Late President Zakir Hussain said, “There is too much politics in education and too little education in politics.” The truth of his statement is unfolding before us through the proposal of 27 per cent reservation quota for OBCs in central universities, IIMs and IITs. That this academically detrimental proposal is reeking of political overtures, is easy to see. With the upcoming state assembly elections, this is a move to capture votes.
Educational institutions already provide 22.5 per cent reservations to students from the SC and ST classes. Increase of quota in institutions like the IIMs and IITs from 22.5 per cent to 49 per cent would mean a drastic decrease in seats for open category students. The government doesn’t seem to care, as they aren’t big vote banks.
We have the minority quota, the SC and the ST quota and now the 27 per cent OBC quota. The reservation mania seems to be doing little good, even to those for whom it is meant. Even after 60 years of reservation policy, they seem to have progressed very little. This led an anguished Delhi University Pro Vice Chancellor SK Tandon to say, “This way, one half of the country will be nurtured not on merit, but on other considerations. If quotas for OBCs have to be introduced, the overall number of seats should be increased so that meritorious students are not denied a good education.”
Instead of motivating the SCs, STs and the OBCs to rise through merit, the government is implementing a policy which will create animosity between the general category and quota students. Does the government want a replay of the Mandal agitation? Why can't it formulate a wholistic, indiscriminatory policy for the student community?
The public sector in India is already ailing because jobs are given on the basis of caste and not merit. Now, the government wants reservations in the private sector too. The reservation policy, whether in academic institutions or job sector, is lopsided and undermines quality and talent. It's high time the government realises that the quota system is playing with student's academic careers and even their lives.
courtesy : DNA speak up
2 comments:
dear sinathkm
what a pity that in aland of the great oppurtunities when our infantile democracy has about started crawling and organisations like goldman sachs in the BRIR '2050' survey have forseen india to be a major economic superpower of 2050 . and these helmsmen of ours whom we have given the reins of our country are all in an effort to belie their predictions. please do keep up the fight and do join hands against this injustice to the millions unfortunate enough to have been born as the forward classes.
regards
pallav pareek
www.pallav pareek.blogspot.com
they are backward because they are backward...and they should be bought into the mainstream...but not with the detriment of others
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