....and all that jazZ

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

My two cents - I

On Reservations
I agree that there are people with vested political interests who are using the issue to garner votes. I agree that it is poorly implemented in India. I agree that a lot of times the people who use it are not the truly downtrodden or deserving. I agree that premier institues bringing some of Indias brightest minds together should not have reservations- not because it would dilute the equality, but simply because in principle the "best" has nothing to do with caste. I believe post graduate programs should not have reservations.

India is a new country with a history of several years of oppression of the backward castes. Without a doubt caste-ism of some form or the other stll exisits. Affirmative action has to be present in some way or the other to ensure that people who were denied opportunities can come up to a level where their children wont be - for after all doesnt all caste issue simply evolve into a class issue ?

I dont understand why it cannot be enforced and implemented in more logical fashion. It has to have a time frame. It has to have economic power based implementation. It has to be there.

Standing up for affirmative action is standing up for social reforms. Stand up for it. Just because it is badly abused in India does not make it bad and doing away with it is not the solution. We need more schools providing quality primary and scondary care and education no doubt. But we need to own up to the bias the existed and take responsibility for it. we cannot let a wrong done go uncorrected. Its your and my moral responsibility

Think about the colleges in India that have reservations not based on any form of affirmative action, but based on Language or Religion. How biased is that ? It says that you could be a rich spoilt brat who didnt study enough, but you have this opportunity simply because you are gujrati or sindhi or muslim or whatever. It has neither a purpose nor a benefit. That in my opinion breeds mediocrity.

So before ou send lengthy emails and post long posts about how reservations suck, think about it. Can you say with a clear conscience that there is not a job that is denied to someone because he comes from abackward community? I cant. As long as that remains a fact i will support affirmative action.

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