India, Jan. 27 -- Would things have been better from the start to go in for economic weakness as the only basis for reservation without reference to caste or creed? We have had it in schools and housing societies in given States for a while, with the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservations. On the face of it, it looks like a reasonable idea, but is probably better suited to a homogenised population with tiny minorities and distinct groups. Where the population speaks the same language and professes the same religion, for example.

India, by contrast, has always been a sub-continent and one size never did fit all. Caste-based reservations, in fact, predate Independence and both the British and some of the Princely States had reserv...