Lamenting that political parties have been using caste-based reservation only for their political gains, veteran writer S.S. Kabbin has stressed the need to stop it and introduce reservation based on economic status.
Delivering his presidential address at the fourth Vijayapura taluk Kannada Sahitya Sammelan here on Saturday, he said that despite the Supreme Court ordering to remove the “creamy layer” from getting the benefits of reservation, political parties had not shown the guts to implement it. “The time has come for political parties to realise the fact that poverty is not confined to only backward communities and it is omnipresent,” Prof. Kabbin said.
He said that caste-based reservation was only creating a division within society, as of late many affluent people among some castes were enjoying reservation benefits just because they come within the reservation ambit.
“The obsession for caste-based reservation is so much that many communities are now seeking a ‘backward community tag’ to get the benefits. The case of Jats in Rajasthan is an example. Though the apex court has rejected their demand stating that the community do not deserve reservation, the government appears to be making efforts to offer reservation to them because it does not wish to lose their votes,” Prof. Kabbin said.
He said the demand for a separate State for north Karnataka was “undeserving”. Prof. Kabbin, however, made it clear that seeking development of the region was not a crime.
He said that unless office of some government departments were not shifted to the Suvarna Soudha at Belagavi, the development of the region was not possible.
Poverty not confined to backward communities, says
S.S. Kabbin
