RESERVATION: A SUICIDAL APPROACH A Positive Approach Required

RESERVATION: A SUICIDAL APPROACH A FTER India’s partition in 1947, the system of reservation was applied to Government jobs and education, on the grounds, ostensibly, that such a move was essential for the upliftment of the backward classes. The total reservation percentage in India is now about 52% with 27% towards OBC (Other Backward Classes). Muslims have availed this reservation and have been demanding for more. This system, however, has proved counterproductive. It has only led to Muslims becoming more backward, as they no longer had to compete to succeed. RESERVATION MAKES US LETHARGIC Such a policy implies ‘achievement without hard work’. This eventually led to Muslim lethargy and the demand for privileged treatment. The Government of India has even approved 50% reservation for Muslim students in the Aligarh Muslim University. The reason? 'To promote the educational advancement of the Muslims of India'. It is the spirit of competition which is the ladder to human progress. It is illogical, however, to imagine that reservations will promote advancement. Only if the spirit of hard work is inculcated will this become a reality. In this age of meritocracy, any attempt to succeed through reservations is anachronistic. COMPETITION LEADS TO PROGRESS We live in a highly competitive world—a world in which our success, and sometimes our very survival, depends upon superior performance. It is the spirit of competition which is the ladder to human progress and without it, little advancement has been made in the history of mankind. The atomic age would have come much later, had it not been for America’s determination to attain world leadership. The electronic age might not have seen such an exponential growth, had it not been for Japan’s urge to climb to the top of the economic ladder. Imagine the scene if the Japanese had resorted to complaints and protests, instead of taking constructive action. Valuable time and energy would have been wasted and they would ultimately have faced ruination.