India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh is a classic example of the failure of the reservation policy in ensuring true socio-economic upliftment of the targeted beneficiaries. Be it the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes or the OBCs, the benefit of reservation has been largely confined to a limited group within these communities. Social scientists have little hesitation in acknowledging that reservation has been used in Uttar Pradesh as a political tool — not a social or economic tool.