**Justice Mithal’s View on Reservation: Fair or Flawed?

A Pudvi Times Analysis**

A recent remark attributed to Justice Pankaj Mithal, suggesting that reservation should be limited to the first generation only, has reignited one of India’s most enduring debates — how long affirmative action should continue, and who should benefit from it.

The statement has drawn mixed reactions. Supporters call it a push for merit-based equality, while critics argue it ignores the deeply entrenched social and structural disadvantages faced by marginalized communities across generations.

This article examines both perspectives — and offers a reasoned opinion.

What Justice Mithal’s View Suggests

Justice Mithal’s idea implies:

• Reservation should support families only until the first generation uplifts itself.
• Subsequent generations, having received education and opportunity, should compete without affirmative action.
• The policy should not become perpetual, but transitional.

This viewpoint questions whether long-term reservation creates dependency instead of empowerment.

Why the View Appeals to Many

1. Focus on Opportunity, Not Permanency

Supporters argue that reservation was originally meant as a temporary corrective measure, not a permanent fixture.

2. Prevents Misuse by the Already-Privileged

Many point to the phenomenon of “creamy layer” beneficiaries — individuals from reserved categories who are economically and socially advanced but continue to receive benefits, often leaving the most marginalized behind.

3. Encourages Long-Term Equality

The idea aims to bring India to a point where merit and equal opportunity outweigh caste inheritance.

Why Critics Call It Incomplete

1. Social Discrimination is Not a One-Generation Problem

Caste-based barriers in India continue across multiple generations, regardless of individual income or education.

Having one educated member in a family does not erase:

• social bias
• caste-based exclusion
• lack of networks
• systemic inequality

Thus, limiting reservation to one generation may ignore lived realities.

2. Structural Inequality Outlasts Immediate Economic Growth

Even a well-educated, upwardly mobile Dalit or Adivasi person may still face:

• housing discrimination
• hiring bias
• social segregation

These are not solved in one generation.

3. Risk of Reversing Hard-Earned Gains

Ending reservation too early could push communities back into cycles of exclusion, undoing decades of progress.