Yet another post on the reservation issue
A few days back there was an interview in THE HINDU by MK. He says that even in athletics there are some concessions for handicapped person blah blah.. i dont know how he can equate BC guys with a handicapped person. Hey, even a really handicapped does not like being given undue concessions and sympathy. The worst part is, nobody protested to this anology. Just goes to show to what extent a majority of the society are being deprived of their self-esteem and confidence in the name of concessions and social justice.
The problem is, we dont want to acknowledge the real gaps in our society.
We dont want to look deep and find out how the really deprived are getting their education in rural India. How their horizons are stifled not because of their birth but because of acess to information at the right time through their kith or kin and finances.
We dont want to look at the plight of poor but brilliant students across the country. Fixing these things would imply hard work on the part of the government at a more fundamental level. No politician wants to do that now. Afterall, it does not translate to votes.
On the other hand, stretching reservation to all sectors translates to votes, and whats more is easier to implement.
I should also point out that the so-called merit and quality of the student issue by anti-reservation camp also looks shallow to me.
If a BC guy scores a mark or two less than an OC guy and joins a professional course, then merit and quality is an issue. But if more OC guys with lesser marks join the same course through management quota, then it is not an issue 
I know so many guys who beloned to the so called forward communities who scored even less than me and who ended up in BE in payment seats. What about their merit standing then? Should they be allowed to build the bridges and building swhen they complete their BE civil or not?
The anti-reservation lobby is being symbolised by the challenges faced by Rangachari’s son who studies in DAV chennai and who has been preparing for IIT ever since his 8th standard. They do have some backing so that their voices are atleast audible.
The pro-reservation lobby is being symbolised by what concerns a wealthy bus-owner’s son from Coimbatore who wants to do BE so that he commands a good dowry in the marriage market. His community is politically powerful. This group has a better backing and so their voices are the loudest.
Let’s take the case of one Marimuthu, a poor 17 year-old whose native is somewhere between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur. What’s his chance of knowing about the IIT’s, IIMs and IIScs and RECs and AIIMSs of the country, much less making it there in the later years? Not much. But he is conveniently forgotten in this whole debate.
He does not fit into the scheme of things of those two opposing camps.
Not that he could care less. He has already made up his mind to take the TNSETC night bus to Chennai. He is coming to join as a labour in Saravana Stores T Nagar. Hail Social justice!!!
May 24th, 2006 at 8:16 am
BITS Pilani and Merit go Hand in Hand:
BITS Pilani admission process has always ensured guaranteed admission to all the students who obtained first ranks in their respective board examinations. This has given a very vital input of highly meritorious students from all over India. BITS Pilani maintains this practice and first rank students of all the central and state boards in India are given direct admission to the programme of their choice, irrespective of their BITSAT-2006 score. However, they should have obtained the minimum of 80% aggreagte marks in PCM subjects with at least 60% in each of the PCM subjects in their 12th examination.
For this purpose, the topper should be from the science stream having taken Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects in 12th examination. The aggregate marks should contain the Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects, in addition to other subjects considered by the board as required to pass the 12th examination.
May 24th, 2006 at 8:26 am
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/may/23franc.htm
this is wht reservation has done according to rediff.
a coupla years bck, the week had a detailed cover story on the resiliant brahmin.
i dont know wht to believe and amconfused.
May 24th, 2006 at 8:29 am
lets analyse wht reesrvation has achieved, before having more.
i am not against reservation. its important to first analyse its effectiveness before large scale implementation
May 24th, 2006 at 8:53 am
PK, a very well written post. You have clearly depicted the pros and cons of reservation - importantly the loopholes of it!
I was against reservation too - initially but then I did not have to go looking for a case-study anywhere to change my view. I had it within my house - my maid servant’s daughter. She cleared her 12th exams this year. Remember! with the kind of salary her mom draws, she can’t afford tuitions, guides, study table or other luxuries which even a candidate from a middle class family would enjoy. So would it be right to compare the 70% achieved by such a person with the 80% obtained by another candidate with better access to facilities? Would it be right here to say blindly that the person with 70% is less eligible than the other (ofcourse it wouldn’t be fair to deprieve the other candidate as well).
But here again, I do not know where to draw the line - esp in cases of higher education and in the fields of medicine. Importantly, the “caste” is not a factor - its more to do with their economic well being.
May 24th, 2006 at 10:36 am
camelpost,
i dont know if u r the publicity consultant for BITS. but it does not hurt to read Ravi’s comments
ada-paavi,
IMHO the problem is of different dimensions altogether…
unless u even take into consideration the urban rural divide and the economic factors any social justice is a clear sham!
the ones who r really disadvantaged are not talking.
ravi,
very well said!.that is the whole point!.
May 24th, 2006 at 10:44 am
ada-paavi,
thanks for the link.
i want to know what the TAMBRAS think of this and what measures r they going to adopt to safeguard thes sections of brahmins..
rather than fight for whom to support during the elctions…
one kavignar in one of the meets has also ridiculed those who marry any non-brahmin(male or female)…
May 24th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Very sensitive issue. Was put in place for a reason. Did achieve something but was stretched too much to the extent that several deserving people suffered.
Laws have to be re-written…I strongly support a reservation policy based on ‘Economic conditions’ ..not on Caste.!
Implementation must be handled without prejudice. Will that happen..No..! You know why..Let’s not go there.!!
May 24th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Hi Prabhu,
The problem with our laws is that they are quiet outdated and nobody wants to change it.. and they are using the same laws to play dirty politics…
i dont know if we really want reservation.. merit and merit alone should be the criteria to judge students/candidates.. otherwise we will always be “developing country” and never “developed country”…
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/decision-on-quota-is-final-the-chapter-is-closed/11063-4.html
i really like karan thapar’s guts… it reminded me of the “hard talk” with Madam JJ
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tamil/highlights/story/2004/09/printable/040930_jayainterview.shtml
Hope that the striking students get ardent support ….
Cheers,
R.Karthik
May 24th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
as ravi says, it is all about money and location..we need both..
we need the money fro coaching and the location for the presence of good schools and coaching centers…
i am a case itself here.
Location:
i stayed in mogappair, went to DAV, went to umpteen tuitions in annanager to the best ones available to get 1161/1200.
Money:
I got into BITS but didnt take it up for i couldnt afford the huge fee, i chose crescent instead where i paid a relatively low amount of 12,840 per annum to do my engineering and i didnt have to pay for college bus and all….
Quota:
The reason why i didnt get into government colleges i would have otherwise got into…
I absolutely loved crescent , so no complaints, but as i have said umpteen times before, i still shiver at the burden the quota system imposed on my young shoulders along with financial constraints!!!
May 24th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
as much as i have moved on, i feel sad at seeing 20 seats for BC in the collge of my choice in the course of my choice, when there was 0 in OC category when i went for engineering counselling!!!
That was MIT, chrompet where i wanted to study, 20 seats in electronics engineering for BCs and 0 for OC…
And that is why i hate quota system!
May 24th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
PK good post
but reservation should be based on economic factor and by opening more quality primary schools and colleges. Just for vote bank politics with outdated stats how can they do this.
Think about it
A poor man son/daughter can get make avail of resvtn only if they have good primary education.
They can then think of going to other higher educational opportns.
And what about this one, let say sc/st or obcs who have really benefitted by reservations gets ahead in life now he and his family their generations to come can easily get admitted without putting any big efforts seat guaranteed whereas poor muthu or economically poor keshav has to struggle is this fair ?
May 24th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
and i almost forgot to add, as i went on my woe-telling
That is an excellent post!!
May 24th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Given the constraints and realities, Representation by proportion is a good solution - 31% shud be for FC rather than OC and the rest based on their share of the population. Thats the only way these community based rivalries will go.
May 24th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
NV sir,
economic factor consider pannadha endha social justice scheme um sham dhaan…
karthik rajagopal,
i agree that merit should only be the criteria but how do we define merit? purelybased on what one gets in their qualifiying examination?
to my mind, i am anti-reservation but i think those whose voices r really need to be heard r busy doing things far removed from academics… unless we address those issues (not necessarily thru reservation) but through effective mentoring (formal and informal), training and other developmental mesaures we r asking for trouble in the long run.
May 24th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Nice write up..
Oru doubt ? When you talk about marimuthu..are you saying that the reservation system fails to impact him or you’re just suggestinng that the govenment’s energy should rather be spent on making him aware of what his opportunities are ?
btw, I wrote a big-ass comment, which was lost by this stupid “page not displayed”..No energy to re-type it. Free vittutten !
May 24th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
monu,
i can relate to yr plight.
but my point is there r still some who cannot even dream of getting a good education. they r very much the citizens of this country..
what r we going to do with them? what social justice is that if we leave those sections completley out of the picture…
May 24th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
ganesh,
i am not sayng that is fair…but as a society we have ignored a sizeable section of the society’s progress.
how fair it is if we r only concerned abt the city bred and well read students…
to my knowledge the only political leader who built primary schools (as u rightly said)in all corners of the state without bothering abt votes is kamarajar…
May 24th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
A well-thought post.
I cannot draw upon what stand I should take.But like you rightly put there is always the lot who are cursed with ignorance,unaware of the fact that colleges even existed, who need a dose of cure.
Who would formulate the anti-dote , the question remains…
May 24th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
dinesh,
Those kids need more mentoring and guidance and financial help for their studies and less quotas.
if at all we r going to have ths quotas then the backward rurals areas factor and their economic status shud also definitely taken into account so that kids like marimuthu benefit…
i am saying we as a society have ignored that marimuthu and people like him.
i am saying those who shout now r doing more out of their vested interest than any national interest or any consciouness of or merit, fairplay and social justice..
where were they when the govt introduced Payment seats in Engg. colleges?
Those who r well off and living in urban areas and who actively seek reservation r the worst…
those r belong to OC communities and who cud not care less abt anything but only abt their welfare comes next. i dont find fault with them but then nothing exemplary either…
the real disprivileged people are those whose voices r never heard…
I know one MBC student, he did his schooling in a govt school near aruppukottai which i heard was built by kamarajar, a topper there, he later got into Anna University Textile engineering, he was a topper there too…he is in the US now.
I somehow think this person’s achievement is better than those who r city bred and use all the facilities that only a city can offer and then claim that they got everything thru merit blah blah…
indha madhiri neraya per irukaanga…
andha payyan padikalena edhavadhu maligai kadaila pottalam poda poiruppan…
nalla padikkara fwd community payyanuku seat kedaikalena its not fair, i definitely agree. but then that person can atleast settle for a lesser college.
but what r we going to do with the marimuthus is my questions…have we as a society and our govts been fair to them?
May 24th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
I long for the day when there are so many intercaste marriages that caste becomes irrelevant. Many people who stringently call for “merrit” in education are extremely casteist when it comes to their personal life. Just check any matrimonial website,highly educated and so called broad minded sections of society advertising for a spouse belonging to this “subcaste” of this “caste”. I sense some hypocrisy in all this guys. The only solution is to completely eradicate the caste system from our personal and professional lives.
May 24th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
PK. Good write up. Reservations should be only on economic status of the students. There are many many students in our country who are below the economic line (or) poverty line - whatever line is…
Politicians are doing what they do best… gain all politicial points in the battleground… do/use whatever it takes…
Inspite of all the resources we have(natural/human/technology), our politicians will ensure that we will always be a developing country…
Instead of reserving the seats for communities in education why not the government give scholarships.. Out of the 100 seats, 50% of the seats are offered under scholarship for backward communities.. ? Is’nt this a good idea?
May 25th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
sridhar,
casteist freaks are there in all communities…
gowri,
its pretty complex, and so long as we dont recognise the complexity and give out doles for votes nothing is gonna happen..
i would like to see the day when BC students say they dont need reservation…and slo when the so called well educated communities realise that some sections of the society may not be as well endowed as they are…
May 25th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I also studied in BITS. After a few years you will figure if you are from BITS, IIT or any engineering college you get the same position depending on your capabilities. BITS, IITS , all hi fi schools in the cities that claim their x% of their students are going to BITS and IIT’s dont take kids that cannot afford that type of education. They also have only ‘business’ in mind. And also Just because your 12th exam percentage went low you cannot be judged to be having less IQ. COnsidering financial factors and economic factors..like Ravi said we need to think and give some sort of help to kids who want to study and are deprived of resources. The help could also be provided to start some business..Who says getting a degree is the only option. Did Birla study in a school like BITS Pilani?? But the very question is :is changing the reservation quota going to make any difference to the poor..may be 5% of the cases..Like Karthik said it is all driven by people who have say and interest in their own well being..not of the country.
May 27th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
priyums nee dhaan ennoda manasaatchi