Respected Mineguruji
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Just a few thoughts in
response:
1. I was trying to do one small thing in my short article -- point out
that if India is to be a dynamic force in the global economy, it has to have
a internationally competitive to sector of its higher education
system--and that requires meritocracy, resources, and so on.
2. What US affirmative action in higher education did was NOT to
reserve seats for designated minorities but rather to provide incentives to
enroll minorities. The system has worked reasonably well, but the present
conservative government has cut back on these programs. It is a
complex issue.
--
Philip G. Altbach
Monan professor of Higher Education
USA
3 comments:
mineguruji,
he has not answered the core questions you raised ..
mineguruji,
You have done the right thing in writing to Prof. Altbach. I am sure the professor has hardly any knowledge about caste discrimination & the relevant scenario in India. I presume he may have jumped into the fray upon being influenced by the same interested group. Having put his tail in a crack, he is now skirting the issue in reply to your question.
Shyama,
Unfortunately the language you use still points to the fact that people such as you have still not come down to reality. There is still no understanding of human values & what social equality means. You are still donning your high hat. You are right, life is definitely tough out there & definitely this is India. One can't drive a segment of society down into the dust for centuries. The wheel has come a full circle.
Mineguruji,
I accidentally landed on this blog site while reading a scholarly article on the origin of caste system and the aryan influx into India. To begin with, let me introduce myself. I am a proud Indian and I live and work in Canada.
Secondly, I am a brahmin by birth, however, never in my life has caste system and skin color stopped me from making friends. As a matter of fact, most of my friends were non-brahmins. I come from a middle class family similar to my OBC friends (in your paralnce). I was brought up with good values for my father even helped poor kids, all non-brahmins from the neighbourhood to pay for colleges and books. I was aware and sensitive to the caste system and its ugly face.
It was during my college admission time that the reality of reservation hit me. When I finished high school, I graduated with flying colors, won prizes and awards for academics. I had a great score in both the high school and entrance examinations. However, I never had a chance to pursue the branch of Engineering in my state as I always wanted. Out of the 54 seats available 69% was reserved, leaving a meager 16 seats for which more than 2000 people competed. While my friends got into the courses they wanted in colleges they wanted and stayed at home, while I travelled close to 2000 KM up north to a premiere institute to study, since that was the only place hat placed importance on what I knew than my second name. Where else could I go?It was not that my friends and their family were economically unestablished or disempowered from the society, they had a good life, equal or better than mine. Then why should I, a citizen of India whith the same constitutional rights as you do, patriotic as you are, should dislodge myself from my family and leave somewhere else on the grounds of caste?
Did I, as a young student full of dreams and ambition, practice the so called caste solicitation that you mentioned? The answer is a big NO. What I wanted was chance, not just any chance but a chance to pursue my dreams in reference to merit. I never got it. However, going up north not only helped me get a better professional exposure, it also provided me the confidence to fight for what was mine, the ones I deserved. I studied well, so well that I topped the class. Here I am in Canada, working on my plans to establish schools in India where reservation will play no role what so ever, where everyone studies for free based on their performance and not by their second names. I have the means and resources for it.
Sixty years have passed since indipendence, India has boomed economically and you still want me to believe that brahmins and other so called upper caste are controlling everything? You have had all the chances you wanted, seats in colleges and Goverment Offices. OBC, SC/ST are performing well, my best friend a gentleman belonging to a ST category works for a major MNC in India and makes 4 times more money than my father did. How could I believe that we are the source of your problems.
As a matter of fact, there is not many of us in India. Thanks to people like you and the system, we have found places where our merit and hardwork is solicited. I personally dislike people like you becuase you are the bane of the modern Indian society, poisoning young minds with the curse of caste. Look around you, if you keep saying we haven't improved in the past 60 years even after so many allowances and benefits, you cast doubt on you and your people's capacity for cerebration.
Remember, we live once and we live as Indians and not as castes and classes. Stop your self pitty and prove your mettle. The field is open, send your son or daughter to the premiere institutes through merit and see how it feels. You shall be proud indeed. And stop making excuses for what you haven't done and do something good. Start teaching a kid from the slum, feed the kids in orphanges and work for corruption free India. You and I, are the pillars of this great nation and together we could build a stronger India, one that harbingers true talent and not the contrived reservational excuses. Get out of your caste rut and face the world, face reality. One could never reach their goals if they keep living in their own little bubble.
Jai Hind.
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