Everybody has written on this - there have been bloggers who know stuff writing on it and bloggers who know nothing writing on it, UndieTV and RajdeepTV are playing this 24x7 (Sorry, no direct reference intended) and I'm not talking about the Srinagar Sex Scandal. Its the anti-OBC reservation protests - spearheaded by the nations young and trainee doctors. Again, for a bit of cross-referencing - I had written a contentious post in January soon after Meira Kumar made her announcement.
Y'know something, Arjun Singh managed to time his quota announcement for OBC's almost perfectly - when most of the colleges and universities are either finishing off their exams or had already closed for the summer. The old man from Madhya Pradesh thought he had pulled off his greatest achievement. And the Docs went beserk.
Now, I've got my reservations against reservations - but pray tell me why has the Human Resources Ministry be concerned about all this sort of stuff. Why don't they seriously improve the lot of India's primary and secondary schools instead. All I read about HRD ministers is that they keep putting their grubby fingers into the pie of India's good higher education institutes. Yet, they do nothing about either increasing the number of higher education institutes - allowing characters like Ponytail to rip off students - and they do jack about the courses that students study in the few institutes they have.
Tell me something, India's top non-professional universities are at their wits end - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Jadavpur, JNU (and others) are at breaking point but the government is doing nothing about improving that infrastructure. No, HRD ministers are all control freaks - age does do something to the brain. Why are they only so many IIT's and IIM's - why doesn't the government do something about establishing new colleges - or establish guidelines for private participation in higher education? Because that won't win them bloody votes.
I'll tell you a dirty secret about reservation in top institutes - many students who make it through quotas into top colleges cannot keep up. Ask people from IIT or IIM about this. And in Parliament someone should ask Arjun Singh the pass ratio of students who make it through quotas. Trust me it makes for sad reading. And many of these are kids who are from 'privileged' backgrounds.
I agree that it was traumatic to have been a lower caste in India - but I also feel that 'increasing' reservations is not the key. While I have nothing against a limited amount of affirmative action - I do feel that the truly downtrodden SC/ST/OBC people living in rural India will be better served if the government improved the education system in those sorts of places. And here is another tip - update syllabi without getting caught in politics - DU's English Syllabus was changed after 25 years, its History Syllabus has been going on for many more despite rapidly changing global geopolitics.
When I was in St. Stephen's College, a common joke was that many people in college did well academically and professionally 'inspite' of the faculty and the pathetic syllabus but I know the same joke was said in Presidency and Xaviers and Loyola and SRCC and yada yada yada. Many Indians are bright people and they tend to do very well despite the system but the best way to improve the lot of others is not foist them focefully into the system - because many of them will get crushed. get the schools right before you move ahead, Mr Singh (or Mr Joshi or Mr Whoever the hell sits in the HRD ministry).
If I make no sense and this sounds crazy - tell me that. Till then, all power to the docs and I'm gonna pray that no-one I know falls ill.