The idea of reservations seems very unscientific to me, especially since there are many instances where it clearly helps the wrong people. Now I admit that being a Brahmin boy I stand to lose the most out of every reservation that comes out of our Parliament. So if you view my views with suspicion, so be it. I reserve the right to have an opinion and argue for it.
The current reservation bill however, the women's reservation bill, is something I struggle to oppose. The corporate world has the diametrically opposite trend as the governments of the world. We see more and more female CEOs, entrepreneurs and businesspeople. On the other hand, women all over the world have been traditionally underrepresented in government and under-compensated in society, irrespective of social liberalism and any measure of economic growth. If I claim that USA, one of the most forward-looking societies in the world, has not had a woman at a very powerful governmental post, there aren't many arguments against it (except for Nancy Pelosi who is the current speaker and a handful of senators). Try that argument in many Asian countries like India, and pat come the examples of Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Jayalalitha, Mayawati, etc. who were either at the helm of affairs, or packed enough power to topple those at the helm of affairs. What's more, the names are followed by how these women in fact did not prove to be the benevolent saints that advocates of women's rights would envision (incidentally similar arguments seemed to work against Hillary Clinton and are starting to work against Pelosi). So again while it may seem that reservations will breed more power-hungry politicians albeit of a different gender, women's reservations can be more faithfully audited and monitored for efficacy. The roles and positions of women politicians can be measured with their male counterparts to see if they toe the same lines on most issues, or do indeed bring a different, fresh and radical perspective to our government. Why audit only for women you ask? I agree! Current politicians should be audited as well! It would statistically prove what everybody always knew: how our politicians make mind-boggling U-turns on issues.
Which brings me to my favourite and somewhat utopian form of reservation: based on economic conditions. While it is easy to forge IT documents, there is at least a measure of efficacy. How does one audit caste, or the more immeasurable effect of reservation on social conditions without considering economic conditions? One can indeed verify if one is living beyond one's "claimed means", but how does one verify whether one is living in contrast to one's caste or whatever other measure on which reservation was claimed? If indeed socially backward equals economically so, why not reserve based on economic conditions? In one swoop it would include all poor sections of society irrespective of caste or religion. If socially backward does not equal economically backward, that says something about the state of the current reservations. After all, aren't all the social ills of the underprivileged the direct cause of their economic states which is what causes all the practical misery in this world? What are reservations supposed to remedy, academic social status or practical economic status? I assume the latter, since everything that is "reserved" leads directly or eventually to economic status: education, job and promotion.
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