Is a debate on Reservation Possible ?
IMHO no , at least not until the Pro-Reservationists come out of the political shadow and talk about it in a rational manner.
Yesterday i was a part of a Big Fight style debate on CNN-IBN. The channel had called people representing both the sides of the debate . Despite a late start the debate began smoothly enough other than an aberration by a senior bureacrat of the MAhrashtra Government. Instead of a sensible rationale for implementing reservations, this gentleman comes out with a scathing attack on everyone anti-reservation . He then proceeds on a barrage of jingoistic crap . Incidently for all his "achievements" in becming a powerful beaurocrat this chap seemed to have forgotten that there exists an other side.
Same thing was happening in Delhi where the debate was simultaneously filmed. The Pro-Quota guys kept on giving arguements such as " We are worse off than tribals " , "we want to rule the upper classes now " , " Population of OBC's is 90 % " , " Upper class would be better off in US " , " A law has been passed and hence the medical students shud be arrested ofr violating the constitution " . Not even one of them had the decency to listen to the other sides arguements . They naturally believed in the philosphy of " Whoever shouts the loudest, shouts the truest " .
The above mentioned bureacrat was shameless to the point that he had no qualms in sayiing that he will make use of Reservations . Inspite of earning more than 6 lacs , inspite of being in creamy layer, this man said he will use reservation. No one had any stats on how many OBC's are there in urban India who have access to the same opportunities. They keopt spouting the 1931 census data saying that such caste compositions dont change.
When it came to solutions, the solution which came up mostly on pro-quota side was " We shud have 100 % reservations because we want to rule the upper casts " , " there shud be reservations in sports, arts etc " . " Ensure that atleast 75% reservations are there for 200 years " .
I am hugely disappointed. I had gone there with the hopes of having a meaningful debate . But alas, it was not to be . Oh an i forgot ! there were some people there from political parties who kept up spouting venom at "upper castes" throughout the debate . By the end these guys were shouting slogans and creating mayhem .
How is a debate possible if such is the attitude of pro-quota people ?
Yesterday i was a part of a Big Fight style debate on CNN-IBN. The channel had called people representing both the sides of the debate . Despite a late start the debate began smoothly enough other than an aberration by a senior bureacrat of the MAhrashtra Government. Instead of a sensible rationale for implementing reservations, this gentleman comes out with a scathing attack on everyone anti-reservation . He then proceeds on a barrage of jingoistic crap . Incidently for all his "achievements" in becming a powerful beaurocrat this chap seemed to have forgotten that there exists an other side.
Same thing was happening in Delhi where the debate was simultaneously filmed. The Pro-Quota guys kept on giving arguements such as " We are worse off than tribals " , "we want to rule the upper classes now " , " Population of OBC's is 90 % " , " Upper class would be better off in US " , " A law has been passed and hence the medical students shud be arrested ofr violating the constitution " . Not even one of them had the decency to listen to the other sides arguements . They naturally believed in the philosphy of " Whoever shouts the loudest, shouts the truest " .
The above mentioned bureacrat was shameless to the point that he had no qualms in sayiing that he will make use of Reservations . Inspite of earning more than 6 lacs , inspite of being in creamy layer, this man said he will use reservation. No one had any stats on how many OBC's are there in urban India who have access to the same opportunities. They keopt spouting the 1931 census data saying that such caste compositions dont change.
When it came to solutions, the solution which came up mostly on pro-quota side was " We shud have 100 % reservations because we want to rule the upper casts " , " there shud be reservations in sports, arts etc " . " Ensure that atleast 75% reservations are there for 200 years " .
I am hugely disappointed. I had gone there with the hopes of having a meaningful debate . But alas, it was not to be . Oh an i forgot ! there were some people there from political parties who kept up spouting venom at "upper castes" throughout the debate . By the end these guys were shouting slogans and creating mayhem .
How is a debate possible if such is the attitude of pro-quota people ?
posted by Rahul Tamaskar at
11:10 AM
8 Comments:
Hey i wanted to be a part of that debate...but goin by what you have written..i guess it would have been futile to put your views there.
May God bless India :((
By
coolvir, at May 19, 2006 12:34 PM
pretty valid points, but i guess the same thing ails some of the "other" side debaters also, who keep harping on "merit", even when some of the duplicity is highlighted. For ex, I remeber watcing "big fight" on reservation, where in the intial part there was represttive from IIM A alumni assoc... who talked abt how merit is compromised because of caste based reservations, but when pointed by the other panelists and the moderator( I forgot his name) abt NRI/Capitation fee students, he conveniently went into the global gyan mode :) and sidetracked the argument.
Suffice to say, as long as people on both sides will take rigid stances, it will be well nigh impossible to have a rational debate...
By
Anonymous, at May 19, 2006 12:45 PM
What really amazed me was the hatred with which the OBC students and the politicians vented their anger. I mean , we see and meet these guys day in and day out and yet ..
By
Rahul Tamaskar, at May 19, 2006 3:20 PM
you are right on the point of hatred, it hurts me too when a sane debate turns into a shouting match just because of some preconceived notions/mindsets...reminds me of what happened in Barkha dutts 'we the people'... read the following article, it will bring at the rigid mindsets frm both sides
http://www.ndtv.com/columns/showcolumns.asp?id=1034
By
Anonymous, at May 19, 2006 4:27 PM
Well , there u go again !! U r painting a picture as if the backward castes were the only ones refusing to justify their stance in a debatable manner . To quote some facts , the anti-reservationists are the one who r taking to the streets violently while the pros are taking out comparitively silent morchas. And he antis keep on stressing that the backwards are not capable of learning which is bound to piss off the backwards big time. The hypocritical stand of the antis is clearly evident from the fact that the management quota students are never reprimanded for their lack of marks cause their excess of money makes up for it. If one looks at it , a debate on the internet on the issue of quota is one-sided , as only an infinitesimal number of backward people have access to internet to air their views... as is the case in sms polls.
By
Anonymous, at May 19, 2006 10:22 PM
you are certainly going overboard with these fictional statements ... what are u ? a fiction writer ??? who r u trying to fool ?
" We shud have 100 % reservations because we want to rule the upper casts " , " there shud be reservations in sports, arts etc " . " Ensure that atleast 75% reservations are there for 200 years " .
By
Anonymous, at May 19, 2006 10:25 PM
Well It may seem like fiction to certain anonymous people, but the statements which i have mentioned are absolutely verbatim as quoted by the Pro-Quota guys .
Mr. 2nd anonymous, the things which you call facts are in fact not facts. Watch this space.
By
Rahul Tamaskar, at May 21, 2006 1:12 PM
why dont these govt and pro-quota people think logical??why r they paralysing themselves and our country thru this reservation factor??
Initaially i was thinking that these pro-qouta people shud have come fwd and shud have protested such an offer...bt i was completely wrong...
now i think the corruption will be manifolded in the govt offices so that more and more no of parents wil be ready themselves to prepare the fake quota certificates...
god knows kya hoga kal ke India ka...
By
Harry, at May 22, 2006 1:03 PM
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