127th Constitution Amendment Bill 2021 aka the OBC Bill was unanimously passed by the Parliament, a remarkable feat in an otherwise difficult session. It has once again brought up debates about reservation. But to understand our present, we must know our past. India has had reservation since the 1800s. In fact, experts say that our reservation policy influenced the United States’s better known Affirmative Action.

In this episode of The Suno India Show, our reporter Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to political scientist and TISS professor Ashwani Kumar, president of All India OBC Students Association Gowd Kiran Kumar, and senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research D. Shyam Babu. They explore the history of reservation in India and how the current policy came to be.

Moments in a History of Reservations