Reservation policy- Mandal Commission and after

No other issue in recent memory has aroused such controversy as the Mandal Commission Report. The sudden decision to resurrect and implement the Report a decade after it had been submitted reopened wounds, long healed. Caste fissures re-appeared and deeply felt sensitivities were re kindled. Along with a spate of violence, there was the horrifying spectre of bright young people resorting to the ultimate protest of self-immolation.

In this lucidly written account, the author traces the origins of the caste system, the beginnings of the reservation policy during British rule and the inclusion of constitutional provisions thereafter. The working of the reservation policy in the four decades since Independence is discussed at length, as also the reasons why reservations have been repeatedly extended beyond the constitutionally stipulated period of one decade. The author then presents the immediate circumstances which led to the precipitate decision to implement the decade-old report and discusses in detail the socio-political and economic fallout that occurred subsequently.

Despite writing on a highly emotive issue, the author strives to give a balanced account, framing issues in their proper historical, social, political and economic contexts.