some odd ten years back..i remember my dad looking at me with a grim face...he mentioned, how in the years to come if i decide to write the civil services exam...i will have to work thrice as hard as him..not because the nature and the magnitude of competition facing me would be worse , but because of my caste....i would be eligible to compete for the 50.5% seats left after the requisite reservation quotas were filled!!!
these were the days of MANDAL commision...
i was very young at that time , to understand the implications of this policy..... but when i finally understood , what such a step by the government meant..and the various socio-economic dimensions of the debate..i was disgusted...thoroughly disgusted......
The first question that came to my mind is- why do the backward castes need governmwnt support???
....the obvious ansewer lies in the various manifestations of the caste system, deeply ingrained in the indian society...an integral part of the hindu social formation..casteism found ways to penetrate into other religions practiced in the indian mainland...the hindu social order ranked sudras as the lowest of the low...left to perform menial chores..which were looked down upon by the society...they were taught to obey the orders of the higher caste man...were taught to think of themselves as sevants of the latter...penence shall be their's only on serving the brahamanas and other higher castes....so the entire system entrenched in the sudras a feeling of servility...devoid them of any self respect that they should have possessed...the conspiracy is evident in the dictats of the vedas...mythological stories...in all hindu rituals...and so on and so forth....
..the roots of casteism so strong that even today we hear of caste wars in Haryana, Bihar, tamil nadu....and other parts of the nation....the superiority complex is till date ingrained deeply into the psyche of upper class people..whether or not they accept it publically....a simple example is the furore created in any supposedly 'broadminded' family on marriages outside caste.. not to mention marriage btw higher caste and a lowere cast....
..discrimination is a social reality....we cannot abstract from it....it would imply running away from truth.......
but is reservation in institutions of higher education the answer to all the ills???
... a lower caste child...who is discriminated against...whose family does not have adequate means to send him to a proper school, buy him books....who has faced hardships...would get into IIT's and IIMs with reservation???
the catch here is the word..'deprivation'....
..the probability of a poor..low caste child to complete school education is very low...now if this child has not been able to finish school in the light of deprivation...how on earth will he qualify to appear in these competitive exams????
..the need of the hour is improving access to primary and secondary education for those children who face deprivations...
the case of a backward caste child being beaten up black and blue in a primary school in Tamil nadu for drinking water from the jar kept for upper caste students provides a burning example of government's failure to address isues at the grass root level...
if the SC/ST/OBC cannot compete because of societal pressures , then the need of the hour is not reservation...but affirmative action....the government should adopt Amartya Sen's 'capability approach' for correcting the abberation that has diluted the unity of indian society....
the backward castes should be equipped with the capability to compete....with the ability to excel...all this can be ensured by provision of free books...through special coaching centres for them to train them for all kinds of competitive exam.....
This will be a step in the direction of restoring their self confidence....
these steps will adress the ral problem...will target the people who are really affected...
else the real beneficiaries will be Laloo's children...sharad yadav's relatives..and you know what i mean...
long term or short term .....reservation is not even a solution...it is futher aggravating the problem.....it is creating more divisions to correct divisions......
The success of Indian democracy lies in equal opportunity to all....but not equal opportunity to those who are 'more equal' than others...........
10 comments:
blah blah blah....yawn ....yet another one of those pieces. why dont u write innovatively if u have to write on anti reservation?
well jerry..
i wrote what i felt about the issue...
or better still, why dont u give me some ideas...
nice blog, I wrote something similar at
http://abunai123.blogspot.com
just commenting on the last part of ur blog...do u think providing of free books nd coaching facilities wud equip the "deprived"
becoz thts wht iits have been doing since 40yrs now(thru prep. courses if u donno abt it) nd i seriously doubt if they r serving even half the purpose.being a social sci. student...i expected u to come up with more innovative ideas.
see my point was the following..majority of the children belonging to the discriminated sections of society cannot compete with privilaged sections, due to absence of amenities..these kids cannot afford to get themselves enrolled in expensive coaching centres..so in order to ensure better targetting , the need of the hour is correction of these abberations..
the concept of book bank is very much in place..and i am aware of it..but it is not difficult to see the poor targetting by the government in this regard..the real beneficiaries arent the needy..
my point is that..instead of focussing on a populist but a hghly divisive means like reservation...the govt. wud have done better thru means like the ones mentoned by me..
naah!i wasnt just talking abt the book banks which serve as a "reserve" library for the minority caste students.The prep. courses are meant basically for those sc/st students who are below par even to the "lower" cutoff being set for these ppl.wht iits do is provide them 1 yr of coaching/teaching nd then induct them with the next yr batch tht come thru JEE.so much so for the prep course students.
but basically wht i wanted to say was tht the thing tht u have mentioned has already been tried out nd has failed miserably.nd suppose u ensure somehow tht these "deprived" ppl. do get access to better education facilities,dont u think education comes much more after other basic needs like food nd shelter?shudnt we focus on solving those problems first...atleast for the kids...to expect them to do well in studies?nd yes..havent read tht amartya sen's essay/article tht u have mentioned...'ll come back to u once i read it...!
yup,this new dimension in the story of reservation is nothing but the initial signs of a sick democracy, and soon to be dead nation.
Where im not allowed to air my views if some govt is defended by my views. Still holding the pale placard of"freedom of expression".
Democracy is of the corrupt people,by the ignorant people, to screw the people.
And who knows of the thousand ways
the people will be crucified in future. its not hard to imagine
wat i hv written at
http://vyasunleashed.blogspot.com/2006/06/when-wegeneral-category-were-crucified.html
me too share the sentiments... at least for the OBC section. OBC's are not really that backward, some of the groups just had political agitation to be included in the list...
and again.. what about the economically deprived of the higher classes...
though i share these personal sentiments. the kind of treatment that lower caste people receive in villages, makes one not voice these opinions...
well if they are so ill treated let them get some respite yaar...
i have my doubts on the OBC still holding good... are they really backward or somehow included in the list.
for that matter in my home state kerala.. there is very few incidents of caste based discrimination...
so it is like amends for the previous generation's crimes....
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