All over the news channels, there have been only three bits of news for the past one week - The IPL (for obvious reasons), the Aarushi murder case (don't know how a murder case can be made so sensational in a country where hundreds of people are killed daily) and the Gujjar Crisis. The third one was according to me the most important one.
Even if you read just a tad bit, its difficult not to run into articles about the caste equations and the reservation policies in the country. Just my luck or maybe some unintentional blog searches, I just happened to hit a number of blogs with some people's views on this issue.
The Supreme court judgment on the OBC quotas in the educational institutes raised a very valid and important question. It said that in the past 60 years of reservations, the number of castes in the reserved category has increased manifold. So, does that mean India is getting more backward. I think someone should ask this question to the government which claims that under its rule, India is progressing. If this is the definition of progress, then the country is better off being backward.
And I realized one thing, that this issue is affecting everyone, no one is ready to step up to have an open and intellectual discussion on the issue. I just a read sarcastic joke in some random blog:
A Question paper in an Exam
For General Category : Answer All Questions
For OBC : Answer any 3 questions
For SC : Read the questions
For ST : Thank You for coming
Others joke around by saying that there should be 100% reservation.
The important thing is not whether these jokes are good or bad, the issue is whether anyone is ready to do anything to improve the situation.
The situation is turning so bad that the Gujjar community just for the sake of reservation is ready to hold the country to ransom by blocking roads and railway lines hence cutting off the supplies to an area.
The youth of this country is trying to fight back through forums like the Youth for Equality. Any person ,even the most staunch supporter of reservations, if coming with an open mind would have difficulty in answering the questions posed by them.
You might have guessed by now that I am totally anti-reservation and pro-merit. The point I would like to raise is that ultimately all the people need to compete in the world, the problem facing an engineer or a doctor would not solve itself easily just because that person is from a deprived sections of the society so to say.
The reservation policy that was brought about by the great visionary Dr.Ambedkar had intended to dissolve the caste barriers in the country, rather it has widened the cracks in the society. Dr. Ambedkar would have been deeply saddened if he saw that the step he had proposed to break the barriers in the society has divided it further.
The government is just cover its failure of providing basic education to the people by providing sops in the form of reservations. It always shys away from the question of primary and secondary education system in the country. Enough people in the deprived classes of the country are not even able to complete their basic schooling. The important thing is not to alleviate just a handful of people in the backward communities, its about uplifting entire communities. That can only be done if the lower levels of education are strengthened rather than breeding mediocrity in higher education.
If the situation doesn't improve, then the agitations of the present Gujjar agitation kind would become a common scene across India.
Now, I am totally for the upliftment of society and the backward classes but I am not in favor of the method being adopted to do the same. The injustice caused to some classes a hundred years ago should not be the reason of them getting an unfair advantage now.
I have a lot of friends from different sections of the society. And I guess all of them know that this is not against anyone in particular. I never saw who is from which section before befriending them. This is the thinking of the progressive new generation of India and I think this is what should be encouraged rather than trying to divide the new generation.
Its the moral responsibility (if the politicians understand this word) of the leaders of this country try and remove the barriers in society rather than deepening them. This can only be done by awareness and education which the government has put on a back-burner for a long long time. I sincerely hope that a miracle takes place and the country truly and inclusively progresses.
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8 comments:
ppl(read basu) plz forgive the long comment that is coming up :P
nicely written amul :) its really good point u put forward. there is this news article i came across a few days back about "sarath babu" an iim ahmedabad graduate who decided to leave every single lucrative job that came his way and started his own catering business.
complete coverage here : http://ia.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/31spec.htm
there is a very valid point he put forward. even i would second that. i have no issues with people getting reservation benefits, seriously i dont... but the point which troubles me the most is, why should one family get the benefits generations after generations... reservations for whatever reason should be limited to only one generation in any family. if a person who gets the advantages cant use it to improve the conditions for his future generations then i guess the whole idea gets defeated. and the politicians for once should leave the vote bank gaining mentality aside and genuinely think about the good of the nation, but then who am i kidding... its just a wishful thinking from my side :)
reseravtions has been a gold egg laying hen for Indian political system. Somehow, even people seem to entrapped into this appartition for quite some time, without really anaylsing the actual benefits. I agree with Kris that very few actual needy people have benefiited from it.
Amul has raised a very valid point and i hope ki we cld have pragmatic solution which really enables upliftment of backwards.
But for a lack of life, I wouldn't be reading this.On a serious not though, I agree with Krishna, India needs reservations, but with checks in place.
Checks such as the number of generations and the family income, and personally I don't think there should be any reservation for med students or for post-grads.
For engineering it's not that bad, after all we know how freaking critical the work we do is.
And Amul, we know you can do better, I get my news from google , I don't want it from you. Gimme something more personal.
@KK
How effing long was that comment, and on top of that LINKS!!! If I could read that much I wouldn't be a 8 pointer in IT-BHU CSE.
-basu
nice article Abhijit. keetp it going. totally agree with you. reservations are never necessary and only deteriorate the quality of our education and divide the Naton and have already done an irreversible harm to the unity of our Nation. it is time to abolish the reservations and establish true equality among all the people of the Nation and let the meritorious people get the opportunity that they deserve. the only way to truly help the weaker sections is to provide education, health, food and scholarships and loans to poor people. these caste, religion and region based reservations only benefit rich people in so called caste based "weaker sections". The people in all other countries want to be called advanced and don't want any concessions from the Government. shamefully our country has people who are competing to be branded as backward sections and asking for crutches in the name of quota system. our country can never become a superpower as long as we divide ourselves along caste, religion, region, linguistic, sex related criteria. what is happening to my country? if every caste, religion, region, linguistic group starts demanding quota for itself and separate state/area for itself, how will India be united? I am very scared about the future of our nation. Is this the country that Bhagat Singh, RajGuru, Sukhdev and Netaji hoped for and sacrificed their lives for? these ugly Political parties and greedy, power hungry politiians are instigating hatred between different communities. I am very concerned about India's unity as I see more chaos in Africa and other countries which have infighting/civil wars between different groups. our current Politicians have no values and only want to hang on to power by any means and they don't have any concern about the long term wellbeing and harmony of our Nation. it is time we get rid of these shameless and corrupt Politicans and abolish all reservations and declare our Great Nation as a country that values freedom, Liberty and equality to all peoples regardless of their caste, creed, color, religion, language, region, sex etc. change will come but only when people start recognizing the importance of this change and stand up against these crony Politicians. this may involve a struggle as big and intense as our freedom struggle itself. Jai Hind!-SB2008
Reservations have of course been a cause of concern for past few years and it is not totally untrue that for political leaders it has been merely a source of winning the confidence and support of, shall I say underprivileged or not so fortunate sections of society, though I no longer am able to associate the meaning of these words to the sections being referred to.
I dont support the methods being used by political parties for reservation purpose bt one thing that concerns me more is why are the brilliant aspirants of our country so indulged in opposing these moves by the government (specially when the motives behind them is crystal clear) rather than devoting themselves in whatever they aspire for, because in my opinion, the merit and hard work never goes unrewarded. Any amount of reservation quotas cant stop a meritorious person from achieving his/her goal.
So.....if a person opposes this moronic method adopted as a solution for up gradation of backward sections of society because he/she thinks that the means are wrong and can never be able to achieve the goals....I totally agree with him..bt if his opposition is based on the thought that reservation may hinder the growth of our country just because it will prevent a meritorious guy from doing what he could have done, had this reservations not brought into effect.......well that is something I cant sport..........
@basu
first of... quit bragging about your 8gpa.. at least in front of me :P you are doing no good showing me down dude :D am pretty content with my 6.9 he he he... and looking at the rest of the comments, i guess u better learn to live with the length of comments now :)
nice blog..poorta forum bana dia :P
good points u have come up with.. specially.. the number of castes included in reservations is increasing.. which means india going backwards...
this issue can never be resolved.. n it will worsen in the coming years..
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