Reservation: is it caste over merit?

Before I blog about this, let me quote what Arjun Singh said when interviewed by Karan Thapar (CNN IBN- Devil’s advocate):

I wouldn't like to say much more on this because these are decisions that are taken not by individuals alone. And in this case, the entire Parliament of this country - almost with rare unanimity - has decided to take this decision.

Has parliament taken the right step? Is reservation really going to help? According to a survey, approximately 28%-32% of the Indian population consists of the OBC’s. But how ever no concrete figure exists. Mandal puts in 52%, National Sample Survey Organization puts in a 32% and National Family and Health Survey puts in 29.8%. We still do not know the correct figure. Most research show that 23.5% of the seats are allocated for the OBS’s. However, out of these only 50% are filled and the rest go unallocated. And among the OBS candidates who are allocated, 25% of them find it hard to complete and earn their degree in 6 years. This means some able student has lost his way to become either an engineer or a doctor. The question that now arise is: Will increasing the OBC seats do any good? By providing reservation, the government is actually giving a lesser qualified candidate more preference over a more qualified candidate the sole reason being that he/she is an OBC. Now the second question is: Is this the fault of the upper caste? And he/she is being penalized for being an upper caste?

Jawaharlal Nehru, on the 27th of June 1961, wrote this to the Chief Minister:

I dislike any kind of reservations. If we go in for any kind of reservations on communal and caste basis, we will swamp the bright and able people and remain second-rate or third-rate. The moment we encourage the second-rate, we are lost. This way lies not only folly, but also disaster.

This is very true. We want our county to progress. The only way to do this is produce able people, i.e. remove reservation.