"Reservation helps upper caste people" is a counter-intuitive statement. But this could be true. Here is an explanation.
First an anecdote:
The last two organizations I worked in had an identical problem regarding lateral hires for senior roles - like Architects, Program Managers, etc. The roles demanded domain/technology-specific skills, communication/writing skills, interpersonal skills, a good understanding of customers' business, etc. Too many people came and none survived for more than a few months. After years of frustrating search, it dawned upon me that those who survived the grind in the organization had something in common - they all had competed in some all-India level exams - like JEE, CAT, or equivalent. They didn't necessarily go to an IIT or IIM. It is the effort put in to compete in an all-India level exam in open-category that made the difference. And those who failed did not face such exams earlier in their lives but managed to gain 10-15 years of experience in the industry, thanks to the big IT companies.
Now for some data:
I took the list of Indians who were CEOs in multinationals of the western world from Top 30 CEOs Of Indian Origin Who Are CEOs Of Best Multinational Companies - Inventiva. The list is not exhaustive. Many well-known entrepreneurs have graduated from IITs and NITs or RECs. But this list has only 30, of which 22 were born and had their college education in India; 10 were from IIT, 3 from BITS Pilani, 2 from Manipal Institute, 3 from St. Stephens College Delhi, and 1 from Shri Ram College Delhi.
IITians go through tough competition is a well-known fact. IITs began their JEE after 1961. I do not have any data on IITians who graduated in the 1950s and went on to lead multinational companies.
Also, those who went to Manipal or BITS went there just because they didn't qualify for IITs or NITs. The competition for admission to St. Stephens and Shri Ram college are well known. The common thread is, they all competed at an all-India level for their undergraduate or postgraduate studies.
So, competing with more applicants helps in some way later in life, even if the candidate failed in getting admission to prestigious institutions.
What happens to a competition when there is a reservation?
For those in OC: More candidates try to squeeze through a smaller entrance. The competition gets tougher. The preparation is more rigorous.
For those in Reserved Categories: The entrance is relatively wider. The competition exists but is within a group of communities. The communities for which reservation is available are not known for prioritizing higher education like the so-called Forward communities; So, fewer people from reserved communities attempt the tests, the threshold is lowered and so the overall effort in preparation is relatively less for a candidate from reserved communities.
Considering two candidates of equal caliber and achievement in their school curriculum, the one from OC needs to put in more effort as compared to a candidate from a community that benefits from the reservation. The result of the entrance test is immaterial when it comes to reaching greater heights in life.
The OC candidate having trained better for a tougher competition continues to stay ahead of the other. The immediate success the other candidate gets definitely helps in his social status, but fails to take him to the heights the other one can reach.
I would like to know of people who benefited from reservation earlier in their life and rose to lead a multi-national organization later to prove me wrong.
