In order to get the real picture, it is time perhaps for the government to set up a commission on the lines of the Mandal Commission or the Sachar Committee — but this time a Forward Castes Commission to establish the numerical strength of the forward castes in India and their levels of representation in various arenas of society and economy.

If the results prove that the upper castes do exercise dominance and control far disproportionate to their numbers, a sense of fair play as well as self-interest would demand that we become more inclusive and open — starting with nursery school admissions. Otherwise, the logic of democracy aka vote-banks will find methods as crude as the 100-point system to break the barricades of privilege and exclusivity.