The cry of "Reservation Hatao" (remove reservation) has become a staple of modern social discourse, often shouted with the conviction that we are finally ready for a "pure" meritocracy. It is framed as a simple matter of fairness—a plea to move past old divisions and let everyone compete on an equal footing. However, this debate consistently overlooks the fundamental difference between a finish line and a starting line. To understand why reservation exists, we must look past the slogans and examine what it actually means to "start equal" in a society where the machinery of caste exclusion has not paused for a single day in 75 years. Truth 1: Merit is a Resource, Not a Trait The most common argument against reservation is that it compromises "merit" by allowing "unqualified" individuals into institutions, supposedly lowering standards. This perspective treats merit as a neutral, inherent quality that exists in a vacuum. In reality, w...
By Chuppala Nagesh Bhushan There's a growing chorus today insisting it's time to "remove" reservation — that caste-based affirmative action has run its course, that merit is being sacrificed, that upper castes are now the ones facing discrimination. It's a seductive narrative. It's also a convenient one. And it collapses the moment you ask a simple question: has caste actually disappeared from Indian society, or has it just gone quiet in polite company? A System Built on Exclusion, Not a Gift Reservation was never charity. It was a corrective measure — a response to a social order that, for thousands of years, decided who could enter a school, who could own land, who could enter a temple, and who could draw water from a village well, based purely on the accident of birth. When critics call reservation "reverse discrimination," they are asking us to forget the original discrimination it exists to answer. Seventy-five years of reservation is bein...