Hi - Share some of your thoughts on the ongoing reservation issue in India. My views are:

Leaving aside political issues, there has always been an economic rationale behind reservation. Historically, the people belonging to the lower castes were denied, apart from their social status as fellow human beings, some critical economic rights. They were involved in mundane and routine jobs for which they were paid mostly in kind – they earned only that which they could consume, mostly within the same day. They did not have assets such as land that could go as material capital nor did they have an education which could go as human capital, which they could invest and reap benefits for themselves. Since they consumed their earnings within days, they lacked savings that could purchase them other assets. In short, “households did not own their economic lives”.
Hence the concept of reserving
a. some jobs,
b. some seats in educational institutions,
c. some amount of total capital formation in the economy

and such other measures that would “set them free” on an economic path of their choice. The fact that these were reserved implies the basic economic truth – there is a limited supply of those that are reserved. This was also the logic behind the suggestion that any reservation must be within a timeframe, as once a household is set free, it is no more oppressed. It may be recalled that the Constitutional Committee, when it formed the reservation policy, it suggested withdrawal of all such policies after 25 years. The same economic logic that proposes the reservation policy argues for a timeframe or at least a ‘creamy layer’ policy.