Thursday, May 18, 2006

Reservations with Reservations!!

My head hangs down in shame to say that I am citizen of this country when I look at the politicians and I stand up with pride when I look at the doctors opposing them. I salute this movement, which opposes the killing of meritocracy. It is easy to say that the country is going to the dogs and migrate to the US, what takes true courage is to standup against this and make sure that you don’t have to migrate. Anyways won’t be able to do justice to this topic…here is an excerpt from the http://www.youth4equality.org which says it all!!!I join this movement and vow to participate in all the rallies happening in my city &request all of u to join this movement because it is for the better future for the generations to come. Lets not get overpowered by the politicians and their agenda!!!

About 100 of our friends, student and alumni of India's best medical colleges joined by IITians have been without food for last 5 days at AIIMS in Delhi. Hundreds others were brutally beaten by Mumbai and Delhi police for protesting peacefully. Thousands of students, doctors and software engineers have taken to streets in Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad under the scorching summer sun. They are fighting for a cause that affects the whole nation. Doesn't the bravery and sacrifice of these 20-something youths from the best engineering and medical colleges of India make you feel ashamed?? Well friends, each of us will fight for a cause that affects us individually, but, it is only the brave, the courageous, who stand for a cause that affects others also.
Why we oppose reservation?1) It is going to kill meritocracy, and hence destroy India's image as a technology hub.2) It is dividing India into caste lines which our freedom fighters and social reformers fought so hard to eliminate.3) It is against the fundamental right to equality as safeguarded by the Constitution of India.4) The benefits of reservation have been denied to really deserving people by the rich and powerful in their own classes. 5) Reservation is just a populist measure used by politicians for electoral gains.

This is not just a protest against reservation. This is to ignite the young minds of the urban youth that you must care for the society, majority of whom are poor and underprivileged, otherwise politicians like Arjun Singh will exploit these weaker section with false promises. It is no hidden truth that the benefit of quotas in IIT, IIM and AIIMS will goto the rich OBCs in urban India while the really deserving backward people do not even have access to basic primary education. What we need is quality and compulsory primary education so that by the time the so-called backward class students come to the college entrance level, they are ready to compete with all. Dont limit the seats in higher education where competition is already cut-throat. Intake ratio in AIIMS is around 1000:1 and 100:1 in IIT/IIMs. So you must raise your voice against this retrograde and divisive policy being formulated by HRD Ministry.
In the end we won't remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. Jai Hind !

9 comments:

tattytiara said...

Just happened by - love your blog!

Batty said...

Just one small question and I dont want an answer to this:
You - here refers to all those reading this piece and not necessarily to the author of this blog

How many of your friends are OBCs, SCs and STs? Do you have any friends from this category? If you dont have friends in this category, does that mean you have not come across such people in your life? Or have you chosen to ignore them all your life? Did any new year or Christmas mean anything apart from partying to you? Did it mean an effort to uplift the OBCs, SC and STs?

If you find answer for any of these questions without a pinch of your conscience, please go ahead and claim youth4equality, else its a misnomer.

Saumya said...

well yes batty..I come from a village(away from Mumbai)..I have seen SCSTs and OBCs...two of my class toppers were from backward classs...and trust me all they needed was good solid primary and secondary education which they got at my school...the OBC guy scored more than me in his 12th and went to VJTI( the best college here) ... the really down trodden people need strong rpimary education...My bai's son is still rottin g in the village why?? poor primary and secondary education...dont u think the govt shud look at strenghthening that first!!!tell me u r from tamil nadu jus 379 open seats in medicine ...is it fair????you are putting peoples life at risk by compromising on quality!!!
All that I say is let us not kill meritocracy!!!

Saumya said...

and yes my conscience does not pinch me newhere!!!

d_grail said...

the problem is nt reservation bt for whom its targetted it...bt wil thr b no opositn if it wr economically based?

Saumya said...

reserve a small percentage not sumthin as huge as 49%...the aim of reservations is to bring them at par and there shud be a definite time frame for it...!u know what give them good strong secondary education and cheap loans for higher studies instead of reserving seats for them!mite take a long time but has to be done to encourage meritocracy !

Saumya said...

also above all reservations is detrimental to the country as a whole cos the benefits never really percolate...we should stop the government from using unaware ppl as pawns for their benefit!

Batty said...

I think all of you misread my statements. Did it have a mention anywhere about reservation. That wasnt the point. My whole fight was against youth4equality. I reserve my comments in the reservations issue. But my question is are we really equal as we project ourselves to be.

Its for everybody to ask his or her conscience: Take normal day-to-day incidents right from morning till night and ask yourself - if he were a upper caste person would I have a different opinion or reacted differently. If he were a OBC SC ST would I have reacted differently. An honest insight will tell you, caste is embedded into all of us.

I'll tell you the truth I could distinctively think of 15 incidents over the past week for which I pronounced myself guilty - I would have behaved differently and I was ashamed of it. I am writing a script on this which when done will be posted on my blog.

RagzZmatazZ said...

"also above all reservations is detrimental to the country as a whole cos the benefits never really percolate"

U cannot use this as an excuse to stop affirmative action. If the govt wants to promote affirmative action, it should shoulder the responsibity to ensure its correct implementation.

I am completely opposed to indias premier intitutions (IITS IIMs AIMS and the like) having reservations. I would go as far to say that professional (esp post grad programs) should not have reservation.

But we who discuss this come from families who have access to opportunities and live in urban areas. There is another side to the story. Caste system and caste based prejudices do exist in India. And thats undeniable, As a young an d new country, we must find a way to ensure social growth and progress. Those opposed to affirmative action muct come up with a better way of doing it.

The problem as I see it is in the way it is enforced in India, its so hopeless that it makes you want to say "Down with it".

Caste issue is a lot of ways has evolved into a Class issue. Economic power based schemes will def help lift the poor a bit, but as long as even one person rejects an OBC in favour of a forward caste applicant ( of teh same qualification on prejudice) affirmitive action will be justified. I am certain that theer are plenty of people who do this.

It may seem like we are pullin gthe country backwards at this point but step back and look atthe large picture and think about it. Its our responsibility to bring up the truly downtrodden. People kill in the nam eof caste till date. Simply Giving them money is not going to do it.