Reports are that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not in the picture. It is difficult to believe this because it makes the matters worse. Did he consult only Congress president Sonia Gandhi? Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal would not have attacked reservation if Sonia was even remotely connected with the circular. If nothing else, it speaks volumes about the disarray in the government, not the Congress as Arjun Singh has alleged. The right hand does not know what the left does. And there are examples where ministers are speaking at each other, not to each other.

A government saddled with numerous problems of security of Indians in and outside the country should choose to kick the sleeping dogs is a worst example of governance. When the constitutional amendment has been passed, there should have been no hurry to follow it up with a circular. Some 1100 seats for the dalits (Harijans) and triabls remain vacant every year in Delhi University alone. The question before the government should have been the steps it should take fill the vacancies, not to create more vacancies. Those for whom reservations are provided still lack the minimum standard, however watered down. They are also economically deficient to enter the portals of universities. Could some attention be paid to these aspects?

Thankfully, Arjun Singh has deferred the circular's implementation to some time after the state elections. The cabinet was not consulted before the circular was issued. Even the Commission for Scheduled Castes (dalits) and Scheduled tribes has complained that it knew nothing about the circular, although it is obligatory for the government to seek its advice under the constitution.

It is true that the centuries old stratification of the Hindu society has resulted in the worst type of discrimination and neglect against the dalits, tribals and OBCs. But it is equally true that reservations initially provided for 10 years for dalits and tribals are going on and on and there is no prospect of their lessening, much less stopping. It looks as if reservation has assumed the shape of vested interests. It provides the grist to the propaganda mills of political parties. Therefore, they will never allow reservations to go.

Students from the general category are understandably irritated. Earlier, their qualifying marks for admission to higher education were 85 per cent; now the minimum may be 90 per cent. Girls are more upset than boys because the latter had led the agitation which followed reservation for OBCs in 1990 under Prime Minister V.P. Singh. The girls constitute a bulk of protesters because they have taken to progressions in a big way for economic independence in the last 15 years. You cannot justify the burden on them that they have to pay for the sins of their forefathers who treated the low castes badly.

One thing that has come to the fore after 55 years of reservation is that benefits have not gone to the lowest among the dalits or the OBCs. Despite the Supreme Court's clear instructions, the creamy layer among them have cornered most of reservations. However, a small portion of them, which have trickled down below have benefited the lowest. A deputy commissioner from among them has the Brahmins from the highest caste queuing up before him for favour. Some members of high castes have married their daughter to the IAS from dalits or the OBCs. This has demolished social barriers to some extent. What the government has to reflect upon is whether reservation in higher education institutions would tell upon the ultimate product. Sibal is right when he says that "excellence was not against reservation."

New Delhi must keep in mind another point: those outside reservations are like a smouldering fire which flared up in 1990 and might do so at any time. Then it took some years to douse the fire. How much time would it take now if the circular is implemented is difficult to guess. The government would do well to keep the circular in abeyance until the whole question has been debated threadbare. The effort should be to reach a consensus, possibly by offering 12.5 per cent of reservation to the lowest OBCs.

While distributing reservations, there is a case for allotting a quota to those communities who have not had representation in the state. This is what Dr B.R. Ambedkar assured the nation in the constituent assembly and this is still awaiting implementation 56 years later. This may mean the scaling down of concessions for the upper strata of dalits and OBCs. But then they are the vocal lot and attract the media attention.

A better way to deal with the problem would be to transfer the responsibility of reservation to the states. The south has managed it so well, even with the reservation of more than 50 per cent. With New Delhi, reservation becomes an all-India problem because the vote bank comes into the picture. The states, when the responsibility falls on them, do not have to enact a law which arouses attention and protest. It can be done through an executive order. The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of such an order: "The government could direct the reservation by executive orders. The administrative orders cannot be issued in contravention of the statutory rules but it could be issued to supplement the statutory rules." The Supreme Court said this in its judgment in the case of Comptroller and Auditor General vs Mohanlal Mehrotra.

And it is time that we start thinking of doing away altogether with reservations on the basis of caste.

Jawaharlal Nehru had once deleted the caste column from admission forms. The process can start by lessening reservation by two per cent every year. In 50 years, we would have admissions and jobs on the basis of merit. What is important is to instill in the minds of people that India aims at a casteless society, the ethos of independence movement.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.