Some Facts ?
In response to my previous post, I have recieved several mails and comments from Some "Pro- Quota " Junta . Two I have deleted because they contained highly abusive languages. I will clarify my stand, I am not against reservation per se. Indeed , Reservation to some extent is necessary for Backward People .
The trouble begins when we defino the "backward people" . I cannot digest that Caste can be the sole basis to decide the backwardness of someone. Has anyone ever bothered to find out the population of OBC's in Delhi or for that matter Mumbai . How logical it is to call an OBC in these cities earning decently as "backward " . A Middle class OBC in a City gets the same opportunity as that of a "General" Middle class student . I Have never heard of a coaching class denying someone an admission just beacuse he belongs to some caste. So , is there really a lack of opportunity ? I have no problems if a student staying in a remote area with no economic ability or the facility to have coaching scores 50 % and gets admitted in a good institute on account of quota. But for someone in a city to say that he has a lack of opportunity is pure hogwash .
Some people claim that the anti-quota stir has been violent whereas pro-quota stir has been peaceful . I would likw these gentlemen to give me one instance where the anti-quota rally was violent. In fact, the only violence i recall was inflicted by Police in Delhi and Mumbai . One guy also commented that OBC's are heavily outnumbered on the Internet . If this person can prsent some facts to substabtiate his claim then I would be happy to take my words back. Until then this is just one of the many stupid arguements put forth by Pro-Quota junta.
The worst fallout of the whole quota issue is that India is severly divided along caste lines . Suddenly Caste has become the chief identity of a person . In all the places I studied, neither me nor my friends ever discriminate on the basis of castes. Nor did we ever imagine to do so. Today every sstudent in an institute will be wondering whether the guy next to him is a category student or a genral student. And this defeats the very purpose of a democracy . IS this what Dr. Ambedkar envisaged when he authored the constitution of India ? I think not . Else it would be appropriate for Arjun Singh to bring in another amendment and remove the words "Union of India" from the constitution.
I wish all the Pro-Quota protesters would take a moment off to reflect whether they really need the quota. Or would it not be better if economic status was the sole criteria for establishing reservartion.
The trouble begins when we defino the "backward people" . I cannot digest that Caste can be the sole basis to decide the backwardness of someone. Has anyone ever bothered to find out the population of OBC's in Delhi or for that matter Mumbai . How logical it is to call an OBC in these cities earning decently as "backward " . A Middle class OBC in a City gets the same opportunity as that of a "General" Middle class student . I Have never heard of a coaching class denying someone an admission just beacuse he belongs to some caste. So , is there really a lack of opportunity ? I have no problems if a student staying in a remote area with no economic ability or the facility to have coaching scores 50 % and gets admitted in a good institute on account of quota. But for someone in a city to say that he has a lack of opportunity is pure hogwash .
Some people claim that the anti-quota stir has been violent whereas pro-quota stir has been peaceful . I would likw these gentlemen to give me one instance where the anti-quota rally was violent. In fact, the only violence i recall was inflicted by Police in Delhi and Mumbai . One guy also commented that OBC's are heavily outnumbered on the Internet . If this person can prsent some facts to substabtiate his claim then I would be happy to take my words back. Until then this is just one of the many stupid arguements put forth by Pro-Quota junta.
The worst fallout of the whole quota issue is that India is severly divided along caste lines . Suddenly Caste has become the chief identity of a person . In all the places I studied, neither me nor my friends ever discriminate on the basis of castes. Nor did we ever imagine to do so. Today every sstudent in an institute will be wondering whether the guy next to him is a category student or a genral student. And this defeats the very purpose of a democracy . IS this what Dr. Ambedkar envisaged when he authored the constitution of India ? I think not . Else it would be appropriate for Arjun Singh to bring in another amendment and remove the words "Union of India" from the constitution.
I wish all the Pro-Quota protesters would take a moment off to reflect whether they really need the quota. Or would it not be better if economic status was the sole criteria for establishing reservartion.
posted by Rahul Tamaskar at
12:47 PM
4 Comments:
hmm, I am the first anonymous( ndtv comment and before that) on ur last post (not the one who talked abt fiction)
here is my take on what u have written, and yes before that I am neither anti nor pro quota guy (vis a vis the new proposal), am still confused as I see merit on both sides argument, in particular I agree with medical students protests, primarily becasue u cant just take away seats from a "category" of people which has the highest competition and argubaly the most number (%wise too) of talented students
"The worst fallout of the whole quota issue is that India is severly divided along caste lines . Suddenly Caste has become the chief identity of a person . In all the places I studied, neither me nor my friends ever discriminate on the basis of castes. Nor did we ever imagine to do so. "
-> agree with you, however, it would be naive on our part to believe that caste doesnt matter. What I have observed(as an SC student) is that the current generation doesnt bother abt caste much(in urban areas in particular, rural and tier2/3 cities its still pretty much the same), but the same students have no qualms abt stereotyping all category(sic) students as "merit" less, even if it is otherwise,it happened with me, esp an "incident" with one the prof and some students during my grad.
Now coming to "economic criteria". I am all for a creamy layer concept, but tell me something, what happesn to the argument of "merit" which YFE is using, will it (economic criteria) not compromise the "merit"? or is it that since economic basis will include people frm "upper castes" therefore merit will be uneffected?
and btw I dont think that 'economic" can be the SOLE criteria as in tat case we are conveniently sidetraking the issue of social discrimation. And I think u might agree with me when I say that one can counter economic inequality thru hard work adn determination but social injustice is impossible in absence of special structural support.
I hope you got the drift, this argument of merit is my major concern with this anti-quota protests. Either one supports the misconceived "merit argument", in which case one is anti-quota(of what ever kind, and that includes PH cat, Defense, NRI, Mgmt, capitation et al) or one supports quota and accept some compromise on "merit".It seems to me that you are of the later kind. But still there is dichotomy in what YEF is arguing and what their demands are.
"IS this what Dr. Ambedkar envisaged when he authored the constitution of India "
-> absolutely not, in fact he was against reservations(now we know why!), it was nehru and others who convinced him to accept the reservation proposal.
By
Anonymous, at May 22, 2006 1:38 PM
Thanks a lot MR. Anon for bringing the fact about Dr. Ambedkar to notice.
Until now I have not written anything about the merit issue mainly because I am not totally convinced about the whole issue . While it is true that merit matters , but it is unfair to label Non-General Category people as non-meritorius . I personally know lots of brilliant category students.
My major bone of contention in using Caste as a criteria is that it creates a divide in the society . Far from removing barriers , it will create impenetrable barriers between the so-called "upper-caste" and "lower-caste " . One more thing, I think that using the terms upper caste and lower caste is derogatory . I will stick to backward caste if at all i have to it .
By
Rahul Tamaskar, at May 22, 2006 2:32 PM
very very true.. i posted something abt this too.. i really feel this is only going to increase the divide and the resentment.. in both.. rather than moving towards achieving equality we are only going backwards!
By
Neha, at May 23, 2006 2:04 AM
Reservation is eating up the great minds of India, It may have been good 45 years back but it's nothing but the dirty politics now, inviting brain drain and worsening unemployment.
By
Anonymous, at May 23, 2006 3:47 AM
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