Reservation Policy in Tamil Nadu

The reservation policy in India is one of the most hot topics which touches very Indian citizen. People of every generation is affected by one way or other by this policy. We all heard all spectrum of arguments from strong advocate to strong opposer.

In this article I am going to limit myself to Reservation Policy of Tamil Nadu which is my state. The reservation policy of Tamil Nadu is unique compared to the other parts of India. Being the student of maths and science, and as an engineer by profession, I rely on data than hypothetical argument (aka fallacy argument).

There are various proposals, how the reservation should be done and in most cases everyone advocates what is best for them ignoring the society (tamils) as a variable in their equation. Based on the available data from TN gov website, the total population of tamil nadu and reservation percentage is as follows -

* Category (% population) (%reservation)
* BC (46.14%) (30%)
* MBC (20.87%) (20%)
* Scheduled Classes(19%) (18%)
* Scheduled Tribes(1.04%) (1%)
* Others(12.95%) ----

From the above table, confirmed 69% of reservation is allocated to 87.05% of the population and 31% is shared by 100% of the population. Now to justify population ratio to available reservation there should be 1:1 match.

For BC - 30% confirmed and need to grab 16.14% from 31% common pool
For MBC - 20% confirmed and need to grab 0.87% from 31% common pool
For SC - 18% confirmed and need to grab 1% from 31% common pool
For ST - 1% confirmed and need to grab 0.04% from 31% common pool
For OC - 0% confirmed and need to grab 12.95% from 31% common pool

From the above details, it is very clear the loosers of this reservation policy is BC and not OC! as we hear from the media which is controlled by vested interest groups. On the other hand, the biggest beneficiary is ST and MBC and not even SC!

Of course this is just one part of the equation. There is a possibility that the BC could capture all of 31% or MBC could capture all of 31% or SC could capture all of 31% or ST could capture all of 31% or some combinations of these. But the problem is, nobody views OC as really OC. For example, when a BC student grabs enough mark to be in OC, depending on who is taking the decision, he may be put in BC or OC. This gets even skewed when OC cutoff is less than BC cutoff then every BC should come under OC!

Original BC quota of 50% for 70% of the population is split as 30% for BC population and 20% for MBC population. Again the entire BC community lost a big time when the law was passed.

How do we as backward classes get back the lost share?

* Continue to grab biggest of the pie from 31%.
* Never let this 31% go down from OC
* Whenever any BC is eligible as a OC, move to OC and please dont occupy BC quota
* Whenever any BC community wants to move to MBC please encourage them to do so. In other words try to bring BC population to reservation % as close to 1:1
* Dont accept any increase in BC population by accepting new groups inside.

Rather than complaining, we need to have major political representation what they have for MBC to serve the best interest of BC community in order for our children and grand children to continue to enjoy the resources we are entitled to.