Reservation: The Slow Poison

The views expressed here are explicitly of the author only and does not reflect any one else's stance except that of the author's.Any suggestions and comments are highly welcome and kindly mail them to the author at : vivekthakur@gmail.com

24th May 2006

Finally the sword of political ace has fallen upon all Indians. Little did our socialist and secular UPA government realize that one end of such double edged weapon is always facing towards oneself. But they are busy using it to scathe and slice heads off all meritorious and hard working students.

Kill, spill blood, murder merit in one blow seems to be the motto of our elected government, headed by the all admired Dr. Manmohan Singh, whose meekness on the issue has put the entire nation to shame. And what to say about our dear old Arjun Singh, I think its time for him to take rest and step down as Hon'ble Minister For Human Resource Development. He has had enough time on board ruining the very foundations of the world’s largest liberal democracy.

No no.. I am not at all angry, kindly read some excerpts from Karan Thapar’s interview with the “almighty” Arjun Singh (exceprts from the interview http://www.ibnlive.com/news/devils-advocate-arjun-singh/11063-4.html), where Mr Singh was obviously feeling awkward and quite unable to defend himself when attacked by an array of logical questions by Karan Thapar. Mr Singh doesn't know what percentage of our population is OBC, he doesn't know how many seats are already reserved in colleges, he does not know that 50% of such reserved seats lie vacant in instituions such as IITs.

This is our Hon'ble Minister For Human Resource Development.

What the hell does he know? Can somebody do a favour and turn on the lights for him?

Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Sitaram Yechury (one great leftist for whom I personally prefer should be left back in Dark Ages) think that those brilliant people who have gone on strike and are protesting peacefully are doing this country a great disservice. They are not letting backward people get their rights. They are selfish. And misguided too.

Ohh, suddenly I realize how misguided I am? I thought that rank and admission should be based one ones merit instead of ones caste. What a fool I am..shit! I thought that reservation should be scrapped and primary education should be made focus areas instead. I am ashamed of myself. To succeed in life, hard work and merit is *not* important, if you are from backward sections of the society you deserve a seat even if your score much lower than your peers in national level exams. There should be 50% reservation in all higher education institutions. So what if more than half of such reserved seats lie empty each year? So what if such reserved category students are unable to cope up with their academics? So what if even meritorious SC/ST and OBC students are protesting against the quota system? Seats should definitely be reserved and the average student must not be selfish and should sacrifice his or her chance of getting an admission based on merit for the benefit of all Indians. Seats can be increased across all institutions even when the teacher-student ratio is declining rapidly.

God forbid me! Why the hell I could not realize that! I should be hanged in public! And everyone who disagrees should either die hungry or change their views. Peace.

Hmm…coming back to my  sane self, I have to decide:  either I am stupendously wrong (as well as the entire generation of people who dare to think the same) or Mr. Arjun Singh lacks the ability to think wisely.

But wait..what about those two senior members of the Knowledge Commission, who resigned citing Centre's inaction over the OBC quotas, are they also misguided?

But Mr Manmahon singh is an extremely intelligent and justified man, when he does the classy mime act even after the Chairman of the Knowledge Commission, Mr Sam Pitroda, said there was no need to have reservation as opportunities were available. Mr Pitroda is the same man who himself hails from a backward tribe in Orissa. And the same man is the head of  WorldTel, UK. Mr Arjun Singh, please listen to what he has to say (excerpt from the Times of India):

Noting that he himself came from a lower caste in tribal Orissa, Pitroda, who heads WorldTel, said he did not follow on reservations. "There is a path that one can take in the democratic system."

Huh..but who is to decide the right or wrong?

This vote hungry and dumb to the highest degree possible UPA government? Or we the people?

The government is just a symbol, reflecting the identity of the nation’s populace as a whole. And it has no God gifted right to crush its people’s aspirations and freedom of expression by draconian and archaic laws. Even a person with extremely low levels of common sense can deduce that reservations is not the way towards greater economic prosperity.

Quota system is like a slow poison; it discourages merit, divides the nation, breeds dissatisfaction, and creates frustration. A perfect recipe for killing the entire system itself very slowly. The after effects of the new reservation policy would come out much later; forcing us Indians to leave our motherland to rot and look for alternate pastures. As I mentioned earlier, this reservation policy is like a sword, hanging inches over the neck of the raging Indian economic bull running fast ahead on the path of global progress, ready to cut his neck and leave him bleeding, dying a slow death.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

- V for Vendetta.