Recently many communities thought to be prosperous have been asking for reservations, e.g. the Marathas, Patels, Jats, Kapus etc. Many people comment that these communities are simply using their numbers for cornering more benefits from the state. These communities say they have suffered a lot due to poor job growth and need help like that given to backward communities. For their view see this link –

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/10/why-marathas-want-reservations/

All these demands are leading to a situation where Indians are identifying themselves increasingly by their castes/communities. After all it is membership of a caste/communities which is rewarded. An ordinary Indian without a caste/communities will not receive any benefits.

Famous IPS officer Prakash Singh once said that every decade India witnesses the rise of a new internal security issue.

The debate is whether we are witnessing the rise of a new internal security issue in the form of a stronger caste identity appearing, and the weakening of the Indian identity. Also open to debate is the issue of how to help the aspirational new generation (which includes you), without resorting to caste/communities based reservations.

(For those interested, we are starting a new series on internal security issues in India. Extremely important from Mains perspective. Gurleen has written the first blog Go here to read it.)