Synopsis Caste-based reservations have existed in India for more than a century. Initially introduced by the British to bring about equal opportunity in education, reservation was later extended to other sectors of the development process to overcome the economic inequalities attributed to caste. Even today, concepts like affirmative action and quotas are being debated to justify reservation.  Caste-Based Reservations and Human Development in India analyses the impact of such reservations on the target groups, as well as on major human development indices, taking into consideration time series data. An alternative strategy of applying the democratic principle of caste-based reservation is also discussed.