New Delhi: BJP leader and former Union Minister Arun Shourie  has categorically stated that there should be no reservation in Government jobs. This was resulting in top positions being occupied by people selected due to their birth, which was putting India at a disadvantage in relation to countries like China.

He was speaking at a summit organised by ‘Tomorrow’s India’ on Oct. 8 and said, “In India the State apparatus is the diseased part of the society. There is a dangerous trend occurring in India right now where the role of the State is being increased, which could lead to dangerous consequences.”

Reservation was not the way forward to prepare India and Indians for the future. “Panditji (Nehru) had rightly said that in that way (reservation) lies not only folly but disaster,” Shourie said.

A situation has arisen in the country where one half of the senior-most posts in the Government and Governmental enterprises is being given not on the basis of educational qualifications but because of your birth, he said. Pointing to America, he said that there were many things wrong with Americans, but one of their most distinguishing features is that rewards are proportional to effort. “In India, that is not the case. Often it is if I know a Minister or official, the businessmen depend on that more than their own excellence,” he added.