The worst victims of the resultant dehumanizing, depriving, and oppressive social organization such as caste, are the erstwhile untouchables, and the present-day Scheduled Castes. Following the logic of proportionate justice and John Rawls “Principle of Redress”, the framers of the Indian Constitution were acutely aware on the one hand of the hierarchical and unequal society that India was with highly differential levels of entitlements to economic and social rights, based on the caste system, and the crucial role of education in bringing about social change, on the other. To eliminate the deep-rooted inequalities, it was envisaged by the Constitution makers that positive measures in the form of protective discrimination may aid in minimizing entrenched forms of social and economic inequalities. Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar very rightly believed that constitutional benefits are derived when society works for it. Thus, while the policy of reservation has led to significant development and social mobility of Scheduled Castes, in terms of enhancement of their material well-being, thereby improving their economic status, the social status of the Scheduled Castes continues to remain unchanged. The reason being considering reservations, at one level, as a means of reducing equality of opportunity and, at another level, compromising on merit. This paper intends to examine the role of the policy of protective discrimination in undoing socio-historical wrongs and deprivations and provide a way forward in dealing with reservation-induced humiliation.
