I am not a proponent of caste based discrimination, but the younger generation of kids from the "General Category" GC (the section of society which does not get any affirmative action benefits), especially from urban and semi urban areas feel they are given a discriminatory treatment.

Here are the affirmative actions that are available to people from discriminated castes, whom I will call "Reserved Category" (RC).

1. There is a separate quota for seats in higher education institutions, including top notch ones like IITs. And this goes up to around 30 - 50 percent depending on state and institute. Additionally, those from the RC can also compete with GC quota seats. So an RC student can get a seat in a quota reserved for him/her, and also try to get a seat from the GC category remaining seats. What this has done is driven up the marks one in GC has to get, just to get a seat in a decent college. Institutions can also fill in a certain percentage of seats by essentially selling them, they are called "management" seats. These cost way more than the govt. mandated cap on fees. Many of these are filled by GC students. On top of this, RC students get stipends too.

This quota of seats also extends to the highest rated institutions too, like the IIMs. A GC category student is eligible for a seat with a 99.96% score in the CAT entrance exam, while a RC student can score 85% or more and be eligible for one.

2. After education, most state level and federal level jobs, contracts, etc have mandated affirmative action quotas. So the recruitment has mandates for recruiting a percentage of people from a certain category, usually cumulatively amounting to about 50% or so.

Now, even after getting a job, promotions inside the job also have quotas. So, when a batch of people in an institute or company is due for promotion, regardless of performance, about 30 - 40% of RC employees are to be promoted.

While it is true that the RC castes have faced severe discrimination in the past, as well as now, due to the way affirmative action is setup, especially in higher education, the seeds of resentment are sown right from an early age. Because GC students, see RC students getting by with good colleges and good jobs, seemingly with ease.

There is a large section of population that is the GC, but economically very backward, leading to perception of "cutting the line" by the RC section.

On top of this, affirmative action, whose purpose is to lift backward sections from isolation and integrate them into the larger society, both socially and economically, is applicable to generations upon generations of RC sections.

Additionally, RC has become a political tool, being a major topic in vote bank politics.

The original purpose was to level the playing field, where the caste and background of a person are shunned aside and the capabilities and hard work of him/her are recognized. However, that has now turned into a muddy mess, where caste and background of a person are the sole reason to allow him/her to move up in society.

All this has lead to a deep resentment in the newer generation of youth in India. Far from integrating the society, affirmative action seems to have fractured the lines even more.

Come the globalization revolution and you have a bunch of kids, capable and hard working from GC categories, who feel they are more rewarded for their work in countries like US and Europe, subconsciously feel they have to look out for "their own", because damn well the govt. is not going to.