Page 416 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition
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Section 3
National Issues
RESERVATION IN INDIA
History of the Reservation System
Social reservation in the Indian subcontinent is an age-old traditional system
sometimes mentioned as equivalent to apartheid. Every person’s occupation
or job status was fixed by birth. Not only that, even who will get education or
not, who will live where, who will be allowed to avail social amenities or not
was also determined by birth. The British understood this psyche very well
and gave it a legal and constitutional acknowledgement.
The present reservation system has a long history and has been debated
before and after Indian independence from the British in 1947. Reservations
in favour of Backward Classes (BCs) were introduced long before
Independence in a large area, comprising the Presidency areas and the
princely states south of the Vindhyas. In 1882, the Hunter Commission was
appointed. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule made a demand for free and compulsory
education for everyone along with proportionate reservation in government
jobs. In 1891, there was a demand for reservation of government jobs with an
agitation (in the princely state of Travancore) against the recruitment of non-
natives into public service overlooking qualified native people. In 1901,
