By Ramachandran Rajeev Kumar — 2025-12-25

Bharath Manthan - Episode 4

By Ramachandran Rajeev Kumar

The Betrayal of Ambedkar

Let us begin with an inconvenient truth that no politician will tell you.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India's Constitution and the greatest champion of Dalit rights, envisioned caste-based reservation as a temporary measure. In the Constituent Assembly debates, he explicitly stated that reservation should be reviewed after ten years.

It has been seventy-five years.

What was meant to be a healing balm has become a festering wound. What was designed as a ladder has become a cage. The temporary scaffolding erected to build an equal India has become a permanent structure that divides India into castes, sub-castes, and sub-sub-castes - each fighting for a larger piece of a shrinking pie.

Ambedkar would weep.

The Data That Damns Us

Before you dismiss this as "upper-caste propaganda," consider the government's own data.

Who Actually Benefits?

The Rohini Commission, appointed by the government itself, found that 97% of OBC reserved seats are captured by just 25% of OBC castes. Nearly 1,000 of 2,600 OBC communities have zero representation in government jobs and educational institutions.

Read that again. The system designed to help the backward doesn't reach the truly backward. It enriches those who were already ahead within the "backward" category.

The son of an IAS officer who happens to be from a reserved category gets the same reservation benefits as the son of a landless laborer from the same category. The daughter of a Supreme Court judge born into a Scheduled Caste gets preference over the son of a poor Brahmin farmer who cannot afford coaching.

Is this justice? Is this what Ambedkar fought for?

The Creamy Layer Farce

The "creamy layer" threshold - meant to exclude the privileged within reserved categories - is set at Rs 8 lakh annual income. This was last revised in 2017. No adjustment for inflation. No consideration of regional variations.

The result? 98% of India's population qualifies as "not creamy layer."

For Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, there is no creamy layer at all. A third-generation government employee whose father was an IPS officer and grandfather was a district magistrate still gets the same reservation as a first-generation learner from a remote village.

The August 2024 Supreme Court ruling acknowledged this absurdity, with Justice B.R. Gavai suggesting the creamy layer concept should apply to SC/ST as well. The government refused.

Why? Because votes matter more than justice.

The Unfilled Seats Scandal

Here's the cruelest irony: 40-50% of reserved seats remain unfilled every year. The truly deserving from reserved categories cannot access these opportunities - they lack the education, the awareness, the connections. The seats go to those who don't need them, or to no one at all.

The Merit-Based Nations: A Mirror for India

While India debates whether to expand reservation to 80% or 90%, let us examine what nations that chose merit have achieved.

China: The Gaokao Revolution

In 1990, India and China had comparable economies. India was actually marginally wealthier.

Today, China's GDP is five times India's. Its per capita income is 4.76 times higher.

What did China do differently?

China built a brutally meritocratic education system centered on the Gaokao - a national examination that determines university admissions. No quotas for ethnicity. No reservation for historical grievances. Pure, undiluted competition.

The results speak for themselves:

• 140 million students enrolled in higher education through Gaokao since 1977
• College attendance among 18-24 year-olds grew from 1% to 67%
• Share of college-educated workers rose from 6% to 28%
• Education accounts for roughly one-third of China's GDP growth

China launched the first satellite, put humans in space, built the world's largest high-speed rail network, and became the manufacturing hub of the world. Meanwhile, India debates whether to count castes in the census.

Is the Gaokao perfect? No. Does it create pressure? Yes. But it creates a society where a farmer's son in rural Sichuan knows that if he studies hard enough, he can become an engineer at Huawei. No quota. No certificate. Just merit.

Singapore: From Third World to First in One Generation

Singapore had nothing in 1965. No natural resources. No hinterland. A multiracial population of Chinese, Malays, and Indians with historical tensions.

Lee Kuan Yew made a choice: meritocracy over identity politics.

"Meritocracy has been and will continue to be a core pillar of Singapore's survival and success," declared Minister Chan Chun Sing. Singapore built a system where "people can connect, collaborate and compete fairly."

The result? A nation that went from third world to first world in a single generation. Top rankings in global education assessments. One of the highest GDP per capita in the world. A society where talent - regardless of race - is rewarded.

Yes, Singapore has ethnic minorities that lag behind. Their solution? More bursaries, better schools in underperforming areas, skills upgrading programs, anti-discrimination laws. Not quotas. Not reservations. Not identity-based entitlements.

The United States: The Great Reversal

Even America, the birthplace of affirmative action, has recognized its limits.

In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: "A student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual - not on the basis of race."

After 60 years of affirmative action, America concluded that classifying people by race and giving preferential treatment based on birth is fundamentally incompatible with the promise of equal treatment.

68% of Americans - including significant minorities - supported the decision.

India, meanwhile, moves in the opposite direction. More quotas. More categories. More divisions.

Soviet Russia: The Merit Factory

Even Communist Russia, ideologically committed to equality, recognized that excellence requires meritocracy.

The Soviet education system was merit-based. Students in universities were subsidized based on academic performance. Industrial and research organizations attended final examinations to recruit the best - not the best from a particular category, but simply the best.

The result? First satellite in space. First human in space. World-class achievements in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. Literacy rose from 24.8% to 99.7% in five decades.

The Soviets understood something India refuses to accept: you cannot build rockets with reservation. You cannot compete globally if your best are disadvantaged for accidents of birth.

Japan and South Korea: The Asian Tigers

Japan and Germany have no formal reservation systems based on race or ethnicity. They focus on anti-discrimination laws and social integration.

South Korea transformed from a war-devastated nation to a technological powerhouse through relentless focus on education and merit. Samsung, Hyundai, LG - none of these were built on quotas.

The Flaws of Non-Merit Systems

What happens when you institutionalize caste? Let the data answer.

Caste Doesn't Dissolve - It Crystallizes

India's inter-caste marriage rate has remained stagnant at approximately 5.8% for four decades. There has been no secular increase since the 1970s.

Reservation was supposed to integrate society. Instead, it has given every Indian a reason to remember, assert, and protect their caste identity. Every form asks your caste. Every application requires a certificate. Every election mobilizes caste.

The 2024 elections saw explicit caste-based coalitions: "PDA" in UP (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak), "MY BAAP" in Bihar (Muslim, Yadav, Bahujan, Agra, Adhi Abadi, Poor). Political parties have zero incentive to dissolve caste - it is their vote bank.

Violence Continues Unabated

If reservation ended caste discrimination, why does the National Crime Records Bureau record 45,935 crimes against Dalits annually? Why is there one crime against a Dalit every 18 minutes? Why are 13 Dalits murdered every week?

The conviction rate under the Prevention of Atrocities Act has declined from 39.2% in 2020 to 32.4% in 2022. Over 91% of cases remain pending.

Reservation provides government jobs. It does not provide dignity. You cannot legislate respect. Dignity comes from economic independence, from capability, from achievement - not from a certificate that marks you as "backward."

The Competence Crisis

Every year, 29.1% of graduates in India are unemployed. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among the illiterate is just 3.4%.

How is this possible? Because our education system - warped by reservation at every level - produces graduates who have degrees but not skills. They got admission not because they were ready, but because they checked a box. They graduated not because they learned, but because the system pushed them through.

This is not a service to the reserved categories. It is a disservice. It sets them up for failure in a competitive world that does not care about their caste certificate.

The Path Forward: A Meritocratic India

Let us be clear about what we are not proposing.

We are not proposing that the government abandon the economically weak. We are not proposing that historical injustice be forgotten. We are not proposing that everyone has equal starting points.

We are proposing that the criterion for help be what you lack, not who you are.

The Reform Agenda

1. Sunset Caste-Based Reservation

Phase out caste-based reservation over 15 years. Ambedkar wanted 10 years. We've had 75. Fifteen more to transition is more than generous.

2. Replace with Economic Criteria

The EWS (Economically Weaker Section) reservation, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2022, proves that economic-based affirmative action is constitutional. Refine it:

• Lower the threshold to Rs 4 lakh (as Kerala has done)
• Add regional cost-of-living adjustments
• Include asset criteria (land, property)
• Apply to ALL economically weak Indians - regardless of caste or religion

3. Massive Investment in Education

The real solution is not reservation in colleges - it is quality schooling from age 5. Build world-class primary schools in every village. Pay teachers well. Create the Gaokao equivalent - a single national examination that rewards merit regardless of birth.

4. Remove Caste from Public Life

Stop asking caste on forms. Stop counting caste in census. Stop requiring caste certificates. Let caste become what it should be - a private matter of family and tradition, not a public identity for political exploitation.

5. Strict Anti-Discrimination Laws

Enforce existing laws against caste discrimination with the same vigor we would apply to racial discrimination in the workplace. Punish discrimination severely. But don't try to engineer outcomes through quotas - engineer opportunity through education and enforcement.

The Political Courage Required

Let us be honest: no political party currently supports this agenda.

The BJP relies on Hindu consolidation, which requires acknowledging caste to transcend it. The Congress and regional parties rely on caste arithmetic - OBC + Dalit + Muslim coalitions. Both benefit from keeping caste alive.

The only force that can change this is you - the voter.

Stop voting for parties that promise more reservation. They are not helping you - they are buying you with your own tax money while ensuring you remain dependent.

Stop voting for parties that mobilize on caste or religion. They are keeping you divided because your division is their power.

Vote for parties that talk about jobs, education, infrastructure, and growth - not about your great-grandfather's occupation.

The Unity Imperative

Every invasion of India succeeded because Indians were divided. The Ghaznavids exploited caste. The Mughals exploited caste. The British codified caste and used it to rule for two centuries.

And now, in a democratic India, our own politicians exploit caste to win elections.

China is a unified nation. When its government decides to build high-speed rail, it builds 40,000 km in 15 years. When India's government decides to build a bullet train, it spends 10 years arguing about which states get stops.

Unity is not optional. It is existential.

And unity cannot be built on a foundation of caste certificates and reservation quotas. You cannot unite a nation by constantly reminding its citizens of their differences.

Ambedkar's True Legacy

Dr. Ambedkar wanted to annihilate caste, not institutionalize it. He saw reservation as a temporary crutch while India learned to walk as an equal society.

Seventy-five years later, we are still on crutches - and the crutches have become part of our identity.

The greatest tribute to Ambedkar would be to fulfill his vision: an India where your birth does not determine your destiny. An India where the son of a sweeper can become a scientist not because of a quota but because he was given a great education and competed fairly. An India where nobody asks your caste because nobody cares.

That India will not be built by more reservation. It will be built by better schools, equal opportunity, and the courage to judge every Indian by their merit alone.

The Choice

India stands at a crossroads.

One path leads to more quotas, more sub-categorization, more caste consciousness, more division. On this path, we fall further behind China, further behind Southeast Asia, further behind our own potential.

The other path leads to merit, to unity, to an India that competes with the world's best. On this path, every Indian child - regardless of birth - has a fair shot at success.

The choice is ours.

Choose wisely. Vote wisely.

The caste calculus must end - and it ends when you decide it ends.

"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved." - B.R. Ambedkar

Perhaps we should add: And by the degree to which it has forgotten to ask about caste.

Previous Episode: The Innovation Gap - Why India Consumes But Doesn't Create

Next Episode: The GDP Illusion - Why India Measures Everything Except What Matters

Series Home: Bharath Manthan - Churning the Indian Pot

Ramachandran Rajeev Kumar is the founder of BarathVector. Agree? Disagree? The churning continues in the comments.