Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Reservation - a different opinion

Till now my points were only against reservation. See my previous posts on this here and here.
But today a different point struck me. Though I am personally against reservation(as of now) but I would like someone to contradict my following point.
We all(almost) are opposing reservation with the main reason being that reservation in higher institution and at every stage of life(education,jobs,etc) is absurd. Rather, improving the education at primary and secondary schools is more important as it will automatically ensure that the BCs will perform well thereafter.
[Note : By BCs I mainly mean the BCs who are also economically weak, not the creamy layer. So, please don't bring the point that only some high-profile BCs will get the advantage.]
Now, my point - However cheap and better education govt. provides to the BCs(remember, also economically weak) the environment at homes of those poor souls won't be anywhere near to the ones that we IIITians have had. Govt. can provide free education or even free meals, but what about the study environment at home ?(better call it slum, not home, for most of the BCs). So without proper environment BCs can't compete with the non-BCs. If no reservation, then they can't get into good institutions like IIT, IIM and then they can't get good jobs. Their plight will be same as their parents. For their children, again the same environment. So this forms a vicious circle if there is no reservation, even if govt provides free education and free meals for all 3 times. Even if it provides free meals for all members of the child's family for all 3 times(not practical though), still, having a well-educated parents is a different thing. There are some who succeed ... like the story of a son of a rickshaw puller which is doing the rounds now-a-days, but thats very rare - you all will agree.

Now my real point- If we provide reservation at every level, that is, at school, at university level , in jobs, etc. Then few of the BCs will finally get a good job(though they may not be worthy). His financial condition will be much better than his parents. Also he will be much better educated than his parents, though not as good as the non-BCs who had the education in the same college. So now, his children have a much better environment at home. Now they can study nicely and might be able to compete with the non-BCs.
So providing reservation for a few years may be not be a bad idea afterall. But then their should be a strict law that the reservation will be scrapped after 'n' years. Otherwise no govt. will scrap the reservation later because of fear of losing votes.
Got my point?
Do correct me if I am wrong.
PS: Don't get emotional. Emotional comments and foul language is not allowed. Comment with a cool mind.
PS2: Don't pick a small statement from above and start contradicting it. Some small points may be little exaggarated. Comment based on your overall understanding of this post.

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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

who gives a shit abt ur opinion ?
STOP writin such crappy posts!!

Anonymous said...

Actually thats what Dr. Ambedkar thought and he intended the reservations to be implemented only for ten years so that the backward classes can be at par with non-BCs.....but it has been 50 odd years
and we are still where we started...

Anonymous said...

going by what you say, about improving the situation at their homes... why not just start giving them some OBC allowance? don't work, dont study, take this money every month and improve the conditions at your home. at least it will not deprive the deserving people of any seats or jobs.

when the situation becomes better, then you can compete in the general category.

holy crap, what sparked such a dumb idea in your mind?

Turbo said...

@anonymous:
I already said in the PS not too get emotional.
And who gives a shit abt ur opinion abt my opinion?
STOP writin such crappy comments!!

Anonymous said...

nobody gives a shit about opinions only if they are anonymous

abe turbo, your opinion is your own, dont want/plan/care to change it, but consider this - assume there are some SC/ST/OBCs in your batch. what would be your opinion on them?

me? i would look down on many of them - not because they are SC/ST/OBCs, not because they are economically backward, not because they had a crappy upbringing, not because (theoratically) they have disgusting manners, not because i consider myself 'upper caste', but because they use RESERVATIONS to get in. i would never respect someone who couldnt make it through on pure merit. how would you treat some of them assuming they were in your batch?

think of this - how would most ppl treat them? in a way similar to me, i suppose, for whatever reasons. does it really help any1? you give the SC/ST/OBCs a major inferiority complex, some ppl who deserve to get through on merit dont make it through and the quality of an institution is reduced. if ppl are pushing reservations, are they willing to take this risk?

there could be some reservations ONLY at primary and secondary level. if a candidate cannot clear an entrance exam for a college with this help, he doesnt deserve to get into the college - thats about as plain as I can put it.

->Badrinath S

PS : lol@anonymous

Turbo said...

Yes.... I agree with your points. They are valid. But what I am asking is how do you contradict my point? My point is still untouched. Prove to me that with just reservation at primary and secondary level, and without proper study environment, how can a child of a slum-dweller be as competitive as people like us?

Anonymous said...

How do the reservations improve the study environments if only the upper layers of the so called OBC's, SCs and ST's enjoy reservation.

Lalu's daughters did their BTech from BITs Ranchi. Yadav's (OBC's) are an affluent class in UP and Bihar...How will reservations enpower the Changu Chamar who clears shit at Lalu's house to reach an IIT and stop Lalu's daughters and grandchildren to make merry at some elite college??

Turbo said...

@anonymous2:
It will empower them slowly generation by generation as I explained in my post:-
"""
If we provide reservation at every level, that is, at school, at university level , in jobs, etc. Then few of the BCs will finally get a good job(though they may not be worthy). His financial condition will be much better than his parents. Also he will be much better educated than his parents, though not as good as the non-BCs who had the education in the same college. So now, his children have a much better environment at home. Now they can study nicely and might be able to compete with the non-BCs.
"""
Also the creamy layer rule will prevent the affluent ones from enjoying reservation(but only if it is made impossible to get the OBC certificate illegally:().
Also, I would also like to say that providing reservations to economically weakers instead of BCs will be a better idea. Note that I say reservation and not just aids to econmically weaker coz aids like free education and free meals can't help much.

Anonymous said...

ur point is invalid..coz if the students r really enthu about studying then wat they read in school is more than enuf for performing well at SCHOOL level exams..they dnt hav to spend much time studying at home for such exams..nd if they hav hmwrk nd stuf they can stay at their school for and hr or so after the school and complete it..so if the env. at their school is gud then ur point is invalidated :)

Anonymous said...

Well, I support this new thought to some extent. But well, arent there 'general' category people who live in slums too? What about their upbringing? Why not convert it based on 'poverty line' rather than caste n stuff.

Turbo said...

Ya, I agree. It should not be based on caste or religion. It should be based on economic conditions of the family.

Anonymous said...

The only real problem is that there is no effort to improve primary education in India. If everybody has a reasonable primary education they would have already improved their standards over a generation. Countries like USA and UK guarantee primary education to everybody. The government hasn't done this in 60 years. Reservations aren't an answer. Any self respecting community would turn down reservations. Coloured people in America were once offered reservations but they were turned down by the community because it was confident in it's abilities. Today blacks in America are generaly free of any discrimination. Maybe there's a lesson to be learnt there for the backward communities of India