ABSTRACT
When is it justified to have a target population in mind and when is it not? It is true that there are times when it is necessary for the state to address a specific issue that concerns a defined section of the population. However, these should not be permanent features but applicable only in emergency situations and to a small and well demarcated category. In India, many poverty oriented policies have lasted for decades and they slowly become nodes of vested interests. The record shows that this approach has not only failed to deliver, but failed miserably. This, in turn, has given rise to variety of social distortions, and some of them are quite serious. To illustrate this point, three major areas have been taken for examination. The first is the clutch of programmes that are specifically anti-poor; second, the policy of Reservations, particularly for the Other Backward Classes; and finally, the manner in which the working class has been segregated internally and externally.
