Something I wrote a while back - not meant to offend anyone. Just an expression of my opinions....
I am generally late when it comes to giving my opinion about a hot topic of discussion. And true to tradition I am here to comment on the reservation ruckus that Mr Arjun Singh created some days back.
I have been hearing this 'Reserved category' term since I was too young to even understand what it means. Later on, it meant having a definite place to eat when u visited popular and over-booked resaurants. I have been on the periphery of this issue for a long time, not caring about how it has affected lives of people. The day I finally understood this issue and its implications was when I failed to get into JBIMS by one mark because the out-of-maharashtra-general candidates quota was too full to take in an extra one.
As if giving SC/ST/OBC quota wasnt enough, CET management had to go two steps further to create maharashtra and non-maharashtra quotas, and then subdivide non-maharashtra quota into general and the BC category.
Not that I am criticising CET's efforts to enhance the prospects of Maharashtrian candidates, after all this is a state govt organised entrance test, they have the right to do so. But quota for BC for non maharashtrians too?
When the system to having reserved quota for EBC was envisaged in 1950, it was with a view to improve the economically backward castes and tribes who had suffered till date due to the caste system injustices. Our forefathers were right to trying to think the best for a country that was a fledgeling democracy, trying to equalise the gaps created between the rich and the poor.
But almost 60 years hence, our ministers are still trying to garner votes for their own selfish interests by pushing the quota-issue. Do we still need it?Just days after Arjun Singh declared OBC quota in IITs, he is being projected as the next PM candidate for the coming elections. I ask you, if this isnt a move to garner votes on the quota-issue, then what is??
For all we know, the people who "get the benefit" of these reservations are invariably in an environment that has people who have made the cut purely on merit, and hard work. So it is natural then, that the community becomes polarized. Those who have obtained admission into a top school, or made the grade for a top brass job are bound to look at their colleagues with probably the same talent, but having the backing of their caste with a sense of superiority. And mind you, the people who get through because of their "social backwardness" don't enjoy it either. They'd rather have a level playing field. I know that whenever such a special person comes in my lfield of awareness, I think that way. That person maybe more talented and hard working than me, but the reservation system has coloured my perception of his/her virtues. Its not something I am proud of, but it is how it goes, and not just for me only. The quota in the IITs and IIMs would definitely alter the perception of the world towards the valuability of that premier education.For the worse. How can it not, when the world would doubt the academic excellence of a particular student because of his background? And I can barely begin to guess how the other person is thinking and feeling about his merits taking a backstage to the family that he was born in.
And moreover, there are plenty of instances where well to do families take unfair advantage of their so called caste, even though they can well afford a lavish lifestyle.I still remember the time when as a young kid I had found out that there are certain 'ghosh' who are considered as OBC. I remember running excitedly to my mom and asking her, " So now can I get registered as an OBC and get all the benefits that come with it?"
to be continued
