Came across it already. First of all, it should be clear that this sudden 10% quota is little more than a political stunt for election year.
As for the topic of reservations itself, while it may sound like its reasonable to have reservations based on economic condition and I used to think the same way, my perspective based on personal experiences over many years has evolved and I see it differently now.
Normal students from poor economic backgrounds need scholarships or other forms of financial support, not reservations. The barrier for their education is mainly financial. Reservations are needed by those who are discriminated against, based on social status because there is not a chance that they would be allowed to get an education otherwise regardless of their economic condition, intelligence etc.
Back during the era when India got independence, RSS (mainly) and few other similar groups did their best to at lobbying to keep so called "lower caste" people from having voting rights in Independent India. In fact, some of the so called "lower castes" were not even allowed to wear clothes (except for bottom half) or sandals on their feet for centuries before the British took over. The RSS wanted Independent India to be restored to the former state where India's "culture" dictated that certain people be treated like animals (not cattle though since they revered them). Dr. Ambedkar set the foundation for the reservation system because he probably knew from his personal experiences that with the British gone, the only way these people would ever have an opportunity to get an education is when its forced through legislation.
Fast forward to present day, nothing much has changed in the attitude of the people. Even the chief minister of a state has been barred from entering a temple because of his caste and in other case, a temple was shut down and "cleansed". If a chief minister is not immune to discrimination and exclusion, imagine the plight of those who are both poor and from a so called "lower caste". In a survey in urban areas (big cities). done last year, 30-45% of the participants in every city admitted to supporting and practicing untouchability.
I did my engg bachelors from a reputed private engg college in my state. I know for a fact that the management at this college would never let a single "lower caste" student get admission if the decision were up to them, I had a classmate who was pretty good at studies and quite intelligent. He was from one of those "lower castes" and from a poor family. During his school days he, delivered news papers and did odd jobs just so he can afford an education. He even got a decent rank in the entrance exam considering he didn't go though expensive focused coaching like so many others. He could technically have got a seat in open competition if there were no reservations, but the only reason he got admission was because of reservations. It has even happened that admission counselor's have lied to students from these backgrounds that there are no vacant seats left. They would go to the extent of keep seats vacant than letting from "lower caste" student get it. Last year, a "lower caste" family had rocks thrown at their hut because their kids did decently in IIT-JEE and it did not please the upper caste folk in the area that they had the "audacity" to dream about things beyond their station in life.
This continues into workplace too including at private sector like IT companies. Caste based work place discrimination is still not uncommon. Even at my work, I have seen a team where one of the guys in that team did not get promoted even once in close to 7 years. Everyone else in that team got promoted 2-3 times during the same period. This guy was pretty good at work too and once he got deputed to my team on a temporary basis, my reporting manager recommended him for a 2 level promotion. His original manager was a so called "upper caste" elite being a Brahman and has often been known to take pride in it and speak trash when drunk. Even in US, there my sister resides, when she was still with Infy, her Indian colleagues there used to invite only their own caste colleagues for their kids birthday parties and the like. They formed caste wise groups even in US. She went so far as to stop interacting at all with these folk beyond work and it was one of the key drivers for her resigning from there.
So, I don't think people of this country will ever change when it comes to discrimination. Of course there will always be exceptions who do have a self conscience and give more importance towards doing the right thing, but the rest will continue insisting on clinging to their primitive mindsets and passing it off as culture and heritage. The reservations will never break this mindset and I don't think Dr Ambedkar ever thought it would. It just ensures that people being looked down on as lower castes will at least have a fighting chance of getting an education in-spite of the discrimination.
