The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) on Tuesday called for a debate on reservation based on deprivation even as it sought to underscore the need to expand public sector education and jobs.
Condemning the Narendra Modi government’s “jumla of reservation” after “destroying education and jobs in India” the NSUI, in a statement, argued that the proposed Constitutional Amendment “betrays incompetence and cynicism”.
“The NSUI strongly believes that it is the role of the government to ensure that all young people have access to quality and affordable education, and that young people are mainstreamed economically (jobs) and politically,” the statement read.
“We condemn the Modi government’s desperate attempt to distract Indian youth by implementing an ill-thought and ill-advised 10% reservation for EWS with annual income of ₹8 lakh per annum,” the statement said further.
The NSUI said it was important to debate reservation based on deprivation. While SC/ST reservation was intended to correct under-representation in the structure of governance, administration and access to education due to the “gross discrimination created by the caste system” it was “not intended as a measure for poverty alleviation”, stated the student body.
‘Other better variables’
The NSUI said it believes there were “other better variables” to address deprivation than income alone and has been working with first-generation students (first in their family to go to college) revealing that this group of students faced “significant academic, social and economic constraints” limiting their ability to pursue education.
“If the purpose of the reservation is under-representation due to economic deprivation, then EWS category of ₹8 lakh/year is another Modi jumla, considering that 93% of homes have annual household income below ₹2.5 lakh... Similarly, our work with students of government schools shows that these students are likely to suffer from multiple deprivations, not just economic,” it argued.
The NSUI also questioned the timing of the proposed amendment in addition to arguing that reservation was not intended, and cannot solve, access to quality higher education and the jobs crisis confronting the youth.
“Reservation was intended to address social and educational backwardness caused by the caste system. Unless we expand the size of the education sector and absolute number of jobs generated, this method of carving out small portions of reservations from an already shrinking pie will only increase conflict among various citizen and social groups,” it added.