Socio-Economic Significance of Reservation

Caste system with its inhuman practices has been with us for the last two thousand years. It has shaped thefate of millions of people. The caste system gives different experiences to different people. It gives someonepride and happiness but to someone it gives utmost pain and shame. If one experiences pain or joy out of thecaste system, depends upon where he or she belongs to the social hierarchy of the caste system. The castesystem has divided Indian community into thousands of castes which are living in closed social ghettoswithout having any meaningful social contact and dialogue among them. India’s independence andtransition to a democratic republic from a slave dominion of the British Empire, under a constitution is, in away, a declared war against the caste system too. In this broad perspective the author analyses the socioeconomic importance of reservation to scheduled caste population in India.