64 years, Are we still backward?

It seems nearly impossible to dream of an India that thinks beyond the lines of reservations. At a time of competing liberalism globally, India choose to follow its age-old habit of banning anything that we have selectively termed as sensitive - books and movies, from Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses to Taslima Nasrin Lajja, to Deepa Mehta's Fire, and of late, Prakash Jha's Aarakshan. 

As the nation moves forward in education, development and economic prosperity, the logical thinking part of us is taking a walk back. The freedom of speech and expression is chained here where you do not have the liberty to touch on topics which our politicians feel are "sensitive". We have been scared of radical ideas and we choose to live with the belief that nothing is totally right or wrong. 

Silence is what we seek for where the pens do not speak and movies seldom preach a change. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh have banned the release of Aarakshan, a movie that deals with the caste-based quota system for the socially backward classes. Film producer Prakash Jha has moved Supreme Court asking for to lift the ban on the movie. The creative side of an artist is restricted to a level where he can neither produce a work supporting the plight of the low caste nor the fight of the low caste. 

It wasn't a surprising move by these state governments to ban the screening of Aarakshan as it does not need a whole lot of brains to understand the reason behind it that these states are going to polls in the near future. The political system demands the reservation to stay as it's their best shot to ensure votes. The vote bank culture has long been dividing the country, on many grounds and caste is just another weapon in the hands of our "mighty" politicians. 

Although the real definition of caste and race needs to be reframed, reservation on the basis of caste is often criticized as a form of racial discrimination and that doesn't abide by the practice of right to equality. The spirit of reservations is often hurt as it's the rich from the so-called lower castes who takes the benefits out of it. The creamy layer of the backward classes reaps the benefits of reservation to further their family interests. It should also be noted that several studies have suggested the fact that the OBC class is quite comparable with the general caste in terms of annual per capita consumption expenditure. Unless there are genuine efforts to uplift the level of primary education in the country, reservation only in higher institutions and jobs cannot solve this problem. 

Debated over and over again, 64-year-old India could never come to a conclusion over this. Six decades post-independence now, the country has moved far beyond its old self, left behind the skeletons of a poor country, made its presence strongly felt in the world map with great achievements; however, we ignore the call for a change and we choose to be called the backwards. Is it high time that we change our reservation policies to provide quotas on the basis of merit and not on the basis of caste? Or are we left with no option but to live with this accepting the fact that this is a part of our system that can never be changed?