The Viewspaper - To Protest Or Not to Protest

Apr

It started way back when I was in class X. The pressure, the anxiety, the race to get into a preferential institute. I failed to get into a college of my choice because my class XII marks did not clear the cut-offs. However, I remember feeling anguished when I noticed with shock that about half the people who had got in, had marks- lesser than mine. Need I explain how?

Reservation. An impediment in my pursuit of a successful career, or a very well thought out plan to equalize socio-economic status? I am just a drop in the vast ocean, but I must be echoing the thoughts of thousands more, who just like me are concerned and worried about their own personal futures. Reservation is an enormous issue, the effects of which, good or bad, will be seen at a significantly large scale. I stand here as a common middle class student, ignorant of the exact proceedings (starting from election strategies to under the table corruption) that determine final political decisions, and the chances of a political leader heeding to my grievances are minute. Nevertheless, I present to all, how reservation affects me in my little span of India.

Now they say that the IIMs too will have to implement the 27 per cent OBC reservation. However, to maintain the educational quality and excellence of these esteemed institutions, the reservation for these backward classes will stop at 95 percentile. This means that in my CAT exam, if I score a 97 percentile, I am not sure about receiving a call from IIM, but my friend from the OBC category with a 95.5 percentile is. I understand that educational upliftments of such kind for the backward classes is an effective way to improve their socio-economic status. Yet at the end of the day, I still feel cheated, because it was me who worked harder; it was me who performed better in the exam; it is me who has proved that I have caliber; it is me who, through this exam, has displayed my potential to turn out to be a good manager. Isn’t that why I am giving CAT in the first place? To provide them with a reason to choose me over someone else? Yet, my efforts to perform well might turn out to be futile, because ironically, I am now at a disadvantage by being born into a Brahmin family!

I was faced with the problem of reservation at the graduate level; now I might face it at the postgraduate level too. Will I soon face it at job level too? Will my children too face it? How long will this go on and what is the time limit? No one can answer these questions for me.

So I contemplate further and try to figure out how reservation might turn out to be beneficial for me in the long run. If reservation does indeed turn out to be successful, then I, in perhaps 30-40 years, might be living in a better India, wherein career opportunities for all would be equal, and a majority population of the backward classes would have better living conditions. Obviously, people with better living conditions will boost the economy and we will have a larger percent of the adult citizens contributing to the economy in a productive manner. So, is a setback in my educational qualification or career negligent compared to the large-scale progress that my country will make? To phrase is another way, will the "sacrifice" by lakhs of smart and capable students, end up in building up a more socially balanced society? The sacrifice had better be worth it, because, reservation means a lot of intelligent minds going to waste or getting channelized in unwanted fields.

The problem is that just when I start looking at reservation from this point of view, another question perplexes me. Are these moves by the HRD ministry actually and genuinely hopeful of the success of the reservation plan, or are these mere political gimmicks? Because, if these are just short term methods to get votes and are not backed by consistent action plans and reviews at regular intervals, then this reservation issue could turn out to be a problem even after 50 years.

People have come out with alternatives such as reservation on the basis of economic status or expansion in the educational field to create more seats and thereby maximize opportunities. I am not a fool, and I know that everything in my country happens at a relatively slow pace. By the time the educational field expands with proportion to the competition, it could be time for me to retire. So I stand here now, perplexed whether to protest against reservation or not. Is there anyone out there who, without a bias, a political stand, or without a surname, is willing to clear these confusions that dwell in millions of us? If I protest, am I standing up for my rights or am I a hindrance to a long-term beneficial movement that could morph my country for the better ?

Sharanya Misra Sharma

(6 votes, average: 2.83 out of 5)

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Comments:

Rishabh on April 15th, 2008 at 9:31 am |

“Reservation is necessary for transcending caste and not for perpetuating it. Reservation has to be used in a limited sense, otherwise it will perpetuate casteism in the country.”
The fact that India is a casteist society gives a ready made pie for our power hungry politicians. This is just a dangerous trend because the government itself is not sure of the success of this reservations thing. The majority of people are still oppressed despite reservations and don’t have any knowledge about the same. This was the best chance for GOI to conduct new surveys and collect data and devise a new strategy for some affirmative actions. There should be a time level as well.
But as Benn once said–Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. This is what our polticians prefer to do.
The OBC elite has so far not cared to stir ambitions at the bottom. They instinctively know that should this ever happen it would dilute their political and economic pre-eminence within their communities. OBC elites have run governments in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for several terms but the conditions of poor “backwards”, let alone those of the scheduled castes, have generally remained unchanged. What progress has occurred among these people is not because of state effort, but in spite of it.
If the policy is flawed then why not review it??
As far as your protest is concerned there is a saying that a society is not a good place because good people never stand for a cause. This is the time to come together and take some actions. In the last 2 years YFE has made few things very clear and the judgement of hon’ble SC also vindicates that.
“creamy layer”
retaining the authority to judicially review any government definition of who constitutes the “creamy layer”.
But then the government might not end doing that way. So we all need to be alert to do or force the government to implement policy as it is intended by SC.

Inayat on April 15th, 2008 at 6:38 pm |

Hmm..well written, i feel your anguish man, i get SO mad about this whole obc thing that i can’t even speak or write about it.

I’m a general category student, will someone please fight for my rights and give me a quota? because as of now we’re the most bleeding marginalised…

Rishabh on April 15th, 2008 at 7:00 pm |

It will be great if you your self can go ahead and fight for your rights. Why do you want someone else to fight for you.

bharatjakati on April 15th, 2008 at 7:37 pm |

it is a mere political gimmick..i see sc/st/obc junta around me everyday since my coll is one of the worst sufferers…and they are hardly ones who need to be given special benefits to get through these competitive exams…most of them (i won’t say ‘all’ but most is very close to all…)come from well to do families and under equal conditions would not have qualified for want of knowledge and intelligence…why should ‘they’ be admitted to world class institutions?? what needs to be done is giving them primary education..them here refers to the non creamy layer cuz the creamy layer is at par with any other layer of the indian society

Garima on April 15th, 2008 at 11:24 pm |

The issue which could be resolved at the primary “grassroot” level, has been dragged to give reservation at the undergraduate level. It was still tolerable, as the policymakers seemed keen on redeeming themselves of the neglect that they have given to primary education. But the story does not finish, the reservation is taken to PG level as well. Justifying it on the same grounds, socio-economic divide. Why would a student who has been given concession after school to take admission in a good college, need it again at another level? If things continue like this, then the reservation might just extend to jobs, to salaries and who know, pension scheme as well. Is there a stop to all this?