India: The Rising Elephant

I found a paper on the CIGI website that deals with an interesting and relevant issue in India today, reservations in higher education. Stemming from the same concerns regarding the caste system that I blogged about earlier - this paper finds that reservations in higher education pose long term challenges for the economy - although it is imperative that institutions of higher learning be sensitive to social cleavages such as caste.
Reservations are ultimately a tool, and a symptom of the manifestations of caste-based dynamics and their impact on Indian society. Doing away with reservations as a policy option must not be confused with a lack of emphasis on affirmative action - changing the tool does not imply you are abandoning the problem.