Policies of legal safeguards and reservation/affirmative actions in favour of discriminated groups have a tendency, globally, to generate acrimonious and heated debates. The idea of introducing reservation in the private sector has received a fair share of differing opinions in India. This volume brings representative pieces of those opinions together at one place.
The papers address some of critical issues that appeared in the current debate on reservation: Are the concerns about discrimination related only to equity or they also involve economic and political costs? How sound are the arguments against anti-discriminatory policies for private sector? Does reservation adversely affect economic efficiency and compromise merit? Or it ensures equality of opportunity for the discriminated groups and also creates economic milieu for better economic performance? In other words, are the principle of equity and canon of efficiency always at odds with each other? And, what are the possible remedies against market discrimination?
This book, by bringing together insightful perspectives from prominent academicians, opinion makers in the media, captains of the corporate world as well as politicians, reflects contemporary thinking of Indian society on a vital and contentious issue of private sector reservation. It will be helpful to the academia, government, NGOs as well as researchers and students and to all those, who are concerned about discriminations associated with caste and systematic exclusion and multiple deprivations suffered by Dalits.

Sukhadeo Thorat is Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Director, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. He has written extensively on problems of Dalits, caste discrimination, Ambedkar‘s economic thinking, human rights issues, agriculture development, rural poverty and problem of slums.

Aryama is Assistant Fellow at Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi and a Research Scholar at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is interested in political theory, marginality and invisibility of social groups and its implications.

Prashant Negi is Assistant Fellow at Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. His areas of interest are the political, economic, cultural and social aspects of developmental theory, and the challenges of transformation and change.