CHENNAI: Speakers, at a meeting on the quota issue, have stressed the importance of continuing reservation for the Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes/Tribes.

They said reservation was an integral part of the concept of social justice, and it was meant to uplift the vulnerable sections, which were denied opportunities for years together to progress.

Addressing a meeting, called by Tamil Maiyam and Karuthu, S. Peter Alphonse, whip of the Congress Legislature Party, defending the caste-based reservation system, said that given the circumstances, caste was the correct basis. In the State, the system was being implemented for 85 years. "In what way have the standards gone down here?" he wondered.

In the last year's Common Entrance Test, 300 students belonging to the BCs and SCs got admission under the general category, he said to drive home his point.

M. Naganathan, vice-chairperson, State Planning Commission, who contested unsuccessfully from Triplicane on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ticket, said that as inequality was the reality, reservation was one way to eliminate it. Despite some deficiencies, Tamil Nadu was a front-runner in nurturing social justice. The Constitution provides for the quota system; so, any protest against it was unconstitutional.

Thol. Thirumavalavan, general secretary, Viduthalai Chirthaigal Katchi (Dalit Panthers of India), said the agitation against the Centre's move to reserve 27 per cent of seats for the Other Backward Classes in higher educational institutions was against social justice. If reservation had been implemented honestly all these years, there would not have been any section called the Scheduled Castes.

D. Ravikumar, a DPI legislator, said the State's record in social justice was not so good as it was made out to be.

Karthi P. Chidambaram, convenor of Karuthu, said he favoured elimination of the "creamy layer," but before taking any decision, proper data should be compiled.

Kanimozhi, another convenor, disapproved of removal of the creamy layer, arguing that just because some sections had enjoyed reservation for one or two generations, this did not result in any change in their social status. Members of the audience wanted political parties to address issues, including reservation within reservation for the "worse-off" among the communities covered under the quota system, and restricting the benefits of reservation to two persons in a family.

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