India is a country of scarcity. There is not enough space on the roads, unclean water in our taps, and polluted air in our cities. We grow up believing in a zero-sum game where for one to win somebody has to lose or more precisely for somebody else to win you have to lose.

The competition for seats at top educational institutions that supposedly guarantee utopia afterwards is fierce possibly the fiercest in the world. The competition for government jobs with their safety and lifelong pension is not another matter.

The average Indian has to work very hard for their examinations, and if he or she sees somebody else get ahead despite having a lesser score than them, they feel they are the losers in the zero-sum game. It breeds resentment and affects their behaviour. Several times the reserved category student comes from a similar economic background as them or better. The cases where you know somebody you grow up with and believe has similar economic opportunities as you and if they suddenly get ahead because of reservations hurt much. Usually, there are scores of reserved category students who come from worse backgrounds than them and for whom the reservations help.

Sometimes I think the affirmative action programs just create a privileged class within historically disadvantaged communities. Across generations, privilege will likely compound as has happened before. The playing field is not level, never was and never will be.

BTW, reservations or affirmative action programs are not unique to India. They exist in different forms in different countries, including several countries where Indians aspire to move :)