Reservation, Privilege, and “Merit” in India: What the Numbers and Lived Realities Tell Us?

Reservation exists because test scores alone cannot erase centuries of exclusion; it widens the starting line so that talent from every community finally gets a chance to show up.

The Historical Weight Behind Test Scores

A young person from a land-owning urban family and a young person from a Dalit village household do not wake up on exam day with the same backpack of advantages. One has grandparents who finished college, shelves of reference books at home, a quiet room, and a social circle that expects success. The other may be the first reader in the family, sharing a single room with siblings, studying under a streetlamp during power cuts, and hearing daily reminders of “knowing your place.”

The Indian Constitution recognised that caste works like an invisible tax on opportunity. Dr B R Ambedkar argued that unless the state actively opened doors, they would stay shut. Seventy-plus years later, the doors are wider but not yet fully open.

Critics often say “merit should decide.” That sounds fair until we recall that “merit” is measured through exams that reward paid coaching, stable nutrition, fluent English, and freedom from family chores. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen summed it up in a lecture at Delhi University in 2013: “Equality of outcome is hard, but equality of capability is the minimum a democracy must pursue.” Reservation tries to create that capability threshold.

What the Data Really Says About Wealth and Opportunity

Let us park emotion for a moment and look at hard facts.

These numbers echo what sociologists Sukhdeo Thorat and Vivek Dubey found in 2012: rural upper caste families earn roughly twice that of rural Dalit families. So when a Dalit or Tribal student crosses fifty plus percentile in CAT or JEE, the “distance travelled” is far longer than it looks on the scorecard.

Critics reply, “plenty of poor general category students exist.” True. That is why the government introduced the ten percent EWS quota in 2019. Yet the pushback continues, which suggests the debate is less about poverty and more about discomfort with sharing elite spaces.

Why Access Is Not the Same as Success

Some assume that once a seat is secured, the journey is over. The record shows otherwise. The 2021 report by the Ministry of Education on the Indian Institutes of Technology listed 122 student suicides since 2014; forty percent were from reserved categories. They had “access” yet still battled social pressure, language barriers, and subtle exclusion in labs and hostels.

Academic rigor remains identical. If a student at IIT Bombay fails to clear a semester, no quota can rescue him or her. A 2018 internal review at IIT Delhi found that reserved category students who arrived with lower JEE marks often matched or beat peers by the fourth semester once tutoring and a welcoming peer group were available. Access is the on-ramp, not the destination.

Tackling Concerns About Creamy Layer and Repeated Use

A common fear goes like this: “What if the child of a senior IAS officer keeps grabbing reserved seats generation after generation?” There are genuine loopholes, yet data shows they are not the main story.

• The “creamy layer” income cap for Other Backward Classes stood at ₹8 lakh yearly and was raised to ₹8.5 lakh in 2023. That rule already bars many wealthy OBC families.
• Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories are exempt from the income filter because discrimination against them does not vanish with salary. Housing societies still reject them, caste based slurs still fly in classrooms, and marriage pools stay closed.
• According to AISHE 2021, less than two percent of SC or ST students in higher education have parents who are Group A officers or in the top income slab.

So yes, a few privileged families slip through, but painting the entire policy as hand-outs for the rich ignores the remaining ninety eight percent rural and small-town aspirants.

Ideas That Could Plug Leaks Without Burning the House

• Introduce a “one generation cool-off” for families where a parent already reached Group A through reservation.
• Mandate digitised, tamper-proof caste certificates linked to Aadhaar to curb fraud.
• Publish annual diversity audits by institution to track who benefits and who does not.

Such tweaks improve fairness while keeping the core principle intact.

Building a Fairer System for Everyone

Reservation alone will never solve the scarcity mindset that breeds resentment. Seats feel stolen only because supply is tiny and demand is huge. Three moves can change the narrative for all communities.

1. Fix school quality
   The Annual Status of Education Report 2022 says half of Class V children in rural India cannot read a Class II text. Better teachers, free remedial classes, and midday meals proven to raise attendance will shrink the achievement gap long before entrance exams.
2. Make coaching public and free
   Kota’s coaching industry earns over ₹10,000 crore a year. Delhi’s Mukhyamantri Super 30 for underprivileged IIT aspirants achieved a seventy percent success rate in 2023. Scale that model nationally so test prep stops being a wallet contest.
3. Expand the pie
   The last All India Council for Technical Education count showed fifty two percent of engineering seats lay vacant in 2022. Yet top institutes remain few. Upgrading tier-2 colleges and opening more quality public universities would calm the scramble for a limited set of “golden” badges.

Snapshot of How Investment Changes Outcomes

When the base is strong, even the loudest critic finds less to complain about reservation at higher levels, because differences in entry marks begin to disappear.

FAQ

Why does India still need reservation when some SC and ST families are now rich?

Caste bias continues beyond income. Studies by IIM Bangalore in 2020 found that applicants with Dalit surnames received fifty percent fewer interview calls even with identical CVs. Wealth cannot mask a last name.

Is reservation at postgraduate level fair?

Yes. Representation in the classroom influences research questions, curriculum design, and future faculty hiring. Diversity at every academic tier benefits learning for all students.

Does reservation lower the quality of institutions?

Multiple analyses, including IIT Delhi’s 2018 review, show that academic performance gaps narrow over time. Graduating CGPA differences were statistically insignificant. Quality is preserved.

Could an income or asset test be applied to SC and ST like the creamy layer for OBC?

Parliament can debate it, but social scientists caution that discrimination against these groups is not purely economic. A two part filter (income plus documented absence of caste bias) is hard to design in practice.

What is the share of seats reserved in central educational institutions?

Currently fifty percent if we add SC, ST, OBC and EWS. That still leaves half the seats open to any candidate on pure rank.

Are general category poor students ignored?

The EWS quota addresses economic hardship regardless of caste. In addition, many state scholarships target poverty directly.

Do reserved seats remain vacant because candidates are few?

For most marquee institutes they fill up quickly. Vacancies occur in some postgraduate science courses, usually due to limited applicant awareness. Better outreach is the answer, not scrapping the quota.

Why not simply improve primary education and end reservation?

We should improve primary education, yet structural barriers will not vanish overnight. Reservation and school reform are twin tracks, not either or options.

Conclusion

Reservation is not about charity but about fair competition after centuries of head starts and closed doors. Share this article if the data surprised you, and drop your thoughts or questions in the comments so we can keep the conversation grounded in facts and empathy.