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 disgusts me, and we must ensure that this act is repealed, and our rights are preserved.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 [1] 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.