Indian reservation policy - a study of its effects in IIM Bangalore

Abstract

Our study on reservation began in the backdrop of an important event in Indian history. The UPA Government proposed a bill to reserve 27 % seats in premier government institutions for students of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. This reservation is over and above the 22.5 % presently reserved for students of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories. The announcement from the government was followed by widespread protests by students and proponents of anti-reservation all over the country. A literature survey about reservation in India brings forth strong arguments both for and against reservations. However, there is not much literature available which analyses the reservation issue objectively and holistically. Besides, many of their arguments are based on perceptions rather than actual ground work. Thus the arguments though logical, may not reflect the ground realities. It is these perceptions that are influencing key government policies on the reservation issue and are going to affect educational institutes like the IIMs. An analysis of an increase in reservation in IIM Bangalore can take place only after studying the impact of reservation already in place. With this approach in mind, we embarked on a qualitative as well as empirical study to understand the effect of the government policy of reservation of seats for SC/ ST category students in IIM Bangalore. More specifically, we endeavored to study three lines of thought as the scope of our project: • Effects of reservation in uplifting the SC/ ST community • Effects of reservation on the quality of students joining IIM Bangalore • Role of IIM Bangalore in training students of reserved category

Reservation, being an issue which affects multiple sections of society, an analysis of the reservation issue will be incomplete without an understanding of the ground realities. Even in the 21st century large parts of India are still plagued by caste discrimination and the resultant atrocities such as untouchability and exploitation. There is a need to uplift the affected section of the population through effective affirmative action. The Indian government has since independence used reservation as an instrument of affirmative action. We conducted our analysis by collecting data from multiple sources. Our primary data was collected from the records maintained by the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) Office in IIM Bangalore. The data comprised category wise information about candidates admitted into IIM Bangalore in the period of 4 years from 1998- 2001. This included information regarding the academic record, place of birth, hometown, family annual income and details of work experience. In addition to this, we used information that the institute had given to applications filed under the Right to Information Act in IIM Bangalore. There two were used to conduct a majority of our quantitative analysis. However, we felt that any quantitative finding would not be significant if we are not able to qualitatively understand the reasons behind the numbers. For this purpose we both interviewed and administered questionnaires to 26 reserved category students (both male and female) from the batches presently studying in IIM Bangalore. To get a different perspective of the issue we also spoke to faculty members in the campus who have been interested or involved in the implementation of the reservation policy in IIM Bangalore.Through this study we expect to put across a balanced view of the reservation issue with arguments backed by sound logic and data. We would proceed further to evaluate the effectiveness of the reservation policy as an affirmative action along the lines of the three objectives mentioned earlier. Finally, based on our interactions with students and faculty we would like to suggest ways in which we can implement the reservation policy more effectively in IIM Bangalore.