In the recent years, a lot of criticism against reservation has been heard, especially from the youth of the country, who claim that reservation on the basis of caste is discriminatory in nature and deprives them of equal opportunities in the field of education as well as jobs. They have said that reservations based on earnings and income would be fairer, however the question that needs to be asked is that whether something like that is even possible in a diverse country like India?
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The first step would be to retake the census with income as a parameter
The first step in such an endeavor would be to retake the census of the country with the income as the main parameter instead of the caste or religion. These things should not be given much importance from an economic and planning point of view. After the census has been conducted, the number of people who need reservation due to low incomes should be calculated and an appropriate plan should be formulated for the same.
After the planning, the execution should be proper
After the planning phase has been completed, it’s time for the execution. First, all existing caste based reservations should be eliminated. Then, the social welfare and public development departments should be cleansed and all corrupt officers must be fired. This is to ensure that people will not fake their incomes or brie officers to gain the benefits of reservation. This is a fairly common practice nowadays, wherein many people bribe officers to get a SC/ST certificate that will give them better opportunities in education and government jobs. To ensure that this does not happen, the District Collectors have to be given the responsibility to make sure all corrupt officers are fired and honest ones and given jobs. Only then will this model of reservation be successful.
So, as shown above, income based reservations are possible, but it requires planning and perfect execution to the last level, something that is not very easy in a large and diverse country like India without the cooperation of the executive and above all, the general public.