Prologue ...
This is purely self sourced and self written ... my thoughts ... against no caste or religion ...
I clearly remember an incident from my past ... Those days I was in Lucknow in 5 promoted to 6 std . I was in Lucknow army public school one of the best schools ... and the school where I inculcated the habit of reading newspapers ...
It was month of July / June '93 a new on front page of Times of India , which had written that a boy got admission in Polytechnic with very less marks because he belonged to a backward class, and this news made me aware of quota system . I was at first quite infuriated by this and I had mentioned the same in my class ... but I distinctly remember my friends giving me blank look ...
Well I had other problems of maths to face so buried my lingering thoughts for some time ... to again be resurrected in 10th class in Pathankot ... This was a History/civics class where Mrs Khanna was teaching us civics and oppression harijan other terms ...
That day something inside prompted me to ask questions as to why B R Ambedkar had put such a clause , why is this being followed blindly , and believe me it took entire 30mins of class ...
I don't remember clearly what were the exact words but she said "because they were oppressed and get back into society " ... well I didn't quite accept its were at one place Constitution says equality to all irrespective caste, creed and sect then why this ... I argued till the bell rang and I had sit down still very confused as to why ... there should have been other alternatives to get them back to society ... I agree they were ill treated ,oppressed , in short they were not free ...
hmmm still my questions were unanswered ... because of so many conflicting thoughts ... on one hand I admire the builders of Indian Constitution ... Its so difficult to make simple proposal ... writing a Constitution for India .. only genius visionaries can do ...
So now grumblings continues .... in 11th class I had a friend her last name was lal and her dad was a A grade Railways (IAS) officer in Bikaner ... so during one of the off period again I took up this topic with her ... ( u c freshly out board exams) ... now I poured my heart out ... to find out that she belonged to a backward class ... O god world had come to a stand still ... my heart was pounding ... to have a happy ending I said "Iam specifically talking abt those ppl who don't deserve but get opportunity because of quota" ... to be honest that was intention too ... well that was some day ... well she was quite understanding so that dialogue didn't hurt me ....
So my grumbling continued ... college pune .. by that time it was known fact students don't have to compete against students they have compete against the system as well ... to come on top ... actually forget the top spot ... compete to stay alive ...
Then Professional career started mumbai ...were i met eclectic mixture of people ... were I could answer most of my questions to my satisfaction ...
1. Why quota clause was introduced ... my thoughts
Higher caste knows the value education and always would find some one in the family to guide you even when you falter ...
but this wouldn't have been the case in the so called 'lower class' ... the first prime consideration would be bread they would rather send their children to paddy fields than schools ... even if they show interests in studies .. I can imagine what difficulties they would have faced in that orthodox era ....
So quota acting like a support system ... to help them overcome initial difficulties ... and bring them in to main stream ... so no qualms as to why the quota system got introduced ...
But again another argument crops up as to ... can this quota be validated in this era .... straight answer no mincing words .. 'NO' ...
2. Quota system was introduced for bringing up the down trodden .. who had the will to work and give something to society ... and it has ... to some extent ...
But the sad thing is still rural india ... down trodden are down trodden ... the goodness of this clause has still not been reached to the people who need it ....
So over the years ... it has been misused ... the need has become luxury , an issue to gain political mileage ... such a sad state of politics ... the frustration among the general class youth ... (well if it continues then history repeat)
3. On one hand need to give a helping hand to less fortunate people and on the other general class youth so that they don't get isolated.
4. if this is not stemmed at this stage .. things can get worse .. and uglier ... so .... I had thought of few things ,,,
a) revise quota system so that its not basis of caste but based on earning power ... but this is quite dicey ...
b) Compulsory education till secondary level ... NGO's should setup mentoring session for the weak students ....
c) The well off 'Backward Class' students should resist this ... the student community should never be divided they should unitedly stand against it ... or for that matter to anything which is wrong and compromises unity and integrity ... after all they are the future of India ...
d) remove the caste column from admission sheet ....
well there are couple more ... shall scribble them when I remember ....
So savi's verdict ... quota system is a failure ... even though introduced with good notion ... it will and has caused more harm than good ... and it has never reached the people for whom it was really made ....
If preamble says all are equal ... then I don't understand how politicians claim that they are manifesting inequality to create equality in society ... and people accept it blindly ...
signing off veryyyy sleepy (its 1:30 am)
Savi
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7 comments:
Agreed...... reservations were a good idea at first, but when down the line , the issue of reservations has transformed from a help to some class of people, to a full fledge political agenda. As far as I remember, reservations introduced by Ambedkar were supposed to be revoked after some 40 years. That was the plan, Ambedkar felt that, surely by that time the lower classes would have come up. But the ruling government of that time has extended this privilege.
I do not know what the situation is in north india, but in maharashtra and southern india, the so called lowerclass are the more economically stable class. Why would they not be, no school fee, free seats in degrees, no degree fees for some, quotas in government jobs where u get a lot of money under the table. I have even seen some guys i know trying to forge documents, so that they can also be backward class :)
The bottom line is
When a privilege turns into a right.... "Houston, we have a problem"
Savi
Question 4 u.
What can we do about it ?
The thing is all those who can think rationally would say that quota sys on the basis of caste is wrong,In my opinion this is the political agenta of various political parties to serve ,their interest of extracting votes rather then to help such people.They just want to create a vote bank by doing this type of discrimination.If somebody wants to really help such people then he or she should search candidates with guts from this lower sector n help them with money or right guidance.A perfect example is a IIT coaching centre currently running in Patna,headed by some society serving persons who r constantly in search of such candidates from lower section n coach them without taking a single penny from them n I want to tell u that the success rate of this coaching centre is great.
hey seriously this is something i too have always wondered..our constitution is great and written properly..but the guardians have misused and are trampling it..well it is time that the political masters and administrative masters go hand in hand to legislate and execute the policies judiciously..we are growing and lets see a strong and resurgent india which is powerful with values and its people strictly guard it..let no one show lethargy towards our country..savi.. well done..you have really done a great job
I was constitution was extremely at the time it was written.And as rightly as rightly mentioned by you - It should be amended.
We have seen people from cities and urban areas.and we tend to analyze the constitution keep this population in mind. Our rural areas are still untouched and somehow our legal system, constitution and this caste system still has no say in the running of those villages.
Lets get into more discussion...
reservation lagaya wo theek hai...par hatayega kaun aur kab??
Don't fully agree with your point 1. Every parent wants their child to have a better life than they themselves have. And they will do everything in their power to ensure this. So whether Quota or not, what a Dalit aspires for his child in his own capable ways will not differ to what a Brahmin aspires for his. But the problem arises in that what the society aspires for them does differ - e.g. if a Brahmin's son has not passed school then there would be a shock reaction but at the same time let a Dalit's son become a doctor and the reaction would be he has done great in his life. Here lies societies varying measure of success based on where you come from and probably one of the roots of quota system.
As for the other bits, i think this is too complex a topic to broad brush with such simple conclusions.
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