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April 7, 2006
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The decision of the Central Govt. to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission, and increase reservations for SC/ST/OBC to 49.5% is apalling, and dangerous. Reservations have never worked, and with this step, deserving, intelligent candidates will be denied their rightful opportunities and mediocrity will be condoned just so that the political parties can get some political mileage. This is an infringement of our rights, and the day won’t be far when us, the general public will have to fight for reservations, and the backward castes will be the dominant demographical force in the country. With this, not only is it harder for people to get into the colleges that they deserve to study in, the overall quality of education in the country will fall drastically as the quality of students will depreciate. These people whom we give reservations, and concessions will be the one running our country, and will only accelerate the brain drain as the more intelligent people will make their way out of the country where their merits and hard work will be duly appreciated instead of being upstaged by some flunky son of a minister who never worked hard in his life, and can barely work out the simple problems of everyday life, let alone be the backbone of this country’s economic, political and academic structure. This move on the behalf of the Govt. disgusts me, and we must ensure that this act is repealed, and our rights are preserved. Please send the following email to the NDTV address and also forward it to everyone you know who might be interested in saving the future of our country from being sold down the river in return for a few paltry votes. Please feel free to suggest any other measures that can be taken to force the Govt. to repeal this act.
Dear informed citizens of India,
Though most of you will be busy with exams, I find it ironic that the
education system that is busy making all of you slog is morphing into
one which will serve a death blow to the concept of merit.
For those not clued in, the recent announcements from the Ministry of
HRD have re-instated the provisions of the Mandal Commission
recommendations of 1980 of reserving 27% of all seats in institutes of
higher education being centrally funded for OBC’s. In effect, this
alongwith the quota already administered for SC’s and ST’s ricochets
the quota to a staggering 49.5 %
This act will come into being in institutions such as Delhi
University, IIT’s, IIM’s and other prominent institutes on which India
prides itself. To create reservations for 49.% of the total seats
completely undermines every notion of the so called “equality” it
seeks to bring about.
The concept of reservations in India has not worked for 50 years, and
this guideline too is a more populist measure aimed at the “aam
aadmi’s” vote, while cutting away from the real reasons that foster an
ever increasing urban-rural divide. Instead of focusing on increased
infrastructure creation, strengthening the rural school systems and
quality of education, creating trained manpower, cutting corruption
and so on, the administration has instead played the reservation card
yet again.
Think about it. In the year 2006 itself, 49.5% of the seats shall be
reserved in DU. It is hard enough for a student in todays day and age
even with 85% to get into a good college. Now the chances, which were
not too bright to begin with, are slashed by half.
If you have a younger sibling who is giving his/her board
examinations, or you yourself are planning to get into an IIM, you
have a reason to be angry.
The next steps:
CAMPAIGN AGAINST INCREASE IN RESERVATIONS
I strongly oppose the proposed increase in reservations. This will
serve a death blow to anybody’s hope of getting into an institution
solely based on merit. It completely undermines the very notion of
equality. The country is doomed if merit and hard work are going to be
ignored in favour of reservations based on caste.
Please copy this and paste it onto a fresh mail. Put your name at the
bottom and send it to feedback@ndtv.com
Our goal is to get atleast 1500 signed petitons by this Sunday. Please
flood the NDTV inboxes or send an sms on 6388.
NOTE: Please note that this campaign in on a purely individual level.
For those who are in favour of this policy, i welcome your opinions to
initiate debate on this issue. To those not in favour of this policy,
I will also urge you to only sign the petition after giving the issue
due thought and not out of the need for being involved socially after
getting inspiration from Rang De Basanti, as in the Jessica Lall case,
where unfortunately I met people who seemed to be fascinated more by
the thrill of being socially active than having a concrete viewpoint
or opinion against the injustice.
All said and done, it is time that we play a more dominant role into
shaping our own education system.
49 Comments Add your own
Powerful writing but to develop
the knowledge of actually going around.Keep smiling
well
yes, gud post Bhanuj!
@Uthfull,. the NDTV petition is a
good thing. It’s a barometer of public opinion. And you don’t need
to sms them, just email them.
Shouldn’t SC/ST/OBC be treated equally? And if they are treated
equally why is there a special reservation for them anyway?!! It
seems they get a special treatment!
Reservations are a
must, I’m not sure what actual percentage of seats should be
reserved, but they should, since there aren’t many workable
alternatives . The only problem is that in many cases reservations
actually dont go to the people for whom they are meant for, but to
already well off people in the backward communities. And who said
reservatiosn don’t work, ask any educated dalit and they will tell
you that they woudn’t have gone anywhere without reservation.
You said ‘backward castes will be the dominant demographical
force in the country’. In fact backward castes are already a
demographic force in the country, they’re way more than 60% of
India’s population.
“These people whom we give reservations,
and concessions will be the one running our country “-
Who’s we
and who’s they, we’re all Indians buddy, everyone has a stake in
our country, low castes need reservations and if you feel wronged
you have the right to protest.
And yes, reservations are about
equality, if brahmins and dalits had been treated equally over the
centuries, they’re would never be the need the reservations.
This is not a Manmohan Singh move,
but an Arjun Singh move. He’s trying to show thst he’s the next
Prime-Minister in waiting. Bleh, i have no patience for Indian
politicians.
Its wierd this whole
thing about reservation!
Up to a certain level incentivising
education makes sense - ex free primary education.
But beyond
that …it reeks of nothing but vested interests and a severe
myopia!!
Then again I wonder does the government really depend
on any sociological experiments or findings to base such decisions
on??
Good post!
its
manmohan singhs brainchild, this move. It was in todays newspaper .
I stand by what I
said, reservation is about equality and its a must for for lower
castes in India. Its about righting a wrong not treating some people
more equally.Reservations in say
premier institutions like IIT’s
and IIM’s are debatable. But in all other central gvt institutions,
upto higher education levels seats should be reserved, and its not
as if around 80% is being reserved, it only 27%. Providing good
schools for low castes would be great, but where are they. Its never
gonna happen, or its a long way off.Today all good primary and high
schools are in private hands, its only at the degree and higher level
that there are a few good gvt institutions.Till that day comes
reservations should continue. Again who says reservations haven’t
worked, it does work, countless lower caste Indians have used it as a
way to get out the rut they were in for centuries.
About the
comparison btw the poor brahmin and the rich dalit, the poor brahmin
deserved nothing. He is a member of a community that had all the
tools for success since ancient times.My monopolising education and
oppressing lower castes, they relegated dalits and their ilk to
dirty menial work.
Why am I talking about this, because
reservation is one way the lower castes can be pulled up. Granted
rotten apples could get in, but those people will make sure their
next generations wont need reservation.
Your idea of
reservation by economic merit is foolhardy, in the US affirmitive
action is available for blacks , not for white
trash.
–’I’m not saying that there aren’t lower
caste people who don’t work hard, but their hard work becomes
secondary, because it doesn’t matter how hard they work, there
are always gonna be lazy’
Whoa- I think you are the one being
insulting, a typical high caste attitude; everybody else is lazy
,theyre the only ones doing the hard work.
@injunjoe:
Reservations in
Central government universities are fine? Oh really? And what do you
mean by ONLY 27%?! First of all, in case you don’t know, it’ll be
49.5% now. Secondly, 27% is not “only” either. Do you know how many
meritorious students would be left behind due to this “only” 27%
reservation? And who’ll benefit? The smug dullards who simply don’t
study but use their caste to get through some good institution. And
if I’m not wrong, you talked about treating people eqaully, right?
Where’s the equality here? It’s discrimination on the basis of a
person’s caste. Plain discrimination. And reservartions work? Yes,
they do. For those lower castes who are from already well-educated
families and they simply use this system. Do you they’ll study when
they know that they’ll simply get through on the basis of their
caste?
A friend of mine applied to the Symbiosis Institute of
Business Management, a very reputed B-school. You know what the
cut-offs were?
General: 97.5
SC/ST: 24
24? Is it some kind
of joke? Even if you were blindfolded and ticked every darn answer
(it’s an MCQ test), you’d still get more than that. Such candidates
will just make lousy managers.
And then, take the case of AIIMS
and other medical schools. There’s gonna be 49.5% reservation for
M.D. as well! What a joke that is! I mean, a lower caste person who
cannot pull himself through all these years in school, medical
college etc. will be offered a seat on a platter? Would you entrust
your life in the hands of such a “doctor”?
And you say the “poor
Brahmin deserved nothing”? Excuse me? Now, who’s discriminating?
YOU. And what a contradiction that is from your previous stance where
you blabbered about equality. Yes, in the past, Brahmins were
powerful. So? Does that mean that the poor Brahmin kid doesn’t
deserve a chance just because he belongs to a caste which was
powerful in the past? Live in the present. Dalits were ill-treated in
the past but now, the rich ons have all the resources. You’re saying
that they still want reservations? Is this some kind of revenge?
- I think you are the one being insulting, a typical high
caste attitude; everybody else is lazy ,theyre the only ones doing
the hard work.
And I think you’re being just another
reservations supporter who’s using all sorts of illogical reasons to
prove that his stance is right. Yes, the SCs/STs/OBCs who don’t work
hard and get into some good college on the basis of their caste are
lazy, to put it mildly. WE do the hard work (we, as in, any student)
and what do we see? Some dull, lazy, RICH lower-caste guy taking away
our seat.
I’m not saying that lower caste people don’t deserve
an education but what I want is that there should be equal rules for
all. Why should the poor upper-caste student walk away from the
college of his dreams for someone whose father drives around in a
Merc but has an SC/ST/OBC certificate. That’s exactly what’s
happening now. Not that the government isn’t aware of this but it
won’t ban the children of high level
bureaucrats/politicians/doctors/engineers etc., who made it from
these quotas. Why do the second generation kids need these
reservations? Just to take a revenge from “the poor Brahmin” who you
said committed atrocities on Dalits some 2-3 centuries ago?
@Injunjoe, just listen to yourself
will you? You sound exactly like the Mayawati brigade. Do you really
believe all the stuff you spewed?
And since you brought up
affirmative action, let me tell you what’s the difference between
that and reservations. One, affirmative action has no set quantities
or quotas, and it doesn’t allow institutions to take sub-standard
students.
Two, the reason for affirmative action isn’t any
antiquated rhetoric about how the african americans were screwed over
by the whites 300 years ago. The reason is racial diversity, and
every institute is allowed to decide how much diversity they want,
according to the number of minorities they already have.
And
are you telling me that there were no OBCs who could get into these
colleges before just by studying hard??
Your logic is
illogical and antiquated. Think it over before spewing it all out on
a public blog.
gosh people what are
we heading to another dark age or what ?
cant goverment
understand its not of any use to give reservation as the situation
has not improved in the last half century nor would it now
the
politicians should understand that primary education is what needs to
be given dur importance as if now the people who are really the
reserved are not even getting the reservation utilised as they are
not even primary educated how could u do betterment for them in high
technical courses wwhen they are yet to clear primary education
wake up n see the reality the reservation is not reaching those who
need them then y are u forcing everyone else to belive in a wrond
caste system
dr ambedkar had put forward the resrvation to end
the caste system and u my dear politicians of today are again
favouring caste system to get ur greedy votes thats seriously
disgusting
an appeal to the power holders to act with mind not
…………………………………………………… (u know
what)
nirvanholic,
’spewing my venom on a public blog’- Thats ur
opinion, and yes I do believe in what i spew… if you don’t want
to hear my opinion take it off your blog, what do you want-everyone
to have the same opinion as you, if you don’t agree with what I
have to say then lets agree to disagree. Reservations is about
equality-, rich lower caste people taking advantage of quotas is a
loophole and can be closed without enfringing on the rights of
deserving sections of the same community
‘Affirmitive action is
for racial diversity’–hahaha, thats a good one, if thats was the
case then why are there are no seats for chinese and indian
americans.
girl who sold the world-’revenge’ I never
used that word, its positive discrimination. Reservation is not about
taking revenge on higher castes but giving a helping hand to a
person from a backward community.And why the heck do you guys keep
talking about some lousy guy who takes advantage of the system(poor
higher caste guy vs rich lower caste guy), 10 times their number
benefit from reservation. And yes the brahmin kid deserved nothing,
because hes already 10 paces ahead of the lower caste
guy.’Atrocities being committed on dalits 2 centuries ago’-read the
news , its happening right now too.
Fine…. if the govt. wants to go ahead with
the reservations, it can. But then there should be a rule which
states that once a “family” (not a person) avails the benefit of a
reservation, then it cannot enjoy reservation anywhere again.
Ok, so Im retarded
and I am a bigot, anything else you high caste fascist. You know what
people like you deserve it. For too long lower castes have been
played around,most people who drop out of IIT’s are from SC/St
quotos, so be it, a half baked engineer is still better then no
engineer at all. Who says reservations have held back our country,
its been barely 50+ yrs since they have been in force, what you
expect people who have been in chains for centuries to suddenly rise
up and compete with the rest.
Reservations for rapists and
murderers, sounds convincing coming from a pighead like you
Hahaha. High Caste fascist?? I
don’t even have any idea what caste i belong to. And reservations
for rapists and murders was an example to show how ridiculous
reservations are.
Btw, 50 years is a pretty long time. What
reservations do is blunt ambition, which in turn actually slows the
progress of the lower castes. Maybe you should take a look at
yourself instead of blaming the so-called oppressive higher castes
for your troubles. Just ask yourself one question. What have the
lower castes done to improve their own conditions? Play in the hans
of politicans who keep the casteism isue alive just to garner votes.
Hurray for lower caste sado-masochism.
Ok, listen, even though i don’t
support SC/ST reservations either, i can understand the reasoning for
them, but OBCs are over 50% of the population. They are not treated
as untouchables. And they have the choice to work for their own
upliftment. Nothing gives them the right to have reservations ahead
of someone in their own financial conditions just because of their
caste. Nothing can justify that.
hi guys, i am a doctor residing in india. i belong to scheduled
caste but i always scored high enough on medical entrance exams
including USMLE to come to USA. never used reservation. we were well
off to begin with but my dad struggled as an SC child. but i
definitely think the reservations need to continue . SC/ STs’ still
live in subhuman conditions in india and as long as there are
reservations they can atleast hope to come up in life.centuries of
oppression have blunted minds and mindsets and we need to be given a
helping hand. my fellow SC’ST s’ still live outside the villages
and are not allowed in schools and even into the villages . how can
they enter IIT or med schools without help?
I am with you at the
idea of special coaching and public schools as in Europian counties
but in our country that won’t work because whatever is public in our
country is not good at all and upper caste people are in dominating
number in thease public services are not able to manage it upto the
standard (perhaps they are lazy) hence if I am free to demand then I
will not be able to demand anything sort of public school or public
coaching coz I have less belief in it — running of public sector by
those lazy morons–efficiently.
In
the end , he who has to clear will clear even if only 1% seats are
there and people like me cant even if all the seats were thrown open.
All that is needed is effort and proper planned hard work, i cant do
that . so i will open ma company and employ all you IITians and
IIMians, coz theres no reservation as yet fr entereprenrs, and i care
hell even if there is, coz in a country in which i am livin(though me
proud of it) , u can jus burn yourself to prove a point and even
thats not guranteed.so chill people, i think lets not defeat the
secular face of this country fr few seats even if bloddy ministers
like Mr arjun singh use their HRD powers to cache in on some
votes,and as the recent surveys show, it hasnt done him any good, So
keep patience and everythin will turn out to be what is required. and
send it to the editors of newspapers also wat u write here on net,
coz let those OBC’s and SC/ST’s who are actually SC/ST’s and OBCs
know that they are recognised in a my country, in ur
country..
In the end it doesnt even
matter….
Prabhdeep. www.roobaroo-yu.blogspot.com
Guys situation in NIT
(I think it just below IIT in fame) is totally different. In NITs 50%
of students are from the state where it is situated and 50% are
equitably devided among other states. It is because that funding of
college is 50% from central fund and 50% from state fund. There is
person from Uttar Pradesh who has fought competition so fiercely that
when coming to NIT he is half swollen and there were guys (upto 2002
enter) from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujrat who didn’t face
competition but came through merit of their PCM marks. If you will
try to compare then a SC/ST from Uttar Pradesh has faced rigorous
competition than guys from those states BUT this fact is not
acceptable since other are open and one is reserved. Come to the
front and know that guys from UP and Bihar are majority in number in
IITs (IAS also) this is because of two factors: one is popullation
and other is sacrifice of years in order to satisfy a will to study
in IIT or get a top notch job. Can you compare a three year dropper
general guy and a fresh SC/ST guy??? Make comparisons and you are
most confused person. In India its hardest work to make comparisons
because India has Unity in Diversity–One feature that takes my
breaths in. I love my country and I love my countrymen and I
understand that if politicians have exploited the reservation fully
in past 50 years then situation might have been different like all of
you would be supporting reservations BUT now is the time to exploit
it if not by government then by people…Make it available to the
needful workout join some Asha or Disha for two months as volunteer
and enlighten the needful. I know you won’t do that coz We don’t
have time and money then why hate… thats benefiting socially
underpreviledged??
My friend Aryan has easily accepted that
SC/ST are rotten fish….then work lies here to unrotten them so your
pool will be cleaner…give me some solutions if you can provided its
practical and viable not like throughing away..
Thanks to
prabhdeep… to accept atleast on the net.
BTW reservation
persisted for more than 50 years and year by year.. day by day
quality of IITs and IIMs improved continuously instead of diminishing
IF Aryan were quite right.
If you go globally then you will
realize how much our country will score on this point that here
underpreviledged are given solution like reservation….
@Prabhdeep, it matters man, it
matters a lot.
@Brijesh
I said
rotten fish, doesn’t mean only sc/st( hope i’ve told you tht m also
frm obc ) tht includes obc too and thts only for those who don’t
deserve tht level no matter whether frm general or reservation… so
b +ve and think lik, lets make things better not worst…
dude…
i just said rotten fishes shud not b allowed to inter,
better u make them up to that level then u’ll find the real result,
givin heroic statement is too easy, n by tht you r makin fool urself
and your community, bein an engg, you shud think lik tht, not lik a
sheep followin his/her leader or not lik a kid blindly followin for a
lollypop named reservation.
n perhaps u don’t knw or
completely misunderstand the word GLOBAL, dear….
wot i said,
or meant to say, there is something in india(every body proud for
tht), which is above sc/st/obc/general/politicians for which no
educated indian(better say mature person, no matter how selfish
he/she is) wud lik to compromise, and thts nothin but IITs and
IIMs…
if u can’t think upto tht level, thts not ur fault nor
punishable coz india is independent…
sorry m endin here,
can’t give ny more time, coz life for me is not as much easy as you
ppl, nor i’ve ny reservation or ny background support so tht i can
continue such discussions and waste time n mind….m really
sorry…
at d end, sorry if i hurted ny body( reservation or
general )…
Thnx bbye…
Aryan…
THIS
is sandeep thawani engg student 1 year.This decision taken by gov
shows that how much it is concern about educational growth of our
country.this can decline the education quality of our country.this is
all due to our week political system.It seems in greed of votes this
decision is taken.Great institution famous in world like iim iims all
will loose there reputation and level due to this.upto 20% is too
much.EDUCATION SHOULD BE EQUAL FOR ALL,SO WHY RESERVATION?HAS OUR
EDUCATION BECAME THE MEENS OF RESERVATION?WE ARE BORN IN GENERAL
CASTE HAS BECAME CURSE FOR US.
IF U WANT TO GIVE BENIFT TO ST AND
SC GIVE BENIFT IN JUST FEES BUT NOT IN FORM OF RESERVATION .THIS ONLY
MY SUGG
THANKS
omg so many and long
ocmments?
Why directors of IIM
are providing supportive base for more reservation??? Any comments?
I don’t know whether
you will be reading this cooment or not. Anyhow, I am surprised by
the stand you have taken. You all seem to be highly educated, well
read and so on. But my dear friends, have you ever given a thought
about our country, the people. Don’t you all, including
Me…represent just the elite of our country. When we are pushed
against the wall for someones benefit, we respond. Otherwise we are
lethargic.
You guys talk about that govt. should provide basic
infrastructre and so on, to bring them (if they are below) on par, I
wonder what has govt. done, in any field. It’s all about
individuals. We have been Unsuccessfull as a country in a lot of
issues. The point here is not to blame govt. and so on, I am too
against reservation, but the point is is there any alternative, a
holistic approach needs to be taken.
There was a comment from
an Aryan, and than from Brijesh…I wonder how easy it is to talk.
That all we have learnt from the British….To discuss in Oxford
haw-haw. When I say this all, one needs to remember that OBC
reservation is there in most of South, why didn’t than you
responded, why the lull than? No answers, I belive. South has started
living with it.
Anyhow, either you can take march at
Jantar-Mantar, India Gate. Please one or two can burn yourself for
others sake. Some can write blogs. Or you can form a unit or
something provide alternatives. OR you can just learn to live with
it. I don’t know if that would be called Escapism or so.
For
me its Unsuccessfullness of the country, the society.
reservations r only
political drama. our leaders want ppl to fight among themselves.these
leaders r least bothered abt the development of the country if they r
so concerned abt these reserved catagories they can get treatments
only frm sc/st doctors when they r ill. do u think they take
treatment frm reserved catagories?it should be made compulsary for
all political leaders that they should be treated with these ppl
only.
The
debate on reservation issue seems to have spread far and wide. But no
one is going to benefit from it except the Congress in the UP
elections. However still we can debate on the topic. and why not?
After all it is a democratic country.
Have any of you noticed the
picture of Arpita Majumdar on national dailies- a medical student in
Delhi who was protesting against the reservation issue and got hit by
water cannon? Have u noticed how the traditional media used a
drenched female body to grab attention? And we believe only Hindi
films play the trick. Have any of you read Nikunj Mahajan’s article
at www.merinews.com? Check it out. You can also read the view points
of Mr.Suraj Bhan, the head of SC community in the same website. It
opens up a new dimension to the debate altogether. You are free to
comment on their articles as well as submit your own articles there.
Check it out if you can. www.merinews.com
email
on this issue to the President Of India at
presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
[…] The reservations
issue is bringing up the mercury levels even higher in this scorching
heat. While the Prime Minister claims they’ve solved the
mystery of finding a solution, the medicos are holding on to their
guns. Here’s another conversation I seem to have overheard last
evening. I guess the solution isn’t all that great! […]
Its nothin but sad too hear tht
the strike by docs has been taken back.
Soon v ll have no
progressive country nd things like 70% reservations, Cricket
Reservations , Army Reservations might b a common thing.
I hope
tht s not the future we r workin for
sheer bra
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