Reservation woes

The Supreme Court has stayed the the government's bill providing OBC sections with 27% reservation in premier institutions like the IITs and IIMs. The union government in response has declared it's commitment to social justice and that there will be no compromise. The words ring hollow. Karunanidhi cries that the verdict is shocking, and goes on to declare a state wide bundh. He declared it a success as well, most definitely succeeded in affecting the state's economy for a day, not to mention the undue trouble caused to over 10 lakh commuters using the public transport.
The Supreme Court decision is apt and does indeed question the government's standing on this issue. Some notable quotes from the verdict which slam the government:

"Nowhere else in the world is there competition to assert backwardness and then to claim we are more backward than you. This truth was recognised as an unhappy and disturbing situation and such situation was noted by this court as a stark reality in Indra Sawhney's case [Mandal case]."

"It has also to be noted that nowhere else in the world do castes, classes or communities queue up for the sake of gaining backward status."

"the reservation policy cannot be and should not be intended to be permanent or perpetuate backwardness."

"Equality of opportunity depends not only on absence of disabilities but on presence of abilities"

It is true that we have a serious issue at hand, and that being the backward classes(SC/ST and OBCs) are yet to become an integral part of our society, and in fact still continue to be marginalised. It's a shame that our HRD minister, Arjun Singh, comes up with further reservation policies to address this issue. The government has no clear solution, and the reservation card is just a move in the game of vote-bank politics. What is the point in reserving an IIT seat for an individual, when the government has ignored his basic education? The quality of education provided at government schools throughout the country is outright pathetic, students remain ill-equipped to compete with their counterparts studying in private schools. The students for whom these seats are reserved for will never seat them, instead the financially affluent among the backward classes(being able to send their children to private schools) will remain the sole benefactors.
The solution is 2-pronged, we first need to improve our government schools. The issue of improving the conditions of lower castes is invariably linked to their poverty. The government has to ensure quality primary and secondary education to the poor. That itself will put them on par with the general category of students. Second, reservation at educational institutes should be based on the financial situation of applicants. A visible time-limit will have to be set, to discontinue the reservation mechanism.
But our politicians remain more bothered about retaining power than inking innovative solutions to the problems that the country faces. So this may not be the last that we hear of the reservation issue, I am sure it will be dragged into the nation's view again, and our shameless politicians will milk the issue to the very last drop.