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Indian Apocalypse - Indian Beliefs 101: 06 Reservations are holding merit back

Episode 6: "The Merit Myth: How Reservations Became the Scapegoat for India’s Elite Capture"

Thesis:

India’s obsession with "merit" is not a defense of fairness—it is a smokescreen for an unbroken 75-year-old monopoly of power by the same castes, families, and networks. The people who scream loudest about reservations have never once questioned why legacy wealth, inherited privilege, or caste networks in the IAS, judiciary, or corporate boardrooms are not just tolerated but celebrated. Merit is the last refuge of the entitled: a myth that lets the elite pretend their dominance is earned, while the rest of India is told to pull itself up by its bootstraps—even when the boots were stolen generations ago.

The Human Specific: The IAS Officer’s Son and the Dalit Doctor’s Daughter

Scene 1: Delhi, 2023 A 22-year-old Brahmin man from a family of IAS officers—his father, uncle, and grandfather all served in the civil services—posts on LinkedIn about how "reservations are destroying the integrity of the IAS." He has never taken a competitive exam without private coaching, never lived in a hostel without a room to himself, and never had to explain to his parents why he wanted to study something other than engineering or medicine. His father’s network got him an internship in the PMO. His "merit" is a family heirloom.

Scene 2: Patna, 2018 A 24-year-old Dalit woman, the first in her family to finish school, cracks the NEET exam on her third attempt. She scores in the 98th percentile but is denied a seat in a government medical college because the "general category" cutoff is higher. She takes out a loan to study at a private college, where her professors openly mock her accent and her caste. When she graduates, she is offered a job at a rural primary health center—where she is paid less than her upper-caste colleagues, who all get postings in cities. Her "merit" is a debt she will spend her life repaying.

The Unspoken Chain: - The IAS officer’s son will never be asked why his family has held power for three generations. The Dalit doctor’s daughter will always be asked why she "took someone’s seat." - The same people who decry reservations as "reverse discrimination" have no problem with the fact that 60% of India’s billionaires are from just three castes (Brahmin, Bania, Khatri) or that 85% of Supreme Court judges since 1950 have been upper-caste. - The IAS, which is supposed to be the "steel frame" of Indian democracy, remains overwhelmingly upper-caste (50% Brahmin alone, despite Brahmins being 4% of the population). No one asks why. - The corporate world, where "merit" is supposedly king, has fewer than 3% Dalits in leadership roles. But no one protests "merit" when a Tata or an Ambani heir takes over the family empire. - The same people who say reservations "lower standards" have no problem with legacy admissions in private schools (where 30% of seats are reserved for alumni children) or caste-based networking in IITs and IIMs, where upper-caste students get internships and jobs through family connections.

The Systemic Analysis: How "Merit" Became a Caste Preservation Racket

  1. The Myth of the Self-Made Man
  2. India’s elite loves to pretend that success is a function of individual grit. But 70% of India’s wealth is inherited, not earned. The Ambanis, Adanis, and Tatas didn’t build their empires from scratch—they built them on land grants, licenses, and political connections handed down by the British and then the Indian state.

  3. The same logic applies to the civil services. 30% of IAS officers come from families where at least one parent was also in the services. Is this "merit" or a closed shop?

  4. The Unquestioned Privilege of Caste Networks

  5. In India, your last name is your resume. A Brahmin with a 60% in engineering will get a job faster than a Dalit with 90% because hiring in India is still done through "references"—a euphemism for caste and family networks.

  6. The judiciary is the worst offender. No Dalit has ever been Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court has had only 8 Dalit judges in 75 years (out of 250+). But when a Dalit judge is appointed, the outrage is about "merit," not about why the system has kept them out for decades.

  7. The Hypocrisy of "Standards"

  8. When a Dalit student gets into an IIT or AIIMS, the complaint is that "standards are falling." But when 50% of IIT seats go to students who paid for coaching in Kota or Hyderabad, no one questions the "merit" of a system where the rich can buy preparation.

  9. The same people who say reservations "lower standards" have no problem with private medical colleges charging ₹50 lakh for a seat—effectively reserving medicine for the rich.

  10. The Silence on Legacy Wealth

  11. India has no inheritance tax. A billionaire’s son inherits his father’s empire tax-free, but a Dalit student’s scholarship is called a "handout."
  12. The same people who say reservations are "unfair" have no problem with the fact that 1% of Indians own 40% of the country’s wealth. Is that "merit" or theft?

The One Thing That Would Actually Change It (And Why It Won’t Happen)

What would work: - A 50% reservation for the poor in all private sector jobs (not just government). If "merit" is the only criteria, then why should a poor Brahmin or Muslim have less access to jobs than a rich one? - A 33% reservation for women in all leadership positions (corporate boards, judiciary, IAS). If "merit" is gender-blind, why are 90% of CEOs men? - A 100% inheritance tax on estates above ₹100 crore. If "merit" is about individual effort, why should a billionaire’s son inherit his father’s empire tax-free? - A caste census to expose the real distribution of power. If "merit" is the great equalizer, why are 90% of Supreme Court judges upper-caste?

Why it won’t happen: Because the people who benefit from the current system control the media, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, and the economy. They will scream about "merit" and "standards" while ensuring that their children inherit their power, their wealth, and their networks. The only time they care about "fairness" is when someone else gets a seat at the table.

Headline / Episode Title Options:

  1. "Merit is the Last Refuge of the Entitled"
  2. "The IAS is Still Upper-Caste After 75 Years—But Reservations Are the Problem?"
  3. "India’s Elite Hates Reservations. It Loves Legacy Wealth."
  4. "The Merit Myth: How Caste Networks Pretend to Be Fair"
  5. "Reservations Didn’t Break India. Caste Did."
  6. "The Unfairness No One Talks About: Why Your Last Name is Your Resume"
  7. "Meritocracy for Me, Not for Thee"

Final Note (Tone Check):

This is not an argument for or against reservations. It is an argument against the selective outrage of a society that has spent 75 years pretending that its elite’s dominance is natural, earned, and unquestionable. The real scandal is not that a Dalit student got into an IIT. The real scandal is that no one asks why the IAS is still a Brahmin monopoly—or why a billionaire’s son inherits his empire tax-free while a farmer’s son has to fight for a scholarship.

The damage is slow. The damage is quiet. And the damage is exactly how the elite likes it.