I have always been in favor of reservations, but reservations based not on caste, religion or ethnicity, but on such factors as socio-economic background, learning disability, physical disability, and other similar factors. A person with such background and disability could be from any caste, religion or ethnicity, and thus these criteria, which have a higher degree of rationality, can be universally and justly applied; on the other hand, there is no convincing and rational justification for reservations based on caste, religion and ethnicity, for a person belonging to a particular social group might be from an affluent family, and thus may not be in need of a reservation, or he might be competent enough , both mentally and physically, to find his way out in life without much struggle. Moreover, reservations simply based on caste, religion or ethnicity, whether in private or public sector, create rift among the members of a society, resulting in caste and religion based politics that is detrimental to the growth and development of an organization or the unity of the nation.
I do partially agree with the statement given above, but the statement is universal and does not speak much on what kind of reservations for what kind of work, or reservations based on what factors. I would be pleased to see, in private organizations, reservations for a particular kind of work, a kind of work in which the physical makeup or the mental aptitude of the persona does not matter much. For such work and vacancies, private organizations should give a chance to individuals who are from the under-represented caste or communities; but, for work that needs a certain kind of physical makeup or specific mental aptitude, I would not recommend reservations of any kind. For instance, can we imagine reservations for the physically handicapped in the armed forces? No, we cannot because such a scheme would defeat the very purpose for which the armed forces are meant! Similarly, I would not recommend reservations for a kind of work that needs greater degree of mental aptitude, because such a reservation scheme would supersede the inherent skills that the work demands.
The kind of reservations discussed in the above paragraph should be there in both public and private sector, because I firmly believe that both the state and the citizens of that state are responsible for the socio-economic of the people of that state. So, it would be absurd to say that the upliftment of the downtrodden and the under-represented people of any social or religious group is the business of the state and not of the private bodies; they are equally responsible, and must conscientiously carry out this responsibility.
We must remember that though making profits is the primary goal of all private organizations, the social responsibility of creating a better society is tied to that goal.
And any scheme or design that helps the private organizations in creating a better tomorrow, without doing any harm to its primary goal, would go a long way in improving the life of the citizens of this world.
Thus reservations in private organizations for the right job and for the right kind of people would indeed be a wise thing, a step that would be welcomed by people of all sections of society.
