YFE hails stay on OBC reservations

The Youth for Equality, a student grouping which spearheaded the anti-quota stir, today welcomed the Supreme Court stay on a central law providing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in elite educational institutions.

"It is a victory of the people and a victory for the common man against politicians, who had tried to divide the society on the basis of caste," said, Kumar Harsh, president of AIIMS Residents Doctors Association,

He said the Supreme Court stay was the beginning of a process for scrapping of the controversial law that aimed at providing reservation for OBCs in institutions like IITs and IIMs.

"The politicians wanted to create caste-based vote banks. This is definitely a setback to them," Harsh, who is also the spokesperson of the Youth For Equality, said in his reaction to the SC stay.

He also demanded a thorough review of the reservation policy in a scientific manner. "There should a criteria. It could be economic or anything else, but certainly not caste," he added.

The Youth For Equality had gained prominence after its sustained and at times violent protests against caste-based reservations in the middle of last year after the Centre announced its decision to provide reservation for the OBCs.

Ordering a stay on implementation of the central law, the court held that the 1931 census could not be a determinative factor for identifying the OBCs for the purpose of providing reservation to them.

Cross posted from The Economic Times