TITLE:
Against Dalits Reservation: Exploring the Views of So-Called Upper Caste Students Studying at Kailali Multiple Campus, Dhangadhi
AUTHORS:
Giri Bahadur Sunar
KEYWORDS:
Reservation, Quota, Affirmative Action, Dalit, Upper-Caste
JOURNAL NAME:
Sociology Mind,
Vol.12 No.2,
March
9,
2022
ABSTRACT: This research article aimed to explore why so-called upper-caste people,
predominantly Brahman and Chhetri caste groups, are against 9% Dalit
reservations, though the other five groups have reservations, like 33% women,
24% Aadibasi/Janajatis, 20% Madhesis, 5% people with disabilities, and 4%
candidates from disadvantaged regions (people from disadvantaged districts in
Karnali (basically to Khas Chhetris/Thakuris/Dalits), among others. The
reservation has created some antipathy between so-called upper caste people and
Dalits. The Supreme Court has also ordered a change in the existing reservation
policy from a caste-based to a class-based system. In the midst of ambiguity, applied purposive sampling technique to
gain detailed knowledge about a specific phenomenon with so-called
upper-caste students studying at Kailai Multiple Campus in Dhangadhi
Sub-Metropolitan City. Reservation is an important solution to Dalit prejudice
in the present, but it does not solve “past” deprivation of religiously
sidelined, socially oppressed, economically exploited, politically oppressed,
and educationally deprived people. Compensation is the appropriate solution for
the latter kind of discrimination. What more can be done within the current
system to ensure Dalits’ access to state services if the reservations aren’t
the solution to their problems?