IS RESERVATION THE ONLY VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO UPLIFT THE MARGINALIZED IN INDIA?

Abstract

“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”-Bhim Rao Ambedkar

Reservation as it is popularly known in India connotes that there shall be an affirmative action by the State to ensure that the downtrodden and marginalized are brought into the mainstream of the society and are able to live their live with basic human dignity as envisaged in our Constitution. This is not an indigenous concept in the sense that it has been quite prevalent in other nations as well, notably in the USA it is referred to as 'affirmative action’ and in UK it is known as 'positive discrimination'. It has been a significant cause of disagreement in the contemporary times when it comes to our country, as there is a cynical perspective of the majority who are not the beneficiaries of it and for the marginalized is nothing less than a panacea. However, it remains to be seen what is the ground reality of reservation in today's day and age. Its efficaciousness has been a subject of great scrutiny of legal as well as economic nature. It also cannot be denied that the political parties to woo a certain section of the demographic that too right before the elections by implementing the said reservation have used it as an eye-candy. Reservations by the State have some far-reaching ramifications on the Constitutional Jurisprudence of the country. This paper seeks to unravel the legalities, nitty-gritty's and other aspects of reservation in the context of India.