Job Reservation has failed.

The Promise That Never Came.

Thirty three years ago India made a promise. Reservation would create transformational leaders from oppressed communities. The policy would break social barriers. It would produce role models for future generations.

The results are in. The promise failed completely.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Search for one prominent leader who rose to extraordinary heights after getting reservation post 1993. You cannot find anyone. Not one person who matches the stature of K.R. Narayanan or Ram Nath Kovind.

The policy helped maybe a million people in government jobs. India has 1.5 billion people who got jobs from reservation. That’s 0.067 percent of the population. In 33 years?

Even if we count family members affected, we’re talking about 5 million people maximum. Still less than half a percent of India’s population. This is the great revolution we celebrate.

Where Are the Leaders?

People who joined government service in 1996 to 2000 should be Chief Secretaries now. They had full careers under the expanded reservation system. Where are the towering figures among them?

The pre-Mandal era produced presidents and supreme court justices. The post-Mandal era produces bureaucrats who retire quietly. Something fundamental went wrong.

K.R. Narayanan joined the Foreign Service in 1949. Mata Prasad joined IAS in 1962. Both achieved greatness decades before Mandal judgment existed. The system that helped them got replaced by something that doesn’t work.

The Wrong People Got Help

Reservation was supposed to help the oppressed. Instead it helped influential caste families grab government jobs. The truly poor remained poor.

Rich families within OBC categories cornered all opportunities. They had the connections and knowledge to work the system. Poor families across all castes got nothing.

This wasn’t accidental. It was inevitable. Any system based on caste identity rather than individual need will be captured by the powerful within each caste.

Politics Killed Reform

Everyone talks about removing the creamy layer from reservations. Nobody does anything about it. The reason is simple. People who benefit make the policies.

No politician wants to anger influential families who grab reserved seats. Political survival depends on caste vote banks. Reform becomes impossible.

The system gets more entrenched every year. More castes demand inclusion. More quotas get created. The original purpose disappears completely.

Admission of Failure

The introduction of 10% reservation for economically weaker sections proves the original system failed. If caste based reservations worked, why do we need economic criteria now?

This new quota admits that wrong people got benefits for 33 years. Rich families within reserved categories took everything. Poor families across all castes got nothing.

The government essentially said the first system didn’t help the poor. So we need a second system for the poor. The logic is damning.

Creating New Divisions

Reservation was supposed to eliminate caste consciousness. Instead it strengthened caste identity. Communities now fight to get included in reservation lists.

Nobody talks about becoming casteless anymore. Everyone wants their caste recognized for quota benefits. The policy reinforced the very problem it claimed to solve.

Young people who might have ignored caste differences now identify strongly with caste groups. College admission forms ask for caste certificates. Job applications require community proof.

The Academic Cover Up

Researchers refuse to admit the policy failed. They find creative ways to show success where none exists. Academic dishonesty protects political convenience.

Studies count government job numbers without measuring actual impact. They celebrate increased representation without checking leadership quality. They ignore the absence of transformational figures.

When pressed for examples of post-1993 success stories, they name people who succeeded before 1993. When caught in this contradiction, they change the subject to broader social trends.

Digital India Changes Everything

The 1992 judgment fought 1970s battles in today’s world. Government jobs mattered most back then. Private sector was small and government dominated. Today’s India is completely different. Technology companies don’t care about caste certificates. Startups hire based on skills. Digital platforms create new opportunities daily.

A brilliant poor kid can learn coding online. They can build apps from their village. They don’t need government job quotas. They need internet access and quality education.

What Actually Works

K.R. Narayanan succeeded because B.R. Ambedkar helped him personally. Direct intervention by someone who cared. Individual attention to exceptional talent.

Mata Prasad succeeded because the early reservation system was small and targeted. It helped genuine cases without becoming a mass employment scheme.

Both rose in systems that rewarded merit after providing basic opportunity. They didn’t get lifelong protection from competition. They had to prove themselves repeatedly.

The Real Solution

Replace caste quotas with talent hunt scholarships. Help the genuinely poor regardless of caste. Use computer selection to eliminate human bias.

High school marks and poverty verification decide everything. No interviews where influence matters. No caste certificates that divide society.

Top performers get full scholarships. Others get concessional loans. Everyone competes on merit after getting basic support.

Why Change is Hard

Current beneficiaries will fight any reform. They have good government jobs and political power. They won’t give up their advantages easily. Politicians depend on caste vote banks. Changing the system means losing electoral support. Short term political costs outweigh long term national benefits. Academic establishment has invested decades defending the current system. Admitting failure means acknowledging professional dishonesty. Easier to keep making excuses.

The Opportunity Cost

India lost 33 years that could have been spent on real solutions. Brilliant poor children remained trapped in poverty while rich OBC families grabbed reserved seats.

The country could have had better leaders in every field. Instead we got mediocre bureaucrats who owe positions to birth certificates rather than ability.

Other countries moved ahead while India managed caste politics. We became experts at division instead of excellence.

Time for Truth

The reservation experiment failed by its own standards. It didn’t create transformational leaders. It didn’t eliminate caste consciousness. It didn’t help the genuinely oppressed.

Continuing failed policies because of political convenience is national self harm. India deserves better than managing decline through creative statistics.

The evidence is clear for anyone willing to see it. Zero major leaders produced by 33 years of expanded reservations. The number speaks louder than any academic defense.

Change requires admitting failure first. Only then can better solutions emerge.