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Context  - The Supreme Court has allowed OBC reservation for Madhya Pradesh local body poll.

 

Details

• The Supreme Court has directed the implementation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in upcoming Madhya Pradesh Local polls.
• The Supreme Court has permitted the State Election Commission to notify the programme for the local bodies.

 

Reservation System in India

• The Reservation system is an arrangement of affirmative action where a certain percentage of seats are reserved in Public employment and educational institutions.
• In India, the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and socially and economically backward communities who were earlier poorly represented in the Public sector and educational institutions are now covered under the reservation facility.

• In India, about 60% of seats are reserved for various sections like ST, SC, OBC, and EWS in Government jobs and Higher Education Institutions.
  • 3% of seats are also reserved for differently-abled persons across all categories.
• The reservation policy is also enforced for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for representation in the Indian Parliament.
• The reservation issue has also remained a cause of conflict between the reserved and the non-reserved sections of society.

 

Arguments in the favor of Reservation System

• It ensures equality, by providing opportunities to people from backward classes.
• It promotes justice and human rights.
• Decreasing inequality by promoting economic opportunities for the lower section of Society.
• Correcting historical injustice
• Reservation provides a level playing field as it is challenging for people from backward sections that were historically deprived of education, skills, and wealth to all of a sudden start competing with those who had access to those resources for years.

 

Arguments against Reservation System

• It Promotes Casteism and creates division in our society, and also encourages caste-based Politics.
• Beneficiaries of reservation are mostly from the dominant class in backward castes. Thus, the marginalized section remains marginalized.
• Affects the productivity of an organization if unfit candidates get the opportunities.
• A reservation only provides a limited and short-term solution to historical injustice issues.
• Many deserving people from the upper castes are also affected by poverty and illiteracy.
• Reservation demands by various groups may cause social turmoil, such as during the Mandal Commission (1990).

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