Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Reservation issue

The Government's criticism of the Supreme Court verdict abolishing reservation in private colleges, far from being a confrontation with the judiciary, was a reaction to a verdict that will have far-reaching consequences. Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti should have taken the criticism as a natural reaction of the affected parties and ignored it.

K.A.S. Ali,
Chennai

Without any debate or a search for innovative solutions, politicians continue to take shelter behind the social justice argument. No attempt has been made to evolve a mechanism for monitoring the benefits of reservation. One fails to understand why, despite being a free, democratic nation, we have silently sacrificed a debate on such an important issue.

S. Balasubramanian,
Chennai

One is reminded of the saying that politicians worry about the next election whereas statesmen worry about the next generation.

S. Mohan,
Chennai

Justice Lahoti's reaction is not exaggerated. A Bench of seven learned judges gave a unanimous verdict that freedom should be given to self-financing professional colleges to select candidates on merit. Parliament might have felt compelled to criticise the verdict because it is swayed by political expediency. The Court need not take it.

A.K. Tharien,
Oddanchatram, T.N.

The article "Extend reservation to those who need it most" (Open Page, Aug. 28) says only reservation based on economic status can make the working class the ruling class. No amount of urbanisation and education has obliterated the caste system in India. Economic conditions may change but social status remains the same. It is social backwardness that has led to economic backwardness and not vice versa. Caste-based reservation is the only panacea for the backward classes.

T. Marx,
Karaikal, Pondicherry

Though economic status should be the primary criterion for reservation, we cannot afford to abandon caste-based reservation. People are still discriminated against on the basis of caste. Until their oppressors abandon this abominable system, a holistic approach to social justice demands that caste be a factor in reservation.

Rohit Chhiber,
Jaipur

Reservation has created a creamy layer among the SCs, the STs and the OBCs. It is always the children of the employed, financially well off (and hence socially well off) who get a share of the pie. This is bound to continue for generations with politicians continuing to insist that the plight of the SCs, the STs and the OBCs is pathetic. Self-lapsing reservation to the economically weaker sections is the only way out.

Thomas Mathew,
Erode, T.N.

It is time caste-based reservation was given a decent burial. There should be no criterion other than the economic consideration for reservation.

R. Venkataraman,
Mumbai

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