diversity in campuses by lowering the
entry criteria for certain identifiable groups that are grossly under-represented in proportion to
their numbers in the general population. From the above analysis we can conclude that the
backward classes cannot be allowed to remain backward forever. The Constitution of India does
not permit it. The reservation policy is the first aid and not the permanent cure to the problem of
backwardness. For the proper implementation of reservation policy, the government should take
steps to see that whether needy people are getting the benefits. The concept of creamy layer
should be applied in case of SC/ST also. The weaker sections should be given special economic
aid first to survive in the society and then to reserve their seats. The concept of reservation on
being upgraded and extended even though it has a positive impact on the students belonging to
EWS category it still negatively impacts the meritorious students on their fair opportunities.

Reservation benefits should also be regulated maybe like restricting the benefits only to
the first two childrens of the family without considering the number of children they have or
maybe restricting the reservations only till the undergraduate program and further educations
should be based on the merits and not based on the reservations or atleast there must be an way
to identify the first generation learners and extending upto two generations.