We can’t hope to compete with the best in the world with only 51% of the best possible work force representing the face of India.
If there’s anything worse than buying you way through education it’s eating up deserving seats just because you have a certain last name.
A glaring example of what protective reservation does is the state of Indian economy before the and after the 90’s.
Sure enough we all love a heartwarming underdog story of rags to riches but only when the person swims against all odds and not in a protected channel while the competitors are left to drown elsewhere.
Reservation is just another way of the government showing some pity love without sounding offensive.
I am not totally convinced I would someday like to go under the table for a doctor whose only qualifying achievement was being born in a certain household.
If the Government was really serious about increasing the seats in various colleges why not open special colleges and schools to provide seats for students they are bent upon providing these reservations for.
If my future was gift wrapped and given to someone else not because I wasn’t good enough but because the Government wanted to get some votes in the next election I would be embittered and burning like the rest of INDIA right now.
10 comments:
I guess our posts complement each other.
http://jusfun.blogspot.com/2006/05/in-defence-of-reservation.html
Right foot in the left boot...thats what i think the govt is doing!
I didn't understand your statement about the state of the Indian economy before and after the 90's. The economy has soared. Are you saying the economy soared because of reservations?
@Jinguchakka Odd that you should mention that post coz it was one of the last things I read b4 penning this post, more like the final straw should I say
@totti Dunno abt that, but we all need to put our feet in the right boots (preferrably steel toes) and kick some serious ass as far as this issue is concerned :)
@Anarkist No I meant that before when we were providing our home grown industries all that protection and reservation we werent doing well but when we threw the country open to global competitors and let it be a survival of the fittest we have been doing much better as an economy
I have been reading a lot of stuff regarding this matter in the media, and I feel helpless when it comes to contributing towards it...
My feelings are probably not as extreme as urs, but I am still anti-reservation....acutally i am more irked by the mindless politicians playing petty politics and communalising the society
In that case I would disagree with you. The Indian economy prospered not because of competition from foreign investors, but because investment was allowed in areas which were earlier regulated by the government and the massive privatisation drive that followed later. Survival of the fittest is not always the fair solution to a problem, neither it is always the desired one. Deregulation gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to go into businesses which were not open to them, but it also exposes them to competition from corporations that have infinite resources to force them out of the market. Just like Walmart's are opposed here since it forces all the small mom-and-pop stores to shut down. We should refrain from making direct comparisons between India and the US, since both have different histories and different priorities. The lower castes need to be uplifted (SC/ST's, not the OBC's) and everything must be done to ensure that. Reservations in the present form does not seem to be the right solution though. Besides, your argument does not make any distinction between reservations for OBC's which is the present issue, and reservations for SC/ST's, which have been for years. For the record, I belong to the so-called "Upper Caste" Kshatriya's. Even though my fathers family was dirt poor and didn't see any kind of affirmative action to help them out, I still stand by my statement that SC/ST's need upliftment.
Some points I'd like to share -
1.Even a capitalist champion like US has affirmation policy towards its Afro-American citizens. And they do it even in the private sector!
2. Only because of government regulation and the Five year plans we are where we are. Otherwise,we would be a big Bangladesh/Pak. They both have huge problems as a result of over dependence on other countries for infrastucture. In that bangladesh actually fares a shade better.
Just imagine a twist in the fate left you in a slum with all your intelligence intact. Would you have made it to where you are now, still?
An mind willing to mull over what seems wrong, will go a long way in understanding all the facets.
@pointy I think you have contributed to it in your very own lil way by expressing your post, as far as extreme reaction goes try imagining you never got thru IITM coz the seats were taken over by a reservation swamp, of course that means no PSU for you, forget the job at Flowserve and of course that Mustang …… never happened man, ur feelings a lil more extreme now?
@anarkist You almost lost me with that looong comment, I am not a big economist but from whatever I have hrd from experts on this subject it is a well established fact that Indian economy did thrive in the real sense only after the 90’s and that is why tasted better consumer products due to more competition in the market (yes the privatization drive did follow as a result of it if you care to read further into the subject). Your comment is the first mention of any comparisons b/w India and US if you notice btw. My post was just my take on the latest effort by the government to further increase these reservation quotas and I did sincerely believe that the previous percent gave them a fair enough chance at shot at all forms of education and hence a better life for themselves.
@jinguchakka Now that you bring up the US policy you should look into the scientific methodology that went into determining the percentage for that and how it wasn’t based on one man’s whim who has a complete disregard and lives in unforgivable ignorance of any numbers that the census is throwing up. We are where we are only because of the economic progress we have made since 90’s and we all know what kick started that. Before that we were an economy having no major industries to speak of surviving only on an agrarian economy.
Now just imagine a harsh reality where you might not be comfortably ensconced in that plush office of urs somewhere in USA with all your intelligence intact cause your last name wasn’t good enough.
Well said.
Seems like the return of the dark ages.
51% reservation and then also reservation in the private sector.
Gross.
@Naina Yup and its odd that a popular government swayed by the whims of one man is leading us into these dark ages
@Memoryking Well said
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