One of the unique constructs of the Indian society today is the provision of reservations for less priviledged castes in the social caste hierarchy. A lot has been written and spoken about the pros and cons of reservation since the independence in 1947. The goal of this post is to not add to that discussion but start moving towards solutions. Again, many drastic solutions have been proposed including doing away with reservation altogether or bringing reservation in the private sector. Such solutions may not be practical or may be a suicide mission for any government if they were able to and/or tried to implement them. One example of this was the 2024 general elections in India. The ruling dispensation campaigned on the plank of getting more than 2/3rd majority while the opposition quickly latched onto it saying that the government wants to change the constitution and remove reservations with this 2/3rd majority. The mere mention of this may have been one of the reasons why the government lost its majority and had to rely on coalition partners to return to power. So, however much discussion is there, unless the solutions are practical and agreeable by the vast majority of the population, this issue will keep dividing us and we cannot move ahead as a country.

So let’s start with one core issue with reservations which may have an impact on people’s lives. It should be agreeable to everyone that reservation should not be absolute when it can impact human lives. I have heard about cases where candidates having zero or even negative scores have passed the exams due to reservations. In fields like medicine, civil engineering, railways and aviation, government services, civil services, to name a few, it is absolutely critical to not have people who scored zero in their exams and got their qualifications just based on the caste in which they were born because they are eventually going to have a significant impact on human lives. Lowering the competency standards for such professions may in worst case get people killed which is absolutely unacceptable. Human life should always be a priority over human equity.

The easiest solution that could be implemented in the current status quo is simply this. Every examination, be it a written / online exam, job interview or any other assessment needs to have a minimum cut-off irrespective of reservation. The cut-off should be based on competency requirement and not on the availability of seats / positions. Let’s consider an example. We as a society should agree that anything related to the medical field should have a 50% passing criteria irrespective of the level, assessment type and reservation. As a patient visiting a hospital, I should be assured that the doctor and the support staff that is treating me has achieved at least the nationally accepted passing criteria in all their examinations to reach this position.

The exact passing criteria can be decided by the competent agencies or authorities at each level in every field but it should be applicable throughout the country. Furthermore, in order to avoid discriminating based on the amount of impact that the field has on human lives, this passing cut-off should be applicable to each and every examination / assessment that is conducted in the country. Finally, if there are reserved seats left after applying this cut-off, they should be allocated to either the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota or otherwise as decided by the competent authorities. In no situation, should a person having a score lower than the cut-off be passing the assessment. If any person, whether from a reserved category or not, is not able to achieve the passing cut-off, can be given additional attempts just like the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) or Chartered Accountant (CA) examinations. But lowering the competency requirements for social equity should be a big NO! This should not be controversial and should be agreeable by the majority of the society.

Let’s get on the same page on this specific requirement so that some of the basic complaints about the reservation system are reduced and we can move forward as a united society towards a better future for the citizens of India.