About Reservations in the Private Sector
Was going to write a long post on this once weekend brought some free time. Weekend is here, so as I sat down to write a post, I realised that much of what I wanted to say, has already been summed up eloquently in these two posts -
Reserving My Table by Arnab
The Great Leap Backward by Nitin Pai
Opposing the reservations should not be seen as a knee-jerk turf-protecting reaction by the upper castes. Even if we grant the premise that government policy has a role and a responsibility in ensuring the well-being of its most underprivileged citizens, this move makes bad sense from a policy point of view.
Economics is often said to be nothing but a science of understanding which are the incentives that will work and which are the incentives that will fail. Socio-economic policy needs an even more accurate understanding of incentives.
What intrigues me is that the government is hinting at the inevitability of much-needed labour reforms at the same time that it is hinting at the inevitability of reservations in the private sector.
That would mean the Prime Minister wants to say - You can hire and fire anyone at any time you want.....as long as you maintain the caste ratio.
So imagine a scenario where a factory owner decides to fire ABC because he reports late for work and is very lazy. If ABC, by chance, happens to be of a caste that falls under the reservations, then the factory owner will also have to fire XYZ who is from the "open category", just to maintain the caste ratio.
Bizarre!!
Reserving My Table by Arnab
The Great Leap Backward by Nitin Pai
Opposing the reservations should not be seen as a knee-jerk turf-protecting reaction by the upper castes. Even if we grant the premise that government policy has a role and a responsibility in ensuring the well-being of its most underprivileged citizens, this move makes bad sense from a policy point of view.
Economics is often said to be nothing but a science of understanding which are the incentives that will work and which are the incentives that will fail. Socio-economic policy needs an even more accurate understanding of incentives.
What intrigues me is that the government is hinting at the inevitability of much-needed labour reforms at the same time that it is hinting at the inevitability of reservations in the private sector.
That would mean the Prime Minister wants to say - You can hire and fire anyone at any time you want.....as long as you maintain the caste ratio.
So imagine a scenario where a factory owner decides to fire ABC because he reports late for work and is very lazy. If ABC, by chance, happens to be of a caste that falls under the reservations, then the factory owner will also have to fire XYZ who is from the "open category", just to maintain the caste ratio.
Bizarre!!
