Quota System: Sanction of the Unreserved??

This is in continuation of the post I made on 'Saction of the Victim'. Regular readers might be aware of the fact that I quoted a section of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugs".

The quota system as implemented in India today is one such example when the good and the knowledgeable acquiesce whatever is shoved down their throat.

The purpose of India's reservation system was alleviation of the people of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes. There was a consensus that there were tribes of people that were oppressed under the infamous 'caste system' of India at the time of India's independence that was present in the Hindu society. As a result, the constitution of India granted 15% and 7.5% vacancies in educational institutions and jobs in the public sector. This was meant only for 5 years and the end of that period, the situation was to be reviewed. Not only have the succeeding governments extended this period, they have also failed to review the situation and have also extended the vacancies for other sections of the society.

So does this mean that the vacancies were not applied adequately? Or did the number of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes increased all of a sudden after independence when instead they should have fallen. Thankfully, the SC had imposed a limit on the quota sytem to 50% and so, it has generally not risen beyond that limit. But why was the limit imposed at 50% and why was it not kept at the initial 15% and 7.5% as mentioned above? Moreover the system has also passed into the private sector. Why is this so?

Without going into the details of the quota debate, some quick points that have to be made regarding the systems are as follows:

1. Implementation of the quota system would perpetuate the caste system instead of abolishing it.
2. Political vote bank imperatives will lead to the extention of the quota system to other sections of the society.
3. Scams will float to register an upper caste as a lower caste. This is already happening in my caste.
   
4. Would other religions also not ask for a reservation for its own poor and backward castes?

The last point of the above has already bore fruit as Syed Shahbuddin has made a demand of muslim reservations. Where will the buck stop?

Instead we the people of India should propose:

1. That people be evaluated on the basis of their talent and potential for the post they aspire to and not on the basis of their birth.
2. If at all the government wants to support the poor, they should support them with economic incentives, scholarships, etc. instead of affirmative action.
3. If there are any reasons that this cannot be implemented (such as corruption, red tape, etc), we should attack those problems and not shy away from them and implement coward measures as these, since some of these have become general Indian problems.

The justice that is deserved by the people who toil hard irrespective of the status that has been conferred upon him by birth will not be imparted if the quota system sidesteps poverty and considers birth issues as important in decision making. Today's India lags behind many other countries in terms of science and technology. Besides, there would surely be many other fields which we will lag behind because of slacking in standards of quality. Who knows how many Charakas, Sushrutas, Aryabhattas, Bhaskaracharyas, Kalidases, Ramanujans, C.V. Ramans, Har Gobind Khoranas, Dhyan Chands, Pullela Gopichands, Vishwanathan Anands etc. we missed because of this system?

Once again we find that words written by Ayn Rand forty two years ago ring true. Time to uproot this system that is allowing the caste system to thrive and unite as one people, avoiding greedy government officials to pander to vote bank interests and minorityism. It is time we as concerned citizens of India raise this issue again in this year's election campaign and refuse to give sanction to our politicians as hapless victims.

Of Awards and Propaganda

For all its merits of modernity (or globallization), there are some flaws too.

Now, it is indeed a fact that the Anglo Saxon group has coveted the world and it has been a harbinger of technology and progress. Pax Americana, the current era under which we live right now has given us such technological progress that it has dramatically improved human life all over the place. Those of us who have been able to derive benefits from this have moved ahead in our personal lives.

But this has been at a great cost to local cultures and civilizations. The places where the above mentioned group has gone to have had to face tremendous loss of lives and fortune to get this 'manna' of civilization from the West. And in places where they have not been able to destroy local cultures, the locals have had their minds subverted to being subservient to the West forever. People view their culture as lowly and , and anything made in the West is treated to be heavenly and divine.

Something similar happens in the award category. While we all know that awards are meant for hard work and achievements, there is an often unseen dimension to awards. That they can also be given by propagandists of a cause, or an image.

And so, in India, while people may give back awards from the government as below:

“I have a great deal of respect for the Sahitya Akademi, for the members of this year's Jury and for many of the writers who have received these awards in the past. But to register my protest and reaffirm my disagreement — indeed my absolute disgust — with these policies of the Indian Government, I must refuse to accept the 2005 Sahtiya Akademi Award”, Arundhati said in a statement here.
“These essays written between 1998 and 2001 are deeply critical of some of the major policies of the Indian State”, she said. The main area of her disgreement included the government policies of constructing big dams, persuing nuclear weapons, increasing militarisation and economic liberalisation."

which may or may not be for a just cause, people do not think twice before accepting awards from western governments or institutions.

For an example of how this propaganda takes place, have a look at the winner of the 10th annual Jonathan Mann Award. A yet ambiguous case still pends against him and yet he gets 22 Nobel Prize winners demanding his release.

And now, we have slumdog millionaire. Nobody in India needs to be reminded of slums. Poverty is endemic in many places in the country, even the rich might not be able to avoid the sight of slums as they may have to go by them on their way to work. If people had to generate awareness, one trip outside would suffice. The plea for slumdog apologists that it is the beacon of truth and enlightenment is pure baloney.

And if we are thinking that slumdog is a slang for a person from the slums and is a commonly used word, then we are wrong. The word does not exist, at least in this dictionary. It is but a hangover of us being called dogs by natives of the nation that might not even have existed when India was at its zenith. For them, we are still what we are 60 years ago. In this day and age, inspite of sections of the Indian society having started to march ahead, we seem to have no right to dream, no right to look up and no right to relieve ourselves of our troubles even temporarily by demanding a feel good movie. We need to be kicked and punched and thrown back into the same hole, that is what the white man seems to be saying. Even a woman of a newly turned middle class family would try to hide her ugliness, if any. Why not mother India?

I have not seen the movie, so I can't say more. What appalls me is that our own people have fallen for the trap, and allowing this portrayal of poverty in India to win acclaim and getting back Oscars. And although many a common Indian has raised his voice against it, but since we are not part of the movie, our word will not be accepted. Instead of allowing the contrarians some space, voices against the movie have been dismissed by a member of the star cast as being jealous or worse, childish.

Bear with me for the large number of links, but the article would only make sense if you have a glimpse of every article linked.

Pink Chaddi Campaign

I don't know how many of you are aware of the PINK CHADDI CAMPAIGN.. (Hmmm Yes you heard that right) The campaign is aimed toward making Muthalik aware of his doing and that we wont sit back and relax...

IHM wrote this and wanted us to comment on it with a poem... 
SO here is my poem about Mr. Muthalik!


*drumroll*
Oh Dear, Muthalik has defined a Bhartiya Nari,
Non-pub going and wearing only a sari.

I wonder, when the campaign is done, 
Will the political tactics he shun?

One thing that is sure, 
that this might be the cure,for when he is out shopping for chaddis, many will wink,
And wonder if he has that in pink. :)

P.s If you don't know why this is being done or what happened, google the Mangalore incident or Mutalik and you'll know. I have given a bunch of links as well to help you out....

- Rashi