he Supreme Court verdict approving the OBC quota and the questions raised by the apex court regarding the effectiveness of reservations reminded me of an old story. Once, the chief minister of a Maharaja went to the Diwan and said," His Highness has sent 25 people to be employed in the government departments. But, I know that they are not fit for the job. What should I do?" The Diwan thought for some time and then replied," We cannot displease the Maharaja. Therefore, we have to employ all of them. But, to carry out the Government jobs, we can appoint efficient and capable people from outside." Similarly, The government has decided to create more seats in the Institutes for Higher Education for accommodating the under-achievers as per the new rule and keep the existing positions for the meritorious. Few days back, there was a report in the media saying that the IIMs and IITs have lost their prime place in the global educational sphere. The Supreme Court verdict, though will be welcomed by all those leaders who are eying the vote banks, will be a severe disappointment to people who are really concerned about the standard of education in the country. Despite more than 55 years of reservation, if the OBCs and other reserved categories are unable to improve their educational standards to match the purely meritorious category, what use is prolonged reservation for them? If the intention is to really improve social status of the deprived, reservation should be limited to the first
