Some time back, teachers and alumni of Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College came out in protest against a decision of the college’s Supreme Council to reserve 40 per cent of first-year undergraduate seats for boys to reverse the gender “imbalance” of its student community. It was heartening to see academicians, civil society and even politicians speaking out against a reservation policy.

The main strength of the premier education institutions in India, like AIIMS, IIMs and IITs lies in their highly selective and robust admission processes but their reservation policy results in an inefficiency as candidates lower on the merit list get selected at the cost of those higher on the list.

On the other hand, efficiency cannot be the only purpose of an organisation or even a process. The goal of these institutions is probably not just to produce the brightest (I am assuming that entry behaviour will impact that goal) but also to participate in the development of the country and the region. So, if there is a significant positive impact as a result of reservations, then the inefficiency is a small price to pay. However, we should not make the mistake of looking at reservation in terms of its rationales and goals rather than its actual consequences. So far, there has been no move to measure the extent to which underprivileged communities have benefited from reservations.

There is a strong case for solely economic criteria as the basis for reservation. The economic criteria applied should be fair, robust and transparent and should not be easy to misuse (through false certificates, etc).

A problem may occur when other elements like race, religion, caste or region, are introduced as a consideration for reservation.

Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study, looked at reservation policies around the world including India. He has demonstrated how the benefits of reservation are always cornered by the ‘upper crust’.

What it means to say is that Jagjivan Ram may be justified in taking the advantage of reservations, but there is little justification for Meira Kumar take advantage of it too. There is certainly no case for her daughter to have got admission to medical college through reservation. Similarly, should the son of a tribal IAS officer, MLA or Minister, get the advantage of reservation, thus depriving a tribal kid still tending to goats in his village?

Meenas are another example of the upper crust. Meenas get the benefit of reservations but historically a section of them have been upper caste kshatriyas with all the advantages of education and assets. Brahmans perform all their rituals, just like in the case of all upper caste Hindus. As a result or reservation, they have cornered a large proportion of reserved jobs and other ‘reserved’ benefits and are now a political and economic force to reckon with, as the Jats found out to their misery.

Reservations on regional considerations can be a step in the wrong direction. It results in a false sense of entitlement. Ultimately it can lead to misplaced regional loyalties and events like those that led to Hindi teachers being burnt up in TN and Biharis being targeted in Mumbai. We have seen some effect in several educational campuses too. Every year there are clashes reported between local and out-station students which peak during elections to various student bodies.

One of the most cited reservation policies in the developed world is the affirmative action policy in the US where African American and Latinos are given preference in college admissions and even jobs. Results show that the benefits of affirmative action are limited and do not percolate to the community as a whole. Policy makers are now mooting for alternate approaches centred on improving basic social infrastructure. Many US states, including California and Michigan, have made amendments to remove affirmative action.

Incidentally, when Singapore ceded from Malaysia, one of their fears was the effect of the Malaysian Bhumiputra reservation policy.

I must add that I have no ill feeling towards anyone who takes advantage of the reservation policy. If I could, I would too. Some of my closest friends and some of my favourite students belong to the reserved categories. My issue is with the policy per se.