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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Reserved about Reservations

Ever heard of a country where people are killed and buses are burnt just to be termed as a ‘Backward caste’? Ever heard of a people who turn the state topsy turvy just because they want to be termed as ‘minority’? Ever heard of arm twisting a billion people by dividing the nation on the basis of caste? It happens only in India.

This concept of ‘Reservation’ is so uniquely Indian. No where else in the world would you find anything that so vehemently divides its people on the basis of caste.

Reservations first began in 1921 when the Justice Party wanted to restrict Brahmins to 16% of the seats. In 1951, the first concrete measures were taken and 41% seats of educational institutions and government offices were reserved for the backward classes. And through time instead of reducing these caste reservations, they only seem to increase.

The underlying reasoning behind reservations is to give ‘Equal opportunity for all’. It is said that people from the backward classes have been oppressed and repressed for years. Hence they need to be given a head start by earmarking some seats for them in educational institutions, jobs and government offices. However this has proved to be more of a handicap to people who work their way up through merit. This logic may be true to some extent though I don’t approve of the methods used here.

Politicians hold no noble intentions of empowering the lower caste or anything closely gallant to that. It is only ‘Caste based politics’. The British taught us Divide and Rule and we faithfully want to carry on that legacy. Educated people don’t come out and vote. The poor and the backward classes are the only ones left. So they are bribed into these in exchange for the babu’s next seat in parliament.

It is a trade off. Politicians are trading off meritocracy and efficiency in general for their seat of power. Our premier colleges, institutions are subjected to sometimes as high as 50 % reservations. So the backward classes don’t need to prove their mettle. The 50 % students who work their way up poring over their books need to settle for something lesser. What a wonderful way to waste our national resources. It is a slap on the face of hard work and effort.

Would anyone in this whole wide world (politicians and so called Backward Castes included) ever risk their heart or appendix in the hands of an incompetent doctor? Would you ever want to construct a house on a rickety foundation thanks to an inept civil engineer? Then why do we hesitate to give merit a chance? Why do we bring roadblocks to dreams instead of constructing flyovers for them?

If the answer is ‘NO’ to the above questions, then who in the world is benefiting from such a system? The incumbent or the society? Of course it is only the vote hungry politician who is ostensibly gaining in the short run. Ostensible because they also belong to the great equalizing system called society. And nobody can escape the cascading effect this has on our system and our way of life.

And if you ever thought this helped in uplifting the backward classes, think again. The Dalits are still not allowed to enter high caste temples. Dalit women are still subjected to a lot of heinous crimes. They are still considered pollutants.

The recent uprising against the quota system was long due. In this country dreaming big and belonging to the ‘general merit’ category is a frustrating combination. You have to be either born with an ethereal gift of brains or develop wings and fly away to other countries that are making hay when the sun is shining. Most of us worldly beings simply prefer the second option. It is the only option more often than not. Studying abroad is as common as daylight in India. It is of no surprise how much higher educational institutions are benefiting out of us. Indians in US Colleges and jobs have given such an enormous thrust to their economy. And the exodus only continues.


I am not against reservations. I am against caste based reservations for professional courses. Reservations should be there for those in need of finance grass root levels.


It should there for people who cannot afford to go to school. Instead of a meaningless caste based system its time we focused on the poor. Its time we concentrated on the grass root level. We need to pull the children out of begging under traffic lights and fire cracker factories and send them to school. True empowerment starts from there. Only then the society and everyone in general would benefit. The needy need to be nourished and nurtured at that level. It is then when they are truly uplifted. Only then would rise above where they are now and hence help themselves and the society in general.

All this said and done, if you are a conscientious Indian you will agree with me.





5 Comments:

Blogger Sidharth Jain said...

Gr8 view put forward in an amazing way. Truely reminded me of the day when I saw my name in the waiting list of JEE. In full support of your view. In fact to bring up the so called "lower castes" its gud to provide them with free education, books etc.. at all levels and even at professional colleges but reservation truely is a hindrance in their as well as nations growth.

12:25 PM  
Blogger ItzAmyth said...

Before I make a point about reservations in India and the recent events just want to make a point on 'caste based' system. Putting across India as the only country which has caste based reservations might make it like a really weird country to say the least. But the thing is the oppressions took place based on caste. Elsewhere it took place based on colour of the skin. If they were to consider the race as caste, it would be the same. The point is here the people were sidelined based on caste and if there are to be any 'corrective' measures it has to be based on that. So on that note reservation and 'affirmative' action are equivalent.

In the last 3-4 weeks what has happened is slightly different from most other cases. The people could not tolerate the 'injustice' anymore. It is the people who want this. Why? The other 'community' which is the only one under the ST list has benefited a lot: atleast the community as a whole benefited. Over the decades becasue of reservations, people from this community occupy many important posts in all departments of the government. Whereas the ones who protested are at the bottom end of the society. When it all started - lets say in 1921 or 1943 - they were the same. So these people see the stark contrast and want similar benefits.

I am not defending their actions. I am just pointing out that this was started because 'the people' stood up for some thing what they believe is injustice. Its not political - as yet. I do not even know if they 'qualify' to be a ST.
But being in their shoes and experiencing the stark contrast, being in the bottom of the society, being uneducated and hungry and homeless I wonder what I would have done.

As educated we feel reservation is unfair. But they are not educated, not even literate probably. All they can see is some community like them got lots of benefits from the society, government etc. That community is propsering. To make things worse, the 'prposperous' community thends to help people of its own community. This is a general trend btw.

The problem lies in what I call 'groupism'. A tendency for humans to make up a group based on some criteria which is chosen according to some convenience so that a group is formed and they can defend and be safe. Its an instinct probably. Lets assume out of some miracle racism and casteism go away. There will be some other criterion on which humans will start regrouping. Each individual becomes a party to what he feels is right or where he benefits. Then they will start having differences and then it starts all over again.

(To draw a parallel - I have observed this in MBA as well. There is a prestiguious institute in India. Some alumni from here made it to some big time B schools in US sometime in past. Then the trend started that the alums make sure that others from this institute get all the info available and even recommendations in B schools they have studied at and the hit rate is very very good. Thats one type of groupism. Fair or otherwise I am not sure yet)

So its the people who are responsible not the politicians. Thats because of lack of 'education'.

11:25 PM  
Blogger Dajiba said...

hmmm,more than agree with views expressed.The basic intention of the reservations, the one dreamed by Dr. Ambedkar, is so much abused in our country, that can't help but think, if he would have been alive, he would have repented his actions.

2:58 AM  
Blogger Anoop said...

People fighting, agitating and burning buses and killing people to move themselves down the social ladder has to be to most defintive and conclusive argument against the continuation of caste based reservations. If you give in to their demand, whats stopping agitations from the millions of other castes in the country to demand to go down the ladder. !!! and we talk of upliftment. Good lord.

9:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Bhagwat

I believe its more a question the answer of which always will divide the people of India...

Would like to mention that the reservations are living due to constitutional amendments made from time to time..
And regarding the caste based reservation in the Indian constitution...Indian population is too big and the administratively it is too complex to give reservations individually based on economical backgrounds.. so certain castes were identified which were generally backward at that time of independece....
wat requires now is review on the list and exemption of the creamy layer and reservation for one generation ...

goodluck Bhagwat

4:27 AM  

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