Bangladesh is in mess. Massive protests are going on. More than hundred people have died during protests. Protest by students triggered following their governments decision to reserve 30 percent of government jobs for the families of those who fought the 1971 war. Finally, the highest court of that country had to intervene and scale back the new job quota.
Reservation in government jobs has all along been a controversial issue here in Jammu and Kashmir and the entire nation of India. Here in Jammu and Kashmir the list of the reserved categories stretches day by day and more and more areas and people are brought under the benign shadow of ‘special categories’ at the expense of those who really deserve what is being offered and made available only to a small portion of population. From day-one the system of reservations has proved a big nuisance even though the measure was well-intentioned when it was conceived. In order to equip unprivileged classes for improvement in their lot, reservation, if anything, serves as a short-cut method. It may no doubt yield some results in terms of speedy development, self-sufficiency and self-reliance of underprivileged classes, but at the same time, it also undercuts the chances of normal growth of those who do not belong to any of the “privileged categories”.
Most often the people who got benefited from being a subject of a special class, category or area leave their place of birth, even their class and community, thus defeating the purpose of the reservation completely and making enough strong the cause of those who have time and again been voicing concerns against this discrimination in a society that does not have big enough differences among its subjects. One can cite numerous such examples wherein the ghost of reservation has crossed its boundaries and is taking away the share of those unfortunate souls who find themselves as being “officially” forward section of the society even if they starve after getting degrees from prestigious universities and institutes. Nobody is against the progress and development of any particular class or community of people. But doing so at the back of reservations is not fair, at least not to those who do not have the privilege of falling under any reserved category in terms of ethnicity, social standing or geography. Even as doing away with the system of reservations may not be an easy decision for any government, but then something needs to be done for sure, because the continuing the process in its present form is hurting a huge chunk of people by confusing their basic needs, which is a sure recipe for disaster.
