Reservations In India

If India has emerge as a prominent economic power in the 21st centaury, the SCs, the STs, the OBCs and other minorities have to be equally equipped as any sector of the society. A holistic approach recognising diversity in the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multilingual society like ours can be entrusted to ensure nondiscrimination and equal access to opportunities. Reservation' although an effective measure can be taken as variety of measures designed to end the oppressive discrimination. A level playing field has to be created to not only facilitate empowerment for downtrodden but also social harmony for all in the segments. This book has been organized into twelve chapters and delves deep into the problem of social inequality and protective discrimination as a remedy to the profound evil existin in our society.

Caste-based reservations have existed in India for more than a century. Initially introduced by the British to bring about equal of opportunity in education, reservation was later extended to other sectors of the development process to overcome the economic inequalities attributed to caste. Even today, concepts like affirmative action and quotas are being debated to justify reservation. Caste-based Reservations and Human Development in India comprehensively analyses the impact of such reservations on the target groups, as well as on major human development indices, taking into consideration time series data. An alternative strategy of applying the democratic principle of caste-based reservation is also discussed.

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How China's political model could prove to be a viable alternative to Western democracy Westerners tend to divide the political world into "good" democracies and “bad” authoritarian regimes. But the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has evolved a political system that can best be described as “political meritocracy.” The China Model seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of this unique political system. How do the ideals of political meritocracy set the standard for evaluating political progress (and regress) in China? How can China avoid the disadvantages of political meritocracy? And how can political meritocracy best be combined with democracy? Daniel Bell answers these questions and more. Opening with a critique of “one person, one vote” as a way of choosing top leaders, Bell argues that Chinese-style political meritocracy can help to remedy the key flaws of electoral democracy. He discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy, distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable. Bell summarizes and evaluates the “China model”—meritocracy at the top, experimentation in the middle, and democracy at the bottom—and its implications for the rest of the world. A timely and original book that will stir up interest and debate, The China Model looks at a political system that not only has had a long history in China, but could prove to be the most important political development of the twenty-first century.

India runs the world`s oldest and one of the most comprehensive affirmative action policies in the form of reservations or quotas for its disadvantaged sections. Ever since its adaptation, this critical public policy remains the most controversial and polarising public policy that the Independent India has adopted as yet. While much of the national preoccupation over reservation have been devoted to debate its necessity and relevance in addressing exclusion and inequality, the country still seems to lack a data-based understanding of its enforcement across different domains. How earnestly state and its agencies have enforced the reservation policies? We know less about the trends of implementation in different domains and how or what percentage of population among these social groups have benefited from it. Fact is there are very few credible research studies on the issue of affirmative policies in India. This publication is an attempt to fill some of the void by compiling data on key domains of reservation policy apart from flagging crucial issues relating to linkages among the three key domains of reservations, namely, higher education, employment, and political representation. A comparison of all three domains in terms of implementation of reservation policies, across different time periods (e.g., pre- and post-Mandal phases) and among different regions, provides useful insights about these linkages. In doing so, the work throws some critical insights on the processes at work, and identifies areas for further research.