Prafull in his powerfull view to suppport upliftment of the underprevileged, is trying to paint a one sided picture.
Reservations at work place have been around for 50 years and yet not much as happened. The pace of reforms for minorities has been very slow. Govenment offices where minorities reservations are upheld, and employed without merit languish and are pathetic.
Upliftment is necessary but job reservations is not the key..The famous US example Prafull reiterates upon has not come easily and again not through reservations in employment.
Free education upto std XII is good...but later life needs to be on one's own merit. Yah there can be monetary discounts for fees etc when a minority student pursues higher studies such as medical and engineering as they would not be in position to pay them.This would keep them motivated and help them come up in life.
I have been reading your articles at various places inclusive frontline, hindu etc....
Talking about your view on reservation in Indian Private Sector and Public Sector apart from existing Govt jobs based on certain statistics you have mentioned here, can I ask you the merits of this policy decision from a longterm perspective???
Had reservation aloe been a magic wand to raise the social and political status of the OBC's and others then "yes" I agree to it, but with students/people from these financially and socially challenged classes enter in a Engg colleges with 1 marks or 2 marks (refer to case of REC BHOPAL yr 1998/2000) in coveted branches what kind of a quality you expect out of these students and on whole for the netire nation???? 45 yrs is a late awakening Mr.Bidwai, though sooner than later.The policies directing for upliftment of these classes is not through reservations but at policies directed to hit the root of the problem i.e involvement of the entire society as whole through stressed primary education , scholarships etc.You had cooly put across your view by giving ref to USA but USA has a much more advanced and organised policies that hits long time unlike us.
I dont agree that the injustice done to dalits can be undone by reservation. 50 plus years of reservation has not done anything good for the SC/STs, OBCs. instead it has created a elite class within them. as the years go, this elite, although on par with the elite of other heirarchy still claims benefits under reservation quota. To root out this injustice from the root cause, discrimination in any form against dalits should be dealt with like any other criminal offence. if a dalit has the merit, then he should not be denied a job or admission into school because of his caste. as it is its not too easy for most people to get admissions into schools and colleges with intense competition and reservations. More reservations will only create an upper class revolt, the beginnings of which are already beginning to be seen.
I have been reading your views on the reservation policies for quite some time. Your hatred for the so called savarna people sometime astonish me. What have we done to deserve such kind of malicious campaign against us - the hapless savarnas?
Your entire argument is full of blatant lies. Our Dharmashastras have never sanctioned discriminations among human beings. No denial actual ground situations show many violations of equity principle. However savarnas have been equally poor and underprivileged. The entire polity of the country is fully dominated by the so-called OBCs and Dalits (Lalu/Mulayam/Karunanidhi/Dharam Singh/Sharad Pawar/Ajit Singh...the list is endless). If they are so discriminated against how come this is possible?
How come so many of the OBCs are extremely rich and powerful and so many of the savarnas are so poor and hapless?
I am getting a feeling that we savarnas must unite like the Jews to escape the inhuman discrimination being preached and practiced against us. They laid down their lives the most for independence of this country and today they are 'official pariahs'.
I am a South African living in India, so I read with interest the article on addressing inequalities in Indian society through affirmative action. When affirmative action policies were implemented in South Africa, many people (including non-whites) were upset. Basically, not enough research was done before the policies were implemented. It is not enough to introduce a quota system - all this does is reduce efficiency and effectiveness and cause frustration for the organisation, as well as the beneficiaries of the policies. Many black people who were supposed to benefit from these policies instead ended up feeling alienated, and many of them occupied only token positions in companies. For the sake of expediency, the implementation of the policy was rushed. There was no proper training or sensitization of all the stakeholders. This process can only happen over a period of many years (from early childhood, disadvantaged children have to be groomed, given opportunities, and supported through this entire process so they can deal with the pressures they will face later as trailblazers). It's high time that India righted its social injustices, but with prudence and good planning.
"The organised private sector accounts for just 8.4 million jobs -- down from 8.8 million in 1998. The whole organised sector employs just 27.2 million" the columnist says. Could some one put the net earnings for the respective categories (real cash flows not book dues that include bad debts that have not been written off for you know why reasons) to bring things into perspective? That could explain if positive action as recommended by the columnist is justified or not. The direction indicated by facts should determine the recourse, should it not?
4th rate politicians have divided india on the basis of caste over the last 57 years to get votes. naturally recruitment, promotions and most other things go on in this country based on caste. merit, potential, skills, knowledge, suitability and things like that do not have any place in india. only connections, recommendations, bribery, psycophancy, chamchagiri, mediocracy, hypocracy, stupid seniority and things like that have got every place in india since paast 57 years.
The net result of all this is: massive population explosion, institutionalised corruption, mind boggling bureaucratisation & politicisation, monumental pollution, poverty and illeteracy, massive unemployment and underemployment, ever widening gap between haves and have nots, tons and tons of black money generation, huge deforestation and things like that. India needs one more freedom struggle to free it from native criminal rulers.
The one place that affirmative action should be encouraged is in education. If people are educated and they acquire knowledge, then they will compete effectively, with dignity and pride, with a clear sense of equality.
Mindless reservations will simply perpetuate the scourge of vote bank politics and encourage religious rabble rousers.
