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Any
government discrimination based on caste, creed,
color, religion is justified? – No. In a
sovereign democratic country every one should be
treated equally unless he or she is a
politician. (Even in democracy there are
different rules for rulers/government servant).
Is quota a necessity in India? – Yes. The way
Indian society and government works, we have to
have safeguards for the poor. There is no
minimum support from Government for health,
education and living. So a quick fix would be
giving education, health and jobs (living) on
priority basis – fair enough.
But Indian quota system needs to be revisited.
Quota policy is more for political gains rather
than improving the conditions of poor.
This quota will give priority to some Chandu
Yadav (an OBC MP from UP ) and Narendra Singh
Meena (a family of IAS officers from Rajasthan)
– who have all the money and power to get the
best of all – over Parashuram Yadav (a rickshaw
puller in Delhi – migrated from Bihar) or Lalsen
Urao (a tribal from Jharkhand who still has not
visited Ranchi).
As welfare state government money should go the
poorest but what is happening is rich caste
leaders of these castes are taking all and needy
are still there after fifty years and the rich
leaders are becoming richer.
1.) So fair system would be - who can afford it
should be kept out of it irrespective of what
caste they belong to. We all know rich have only
one caste. An OBC business man belongs to
business community and a Civil Servants belongs
to Sarkari Officers group.
All poor belong to India. There are nothing
called privileged poor and non privileged poor.
Had they been privileged, why the heck they are
still poor? The very fact they are poor they
should get government attention. But Indian
government attention is only reserved for poor
from particular castes. As an Indian it is our
responsibility to see all Indians prosper. We
should feel as much for a poor Brahmin in Tamil
Nadu who feeds his large family (why his family
is large that is another debatable issue) by
doing some religious rituals or businessman who
lost every thing in partition in Pakistan.
2.) There should be quota for poor irrespective
of caste.
In a large country like ours natural and
man-made disasters do happen – Tsunami,
earthquake, forced migration of Pandits from
J&K, Narmada Dam are some examples. People from
these places should also be given priorities.
Compensation might not help in long run.
3.) Natural and Man-made disasters affected
places should also be included in reservations.
There has been consensus that upper caste has
tortured lower castes. Prima facie it might look
right too. But if probe into it – it is rich and
powerful who oppressed others. A Rajput Zamindar
(landlord) will be as tyrannical to his Rajput
kastkar (Tiller/small farmers) as any of other
caste tiller.
A poor beggar Brahmin was as disrespected as any
other poor caste member. It is true that most of
the powerful and tyranny were from the upper
caste but upper caste member also were oppressed
by the same people. Good and bad people are
every where and in all caste. Most of the
youths, who are on streets today, do not know
there was caste based oppression in India or it
is still there in some villages. They should not
be victimized for what has happened in past.
Even in past some of the most powerful dynasties
– like Nands, Mauryas, Guptas, Sahu ji maharaj,
Pals etc were not from upper castes. So it is
not right to say they were all oppressed. Even
lots of Zamindars in British ruled India were
from not upper caste. Zamindari was mostly given
to powerful people in that region.
Democracy should not be dictatorship of
majority. It should be based on rationality.
Otherwise democracy will vanish or country will
disintegrate. And this is exactly what
politicians want.
But now quota system has become a tool in hand
of politicians. Now it is like – if you are more
in number and can affect vote bank – you should
be part of scheduled list. It is not a healthy
sign of democracy. In some parts powerful castes
like Jat, Rajput, Yadav, Kurmis (patel) etc are
in OBC list. Actually it is harmful for quota
system itself. Since they are powerful and
well-to-do they will get the best of it. And the
real poor will remain poor.
4.) Powerful and dominant caste of that region
should be brought out of caste system based
quota.
Another irony of this system is – even if you
are poor and OBC you will not get reservation if
you are not a Hindu. In a no-bias-for-religion
country it is unthinkable.
5.) Reservation should be for all religion.
Indian reservation policy needs an overhaul –
but because of politics no one wants to touch
it. They all are happy drumming it up and
thinking next election they will win. If you
want to defeat those forces, be united and let
not split you vote. Even if you cannot make
someone win, you can make some lose. All the
people who want an overhaul in reservation
system become one vote bank – leave all
ideologies and past behind.
Vote on single issue of “Reservation Overhaul”.
In the politics of vote if we became one vote
bank, everyone will listen to us.
India is having a big middle class and it is
growing. They also need to fulfill their
aspiration. There should not be more than 1/3
reservation at any level. And more of
reservation it should be point based system. If
there is no good candidate from OBC it should be
filled by SC/ST or General Categories.
(All names are fictitious.)
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Comments: |
I
think you have made a valid point.
Reservation on economic grounds,
irrespective of a candidate's caste,
is definitely a healthier
alternative to the current system.
Also, there needs to be some
thinking about how long the
reservations should continue. How
would we know that we have reached a
stage where candidates from the
weaker sections are able to compete
with the ones from the general
category?
My suggestion is that candidates
from the reserved categories should
first fill up the reserved seats
(i.e., even if they score above the
cut-off mark for general seats).
Then we can compare the respective
cut offs of the general and reserved
categories. When, for a few
successive years we see that the two
are comparable, we will be able to
safely conclude that the time has
come to say goodbye to reservations.
In the current format, candidates
from reserved categories who score
higher than the general cut-off are
allotted general category seats. So,
the cut-off for reserved seats is
bound to be lower than general
cut-off.
Unfortunately, our vote greedy
politicians may not find it a very
lucrative idea.
And yes, OBC Muslims do benefit from
the current quota system. - Dr
Ravikirti - May 29, 2006
I
agree. I would like to add:
1) that a person should be able to
benefit from quota only once so that
others from backward category should
get benefit too i.e. if someone (say
Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan) wins election
once from reserved constituency then
he should not be allowed to fight on
reserved seat, that would give an
opportunity for the poor backwards
to rise too instead of rich and
powerful Mr. Paswan.
"Another irony of this system is –
even if you are poor and OBC you
will not get reservation if you are
not a Hindu. In a
no-bias-for-religion country it is
unthinkable."
2) If we have to implement quota in
IIT then why leave AMU or St.
Stephens? This too is discrimination
on basis of religion. - Shashank
Prasad - May 29, 2006
Hi
Vivek
The issues addressed in your article
are alarming and require lot of
pre-thinking before application.
Reservation has been regular
vote-rippers for the politicians.
Almost every political party has
tried it in its own way and
harvested a great crop in every
election season.
But the government and the political
parties are not only to blame. We
can't shirk the responsibility for
such mindless and cunning acts.
After all, we deserve what we are.
Tell me, who is not aware that
giving reservation in job, that too
on caste basis, is not going to
improve situation of the downtrodden
sections? But why we are always
backing these acts by casting votes
on caste-lines and coming out on
streets in favour or opposition to
such acts.
Why can't we just deny these fellows
the favors they ask for? If we deny
them votes on these grounds they
would be forced to do the right
things. In my terms, reservation is
itself a farce statement. Suppose
the government makes the school and
college education free for the poor
people, are the children of the poor
section going to join these? I
guess, no, because the poor economic
condition of their families would
force them to join some kind of job
or begging to earn the livelihood.
These governments never get tired
saying they are meant for poor. But
do they ever take care of the poor?
I am right now staying in Hyderabad,
and am disturbed by watching growing
packaged water business here. 40 Rs.
bottle is the water's price. Now
this can be afforded by the rich
section but the poor has to drink
that very dirty water which
government supply system provides to
them. Is it not a farce being played
by the politicians.
In my words, the government, which
can't provide clean drinking water
to their poor people, whichever
caste they belong to, it cannot
provide other secondary things what
a human being requires. In my view,
it is a complete hopeless situation
and nobody can change it because all
of the time is being spent on cheap
methods to reap vote crops and
nobody is in mood of thinking about
the poor section.
I wish the people of India
understand the hidden motives of
these blood-greedy animals and start
thinking for their future.
Your suggestions are really good but
only for a positive mindset
government. - Ravish Kumar,
Hyderabad - May 29, 2006 |
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