Against Dalits Reservation: Exploring the Views of So-Called Upper Caste Students Studying at Kailali Multiple Campus, Dhangadhi

Abstract

This research article aimed to explore why so-called upper-caste people, predominantly Brahman and Chhetri caste groups, are against 9% Dalit reservations, though the other five groups have reservations, like 33% women, 24% Aadibasi/Janajatis, 20% Madhesis, 5% people with disabilities, and 4% candidates from disadvantaged regions (people from disadvantaged districts in Karnali (basically to Khas Chhetris/Thakuris/Dalits), among others. The reservation has created some antipathy between so-called upper caste people and Dalits. The Supreme Court has also ordered a change in the existing reservation policy from a caste-based to a class-based system. In the midst of ambi guity, applied purposive sampling technique to gain detailed knowledge about a specific phenomenon with so-called upper-caste students studying at Kailai Multiple Campus in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City. Reservation is an important solution to Dalit prejudice in the present, but it does not solve “past” deprivation of religiously sidelined, socially oppressed, economically exploited, politically oppressed, and educationally deprived people. Compensation is the appropriate solution for the latter kind of discrimination. What more can be done within the current system to ensure Dalits’ access to state services if the reservations aren’t the solution to their problems?