Reservations: the shortcut to nowhere

"Great nations are built by political leaders providing a vision, moral leadership and role model for the young generation and an honesty of purpose. I was brought up with these ideas in a middle-class household in UP, which, following the call by Mahatma Gandhi, had given up their caste names and vowed to not use this affiliation for personal advancement. It was more than 40 years ago when my father could not recognise my name in the list of successful candidates for the All India Merit Scholarship for Public Schools, because I fancied my last name as Kumar, instead of my father’s, Prakash. So much did caste mean to me as a 12-year-old. What has happened to take us back more than four decades in this field? Why have we not remained true to the commitment of our constitutional fathers and to the values of the Mahatma and Nehru, who saw reservations as a short and transitory phenomenon, which would become redundant with a greater and more effective public delivery of education that would level the playing field?" [Read the complete article]

* The first paragraph of the original artical is taken from The Financial Express for the purpose of sharing the facts.