Today TN provides 69 per cent quotas in jobs and admission for all courses, including medical and engineering colleges. But a cursory look at the cut-off marks for MBBS admission will tell whether merit takes any beating due to reservation. In 2005, the cut-off in open competition was 294.83 marks while for BCs it was 294.59 (the difference was a mere 0.24 marks out of 300 or 0.08 per cent). For MBCs, the cut off was 292.50. Over and above that, BC, MBC and SC students cornered 374 of the 433 seats in the open category.

Despite so many BCs becoming doctors over the years, the state’s health care delivery system has won accolades from economists and social scientists, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. The reservation policy is said to have enabled more people from the backward classes and scheduled castes to become doctors and go to their villages and small towns for practice.

Unlike the medicos who went on strike as they were gripped by the fear of the unknown, people in TN have accepted reservation since the state has seen remarkable upward mobility of the backward classes and scheduled castes. It has also facilitated the intermingling of different castes. Most of the caste groups here enjoy the BC or MBC facility, where the socio-political dynamics is such that reservation is not a dirty word in the state. Even the Brahmin association is demanding quota for its members.