I agree with the author completely.. The so called merit is skills which can be imparted to any avarage person.. The more resources one puts, one can do better in it.. SC/STs etc can't afford to put more resources ( time/money/tutors) in improving skills hence they will fall a little short in there.. But all these skills can be learnt on the job also. persons with good talent will tranform then transform into a great things..
United states was build by big leader/businessmen who put a lot of their wealth for the good of their country/people.. like Andrew Carnegie, Rockfellers, Ford.. Even Bill Gates is giving lot of money to charity and helping people. Most of Indian businessmen are a selfish lot. I can't think of any one businessman who is in the league with the above names. They only think of maximizing their profits. For that they will avoid paying taxes, cheat people. One can't trust them. Only way to help SC/ST backwards get apportunities is through government legislation and making sure its implemented.. For if Indian businessmen can cheat govt/public in taxes etc they can definitely cheat in affirmative action..
The article started well and the author fails to look at india's population as whole.The main point I didn't like is about is IIt's ,come on everybody knows it's very difficult to get through an institution like IIT,MR...do you have any idea how difficult it is to get into it?how much sacrifice you have to do to your personal life.Infact in my opinion it is probably the best thing india has considering the QUOTA systems which is like a canker growing big each day.At job ,at college you see unintelligent, dull students (a classmate) get into an institution just because he happens to be of a backward caste(though many are more financially well off than FC's)I am not trying to start a fight here,what I am saying is that don't talk about IIt ,if you quotas students were very talented why don't they fill the quotas in IIt's?what about talented FC's who are poor and have no money or no GOVT backing ( that a BC QUOTA has) to get then a good job or education ?what do you think the country has in store for them?
Mr. Jagannathan, Your column is another pathetic attempt to institutionalize reservations. "Merit" and "talent" are not something absolute, these are relative terms and in a job search, you compare different people and guage their "merits" and "talents" and pick the best out of the pool. Again, I say to you, why dont you built an industrial empire like the Tatas and Ambanis and then hire whoever you want, instead of wasting your time writing columns and giving advice to others
Let us face facts.A person fromm an IIT or IIM are definately a class above the rest. They have the ability to understand and take decisions faster than the others. An organisation when it picks people should not only consider degrees but should have various methods of evaluating people with respect to the nature of job that is going to be entrusted to the new recruit. Every person should be given a fair chance if he or she has the basic requirements.
The private industry in India in which the ownership has been mostly reserved for the family, where the only objective is to increase the family wealth, and knowing that the caste based hatred stil exists in the society, to expect the industry to endorse the reservation scheme sportingly is too naive. The job reservation has benefited not only the immediate family, but the large deprived extented family of the beneficiary. The reservation in the private jobs should be enacted soon to prevent further alienation of the society.
The dalit familes have been historically confined to villages and never enjoyed freedom of expression. These things coupled with the fact that they are always looked down with disgust is the reason for their poor oratory skills. After having a level field for some time the dalits do as good as anybody else. In the government jobs the dalits are doing as good as others and nobody and claim the quality of effeciency of dalit employees on the basis of caste alone. The dalits need a level playing field, and to relax a few initial criteria for the betterment of a large section of the society is neither going to hurt the effciency of the industry nor going to hurt the society. contd...
Those who think reservation for dalits in the college admissions is unfair in the name of merit should also consider the background of the candidates who seek preferential treatment. Other things being equal, compared to other castes, most of the dalits have considerably inferior background. They have less educated/qualified people in their family/relations. The absence of right guidence and favourable atmosphere has a huge impact on performance. Do you think a boy/girl having none or a few educated elders/siblings will do equally well as the one having most of her family well educated? Most of the dalits have been deprived of education and access to avenues of growth, and hence most of them are still confined to villages and are uneducated. Reformers came and reformers went. The affirmative action is the only hope for the dalits to get some dignity. Most of the private employers, besides good academics look for good oratory skills and english. The kids of the families long settled in cities are more exposed to english and hence are good at it. contd...
Mr.jagannadhan took lot of paines to explain what is merit,but Why He thought Mr.Das is peaking of only academic merit is what I fail to understand,any body when they speak of Merit it is only over all capability of the person including talent,intellectual,Managerial and what ever other skills required to handle a certain "Task".But reservation means only one thing and that is irrespectiv of apersons ability He/She will be given/ascertained a certain position/task only based on his birth I. cast/religion/sex, which definetly is not fair,and more over when He speaks oflack of financial ability as the sole reason for not attaining certain talents. He is absolutely wrong as probably he is not aware that there are enough schlorships and other Financial help for the right candidates coming form the deprived sections of the society in all the institutes that he has named. How ever as He has rightly suggested probably Govt. can insists on such financial/Technical help fo honing the skills of deserving candidates from the dpeprived sections from the big Industry/commerce. As a duty towards the society and in repentence of it's ( Society's ) past blunders.
