Introduction: The Unspoken Bias
Every year, thousands of General Category (GC) aspirants pack their bags for Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi the so-called “Ivy League” of UPSC prep. They burn through family savings, borrow money, or take part-time jobs just to afford coaching classes.
Meanwhile, government-sponsored coaching centers like Bhagidari Bhawan in Lucknow offer fully funded support coaching, hostel, food, and stipends but only for SC, ST, and OBC candidates.
The cost of this support? Paid largely by the same GC taxpayers who are not only excluded from the benefits but forced to compete against those who had years of extra help and relaxed cutoffs.
This is not welfare. This is state-funded discrimination.
Caste-Exclusive Coaching: Welfare or Apartheid?
Let’s call it what it is the government is running caste-exclusive programs. Schemes like:
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Bhagidari Bhawan, Lucknow
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Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana (Delhi)
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Dr. Ambedkar Centres for Excellence (central universities)
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Residential coaching programs exclusively for minorities and SC/ST students
These are fully funded — from your taxes — and explicitly closed to General Category students, even those who are poor, rural, and marginalized in every other way except caste.
Imagine a poor Brahmin or Kayastha aspirant from Bihar or UP. No scholarships. No hostel. No coaching support. Just full expectations and zero state backing.
Bhagidari Bhawan, Lucknow — Govt-funded UPSC coaching for SC/ST/OBC only.
Meanwhile, General Category aspirants rot in Mukherjee Nagar, paying from their own pocket.
For a GC taxpayer, this isn’t welfare — it’s betrayal.
Yet they demand 100% reservation — govt and private —… pic.twitter.com/rPrz3AgAQT
— Parihar HIMANSHU Singh🦅 (@King_himanshu08) June 3, 2025
Unequal Cutoffs, Unequal Chances
It gets worse. After receiving years of state help, reserved category candidates are still:
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Allowed to write exams till age 35+ (GC cutoff is 32)
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Given 2 extra attempts
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Selected with cutoffs that are 10–15% lower
If coaching and support are unequal, shouldn’t the final selection at least be equal? Shouldn’t the battlefield be level by the time you reach the exam?
Even many from reserved categories now quietly say: “Give us help, fine but keep the cutoff same for all.”
GC Taxpayers: Paying for Their Own Exclusion
This is the ultimate irony. General Category citizens:
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Receive no reservation in education or jobs
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Get no scholarships or fee waivers
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Are excluded from most welfare schemes
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And yet… pay the majority of India’s income tax
So they fund the very schemes that exclude them.
This is not “affirmative action.” This is “funded exclusion.” It’s taxation without representation in welfare.
“5,000 Years of Discrimination” But Where’s the Proof?
The justification for all this is: “They suffered for 5,000 years.”
But which UPSC aspirant in 2025 actually discriminated against anyone?
Where’s the proof that a 23-year-old GC student from a lower-middle-class background benefitted from historical oppression?
Should a young GC girl — struggling to pay rent in Delhi — be punished for a caste hierarchy she neither created nor benefitted from?
Real Voices, Real Frustration
Quotes flooding social media say it all:
“We’re not anti-reservation. We’re anti-injustice.”
“If you give free coaching, fine. But keep the cutoff the same.”
“I fund my own exclusion. My taxes build the system that shuts me out.”
This isn’t hate. It’s heartbreak.
The Middle Ground: Reform, Not Abolition
This article doesn’t call for the end of all reservations. It calls for a conversation. A rebalancing.
We need:
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Reservation with a creamy layer cap in all categories
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Equal coaching access based on income, not caste
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Same cutoffs if the exam is the same
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More support for truly poor GC students under EWS
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Transparency and RTI access to caste-benefit allocations
Fairness doesn’t mean treating everyone identically. But it should never mean punishing one group to help another.
PM CARES for All — Or Just a Few?
The PM CARES Fund, built on donations from all Indians including General Category taxpayers is being used to provide free coaching, hostels, and stipends exclusively to SC, OBC, and PM CARES Children scheme beneficiaries.
That means poor General Category students, no matter how deserving, are completely excluded.
If the fund is for all, why are benefits caste-restricted?
Is this social justice or just state-backed exclusion?
Conclusion: True Justice Is Inclusive
We cannot build an equal society by excluding today’s youth in the name of history.
Welfare based on caste alone is no longer social justice, it’s social division.
Empower the weak, regardless of caste. Help the poor, not just the politically favored. And let merit breathe again.
Until then, let’s call this what it is a state-funded betrayal of General Category aspirants.
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