OBC Reservations in India

I am not against reservations, but at the same time I am against the way they are being implemented.  I am against the way reservations became a vital card in the politics of India.  I am against the criteria used to give reservations… I am against the current system of reservations and not the reservations as a whole.

The current system:

1. Reservations are based on caste - I agree that in rural India, the caste a person belongs to almost everytime also speaks about his economic conditions, but its still very wrong to say that all the forward caste people can afford good education and that caste is the only feasible criteria to implement reservations!  Reservations by caste only propogates casteism and delays the process of achieving a caste-free society.
2. Ever increasing - When the reservations were first proposed, there was a plan to eliminate them gradually.  Politicians or the few ill-minded people never let it happen.  Moreover, new ways to increase reservations are being discovered, mostly aimed at gaining some political mileage and not with the aim of helping someone.  Reservations need an elimination plan.
3. The richer get richer - Those who took advantage of reservations once, take advantage of them again and again.  How many people in rural India (those who actually need facilities and help) know about reservations at all?  I know people who have studied in the same school as I did, enjoyed all the facilities I did but still had the benefits of reservation!
4. Wrong place - Is reserving seats in the graduate and post-graduate colleges the best form of support?  Should that not go to lower levels?  If a person is not educated enough to fly a plane, you can’t recruit him to fly a plane just becuase you have already recruited 5 people and the next 5 should be from OBC, SC or ST.  Necessary qualification is always a must!  The right way to address the problem is to act at lower levels - but such things do not carry as much visibility as the reservations do… hence, not enough motivation for the leaders to do it!

Well, there are more and more reasons for me not liking the current system and I only highlighted the important few (by my list).  I will support reservations when

1. There is a proper elimination plan.  If any one  among the parents took advantage of reservations their children should not be allowed to claim reservations.  That does include the grand children when grand parents used the reservations.
2. Economic conditions - I am very much against the caste based system.  Reservation based on economic conditions would help reservations reach the people who need it and would also help maintain a balance between the rich and the poor.
3. Government should concentrate on better facilities at lower levels.  I and many others would not mind paying multiples of the education cess that we currently pay!

Well, all that is my opinion.  I also started hating congress for all the political steps being taken.  Congress looks desperate to stay in power and not to serve the people.