The 'Creamy Layer'

Several times in post-independence India, questions have been raised on reservations and whether its true benefits have percolated to sections that really need them. The reality is that reservations have served essentially as tools to absorb privileged sections of the lower castes into the ruling classes. Moreover, the politics of caste 'identity' also founded on reservations, has helped push real economic problems facing the poor away from the centre stage.