Political Diary
New Delhi, 28 August 2015
Reservation Bogie
Again
BITING MORE THAN
ONE CAN CHEW
By Poonam I Kaushish
Hardik Patel, Who? Till yesterday, an unknown strapping
21-year old gun-wielding lad is causing acute discomfort to Prime Minister Modi
and his Party today. That too, in home State Gujarat, as he leads the Patidari Anamat (Reservation) Andolan Samiti
movement demanding reservations which has snowballed in to a major
conflagration. Underscoring, 21st Century India still remains the same: Quotas
and queues are the all-season favourites!
Indeed it is puzzling and ironical that the Patels’ a very
wealthy community who constitute nearly 15% of Gujarat’s 63m people controlling
most of the diamond, agro and textile business in the State and owing a quarter
of US motels want to be called “backward” and demand reservations. Why?
Notably, what Patel asserts makes sense. “Someone with 90%
in engineering sells medicines while a Dalit with 40% becomes a doctor, thanks
to reservation. Either the Government grants us reservation or discontinues
it.” Questionably, in the name of demanding reservations is he really
spearheading an anti-reservation movement? Or is reservation OK as long as it
is linked to economic status not caste?
Either which way, Patel’s war cry could find resonance in
modern India
where many feel the job pie has not grown the way the reservation pool has. It
could also blow open the affirmative can of worms in an explosive manner.
Already Hardik uses provocative language, “We are following Gandhi and Sardar
Patel ways, but can also go the Bhagat Singh way.” Read guns.
Clearly, not only is Patel giving the Centre and State
Government palpitations. Post NaMo’s 15-year iron grip, it is the first time a
novice has accumulated a five lakh plus crowd, worse the youngster has spelt
‘booting out’ Anandiben’s Government in 2017 Assembly polls if his diktat goes unheeded.
Add to this, Patel is adroitly espousing what the RSS and
BJP had stated in its 1996 manifesto: Aarthik
aadhar par reservations. In fact, Modi has carried this forward by propagating:
Sabka saath, sabka vikas whereby education
facilities would be given to everyone, thus none would ask for reservation.
However, this is easier said then done as over the years our
netagan have made quotas and queues
into a political milch cow. Merrily converting positive affirmation into vote
percentages wherein social and economic upliftment is weighed on the scale of
vote-bank politics. And merit is a dirty word.
Not satisfied with a benchmark of 50 per cent, set by the
Supreme Court, our polity continues to bask in thoughtless adhocism, by hiking
the percentage at the drop of a hat. Ranging from 69 per cent in Tamil Nadu to
80 per cent in Bihar and Karnataka.
Raising a moot point: When does backwardness supercede
equality assured by our Constitution? Are caste-based quotas the answer for
maintaining India’s
social fabric and harmony? How does it better the lot of the Patels and other
OBC’s if a few persons get jobs?
Whatever happens to merit and excellence? Is it fair that a
meritorious person is denied admission because his quota is full? Is
reservation an end in itself? Has any objective study been done to find out the
end result? Whether those provided reservation have gained or continued to
lose?
True the Government’s fundamental mission is to uplift the
poor, educate and provide them equal opportunities. But when education and job
reservations are calculated on the basis of belonging to a particular caste or religion
per se, it goes against Article 15(1)
of the Indian Constitution. It not only divides the people but also harms
national unity and fraternity.
The tragedy of it all is that the Mandal Frankenstein
created by our netagan has come to
bite them. It was all hunky dory and still is as they merrily satiate their
greed for power by continuing to reap a political windfall of over 70 per cent
votes via reservation. However, all forget a time comes when the system of
caste-based quotas becomes divisive and self-defeating. Reservations are no
answer to improving the lot of people.
What next? Our leaders need to realize that India of 2015 is not the India of 1989.
When a young 18-year student, Rajiv Goswami publicly immolated himself. Time to
rise above mindless populism, petty politricks and cry a halt to quotas as they
are detrimental to long-term growth.
Specially in today’s increasingly competitive global
village, where the race for supremacy in Asia is hotting up between China and India. Moreover, our polity has to
deal with a savvy Rang de Basanti
generation of youngsters aged between 18-35 years who constitute 50% population
and believe in deliverables and achievables.
Their thirst for education has gone by over 10-15 per cent.
In Bihar alone, educational institutions have opened
in every mohalla and gali. But reservation has failed to bridge
the gap between the demand and supply for education given exploding student
population juxtaposed with shrinking education pie.
Consequently, the danger in imposing arbitrary quotas on
admissions to educational institutions is two fold. One, any deterioration in
the quality of education which reflects in short-changing Brand India could
jeopardize the country’s remarkable story of economic growth. Whose USP lies in
the brain, skills and expertise of its educated and skilled manpower.
This, in turn, would lead to a subsequent slowdown in the
economy and end up hurting the chances of economic upliftment for the people
who are at the bottom of the economic ladder. Further, it would lead to a brain
drain and disillusionment among the students.
Undeniably, the Government’s fundamental mission is to
provide education, uplift the poor and have-nots alongside better quality of
life. Towards that end, it has to think creatively about how to achieve the
goal of putting everyone on equal footing. Merely having quotas in education
will not spell excellence.
It needs to develop innovative ways of providing basic
primary education for the backward classes to enable them to compete on an
equal footing with the general category for merit-based admission to higher
studies. By cramming down quotas in education is like putting the cart before
the horse which pushes India
back by a century. Until two plus two makes four at the primary level, how can
they solve the theorem of life and sciences later?
In the ultimate, our petty power-at all-cost polity has to
think beyond vote-bank politics and look at the perilous implications of their
decisions. They must not be allowed to continue recklessly and play havoc with India’s
progress. The Government must rethink the entire reservation policy and stop
the blind application of quotas. Time to put its foot down
If this situation is not corrected now, India will soon
become a State of incompetence and mediocrity. Which is a forerunner to
anarchy. As Ambedkar said, “If you want different societies to come together, I
think it is time that we decide that the use of the word ‘caste’ be banned in
this country.” Adding, “Reservation too should be done away with because it
becomes a hindrance to development.” The buck stops at Modi’s door. --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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