Reservation: The actual issues

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The reservation issue is again hogging the limelight thanks to Mandal-!!.

Just posted this comment on Jaya's blog. It's cryptic but captures the essence of the problem of reservation.
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What's the objective:
Equal opportunities for all at stage n.

How does the government intend to attain this objective:
Support those who do not receive equal opportunities till stage (n-1) so that they get equal opportunities at stage n.

Points of contention:

1. Who all do not receive equal opportunities: SC/STs, OBCs, women (there is reservation for women in AP's entrance exams), economically backward etc. etc. ... in a vote bank democracy common identities are waiting to be discovered.

2. What is "support": Reservation is just a form of support. Support could also take the form of special schools, grants, concessions, tax rebates etc. etc.

3. What's stage "n" : If one defines "n" to be the final opportunities-for-living, then support in employment maybe justified. If "n" be the employment-entry stage, then support in the higher educational institutes maybe justified...and so on....

These are problems most nations have been grappling with in some form or the other for quite sometime.