Despite such orders, the progress of its implementation was very tardy. Simultaneously political and social groups were demanding representation of various castes in government jobs. When public debates on this matter were raging, Mr.Alexander Cadrew, a Member of the Governor’s Executive Council, suggested for the first time, in the year 1914, a fixed percentage of posts for different communities and competition to get into these reserved jobs to be restricted to the members of the same community. This is perhaps the starting point of communal reservation in government jobs.

When such orders were attempted to be implemented, the authorities felt the lack of qualified hands in such castes to fill in the reserved slots in the government jobs. A survey of the educational status of various castes revealed that there were not enough candidates with the educational qualifications necessary to fill the vacancies. Access to education was not easily available to the down trodden and backward classes of society. This resulted in the legitimate demand for reservation in the educational institutions.

Backwardness is of three types, economic, educational and social. The development plans for these three varieties differ in their content depending upon the nature of backwardness they address. Thus, the schemes to improve agriculture production, spread industrial development in the rural area, employment generation schemes etc. aim to reduce unemployment and remove economic backwardness in large sections of the population. Educational backwardness is removed when primary and secondary education facilities coupled with concessions like scholarships, fee concessions, free hostels, and reservations in admissions into educational institutions are provided.

Problems arise only when governments attempt to address the major issue: social backwardness. There are no clear-cut parameters to measure social backwardness. To understand what constitutes social backwardness, one need not undergo any formal training or join a course. A reading of many vernacular news papers now-a-days shall reveal the status of many castes and communities that remain still socially backward.

In a southern district, dominated by most backward communities, a five year old boy goes to a neighbour’s house with friends of his age. While these small boys were playing in that house a glass flower vase kept upon a TV had slipped to the floor and broke. A youth in the house, about 23 years old, gets angry on this and goes inside to bring a country weapon, aruval and attacks the five year old boy and cuts his neck killing the boy instantly.

In another incident a newly married women conspires with her paramour to murder her husband. The woman is a Software Engineer and her husband was a college teacher while her illicit lover is an autorickshaw driver.

In my village many civil suits are pending where brothers are litigants for very meager extends of lands. Many members of a family are not in speaking terms and a trivial incident can lead to major fracas ending up in violence. Many such incidents can be cited to prove the point that social backwardness is more serious a malaise afflicting large sections of society and that the cause for this variety of backwardness is just the influence of caste system prevalent in the Hindu society for a long period of time.

Any discussion on backward classes will be incomplete without reference to the caste system that is unique to India and all of us who belong to the Hindu religion should familiarize ourselves to the negative effects of the caste system.

Various studies have proved the fact that educational backwardness need not lead to economic and social backwardness. Also, economic backwardness need not lead to educational and social backwardness. Nonetheless, social backwardness is sure to lead to both educational and economic backwardness.

Perhaps on that prehistoric distant era human wisdom guided our forefathers to form an occupationally classified society to bring in orderliness. Religion based dogma might have been easier to make people obey the strenuous rigours of an occupational society. Thus, castes in our society for an extended period of time came to stay and in its corollary developed behavioural qualities in concomitance with intra caste customs and codes. In social psychology we can find enormous proof to attest the fact that exposure to a long period of ethnic group codes and customs inculcate behaviours and beliefs on the group members, particularly when the social classes do not intermingle among themselves.

Given that social backwardness is ingrained in castes and its continuity is detrimental to development of large sections of society, the only way out is its removal by social development. Social development occurs when members of backward castes move freely across various other castes and with forward caste members. This is made possible when the beneficiaries of reservation elevate their social status and bring up their children in an entirely different environment. But this is very easily said than done. Though the educational and economic development of dalit and backward class members make them acceptable in higher echelons of society there always exists a subtle discrimination.

Apart from this, just an individual beneficiary of reservation on getting into a plum post does not bring in all round development to his family and relatives. Take for instance the IAS. If anyone thinks that an officer who got selected to the IAS has attained perfect development and under the creamy layer concept his children can be left out of reservation he can be proved wrong. Out of so many children of dalit IAS officers only two have made to the IAS in Tamil Nadu in spite of reservation from the year 1960 to 2005.

Any argument on economic criteria for reservation is misplaced at best and mischievous at worst. The most corrupt and inefficient civil servants and politicians are from the down trodden and backward communities. Their attitudes to work as well as social issues are very peculiar and all this can be traced to their social backwardness. They may be educationally qualified and might have achieved economic development. Yet, they may behave in ways detrimental to themselves and it is definitely due to social backwardness.

Originally for a long period of time people sincerely thought that reservation is in existence for quite sometime and it should be annulled lest it becomes a permanent thing. If it is not possible to do away with reservation at least the poorer people among the backward communities must be given the benefit of reservation. According to this argument, at present only the developed members of the backward class communities knock away the reserved seats. Therefore, the creamy layer among them should be excluded.

Those who are against reservation itself have clung to this creamy layer concept. Once this section of the backward classes is excluded, a situation will develop whereby there may not be enough candidates available among them to fill the vacancies reserved for them.

The Minorities Committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar constututed to look into the Social, economic and educational status of Muslims in their interim report says,  

Muslim literacy-rural                      54.6%
Urban                                                 60%
Graduates rural                               0.8%
Urban                                                3.1%

If job reservation is to be made for Muslims there may not be enough graduate candidates to fill in the vacancies and the next best thing that can happen is to fill the vacancies with other communities.