The Independent Dalit Movement and the Challenge ofSavarna Cooptation
Yoginder Sikand
One of the greatest challenges before the contemporaryDalit movement is the threat of cooptation by SavarnaHindu forces. Historically, conquest and physicalsubjugation of Dalit and Adivasi communities by Savarna Hindus has gone along with a gradual processof absorption of these communities into the castesystem, with these communities being relegated to thebottom of the caste hierarchy as slaves or worse.
This historical process entailed a re-writing of thehistory and myths of these communities in such a wayas to promote Savarna hegemony and Dalit and Adivasienslavement.
This process of refashioning of myths and histories ofthese communities is underway today as well. Hindutvaas well as Gandhian organizations, often with statebacking, have been hard at work to Hinduise these communities, which, in other words, means to furtherentrench their marginalisation and the hegemony of theSavarnas.
At the same time, every effort is beingmade to prevent the Dalits from mobilizingautonomously for their rights independent of Savarna tutelage and control. Independent Dalit activism isseen as threatening Savarna privileges and hence as amenacing threat, denounced routinely as 'divisive','casteist' and 'anti-national'.
A recently published booklet recently brought out bythe Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi, clearlyindicates that on the question of the independentDalit struggle seemingly do-gooder Gandhians as well Hindutva chauvinists think alike.
Titled'Manufacturing History Through Falsehood: Revisitingthe Dalit Movement in India', it quotes both Gandhi aswell as Hindutva ideologues to launch a bitterdiatribe against Dalit leaders and ideologues who insist on the separate, independent mobilization ofDalits against Savarna Hindu oppression.
The booklet's major purpose is to absolve the Savarnasof their role in the oppression of the Dalits andhence to steer the Dalits away from challengingSavarna hegemony. It is not the Savarnas, the bookletseems to suggest, that the Dalits should be mobilizingagainst.
Hence, it seeks to provide a defence of thecaste system, extolling its supposed virtues anddenouncing any critique of it. Not willing torecognize the fundamental inequality and oppression on which the caste or varna system is based, it insists,'The details of the Varna system were always innovatedand up-to-dated (sic.) as per the need to (sic.) thesociety, but Varna Vyavastha and Varna dharma has (sic.)
remained an integral part of Hindu dharma fromthe earliest period till the present times'.
It arguesthat varna is based on qualities of a person and aperson can therefore shift from one varna to another, completely ignoring the fact that this was probablynever true in the past and is most certainly not thecase today. Seeking to provide a pseudo-scientificdefence of the Varna system, it argues that theBrahmins are 'undoubtedly most revered and privileged' because they supposedly possess various noble virtues.
It quotes numerous Hindu religious texts to argue thispoint. Significantly, there is not even a hint ofcritique of Brahminical texts, from the Vedas down to the Ramayana and after, for the harsh strictures theycontain against the Shudras and the Dalits.
The booklet recognizes the practice of untouchability,but every effort is made to minimize its magnitude andinhumanity.
Thus, it claims that the proportion ofpeople actually treated as untouchables is miniscule, arguing, without citing any proof, that in the earlytwentieth century British administrators estimatedthem to be a mere 3.5% of the total population ofIndia. Blaming the British for allegedly creating acategory of untouchables, it claims that by 'cleverlyordain[ing] some special facilities for them', theymanaged to get several more castes to definethemselves as untouchables, thus inflating theirnumbers.
Likewise, the Adivasis were allegedly instigated by the British to declare themselves asseparate from the Hindus, and in this they wereallegedly enticed by offers of special facilities. Itis as if the British magically conjured up the Dalitsand Adivasis from nowhere, and that prior to thisthere was absolutely no consciousness on the part ofthese oppressed communities of the inhuman conditionsunder which they had to live as a result of Savarnadomination.
There is also in this argument a clearattack on reservations and other forms of affirmativeaction for Dalits and Adivasis, which are seen asencroaching on the privileges of the Savarnas. Turningto the present day, the booklet opposes the notion ofa separate Other Backward Classes category andpolicies of affirmative action for these groups onsimilar specious grounds. The inane argument it givesin its defence is that 'It is impossible to divide the highly spiritually-advanced, complex Bharatiya societyinto such primitive groups and understand itscharacteristics with such an immature approach'.
The booklet reluctantly recognizes the practice ofuntouchability, but Savarna Hindus are sought to bespared all responsibility for it. Instead, Muslims areblamed for the practice, although, of course, this goes quite against all historical evidence.
Thus, thebooklet argues, 'Untouchability and excommunicationgrew when Hindu society was facing very difficulttimes', an indirect reference to the period ofTurkish, Afghan and Mughal rule. At the same time, it is at pains to defend untouchability onpseudo-scientific grounds. Thus, it argues,"[U]ntouchability out of consideration for purity andcleanliness had nothing to do with any kind ofhardness of heart but is the result of the requirements of hygiene and cleanliness and also dueto psychological or religious views.
The nearest anddearest women relatives, such as one's own mother ordaughter or wife were to be 'untouchable' during their monthly periods. The most affectionate friends wereuntouchable during the mourning period". In this way,the seriousness of the permanent untouchability of theDalits is sought to be dismissed, being equated with the temporary ritual untouchabilty that some Savarnaswere subjected to by their fellow Savarnas on certainoccasions.
The booklet claims that 'The Smritis do not say thatthe untouchables or antyajas cannot worship the Hindudeities', but conveniently ignores the horrendousstrictures against the Dalits and Shudras contained in the Smritis and other Hindu scriptures. It seeks toargue that the Dalits have never been subjected tooppression by the Savarnas, neither in the past nor inthe present. After whitewashing the history of crimes committed by Savarnas against Dalits that aresanctioned by the Brahminical religious tradition, thebooklet then shifts to the present-day, making thesame sort of specious claims.
Thus, for instance, itargues that 'When the Constitution of IndependentIndia was prepared, untouchability was declared acrime and no Hindu opposed it'. The continued practiceof untouchabiluty all over India is ample testimony tothe ridiculousness of this claim. The booklet offersthe example of some Dalit leaders holding importantpolitical posts and insists that this shows that'mainstream Hindus, believing in the caste system,have elected and honoured so-called untouchable leaders in recent times'. There is no reference, ofcourse, to the fact that several of these leaderscontinued to be derided even after the assumedimportant positions of power, and that the ordinarySavarna continue to deeply resent what is seen to be their wrongful usurpation of positions that theyconsider as meant for Savarnas alone.
Clearly, as the booklet suggests, as far as the issueof independent mobilization of Dalits, Adivasis andother similarly placed marginalized communitiesagainst Savarna hegemony is concerned, there is little to distinguish Gandhians from rabid Hindutvawadis.Whatever their other differences, they are bothequally opposed to these oppressed communities seekingto struggle for their rights on the basis of their own identities, instead of subsuming them under aSavarna-led Hindu umbrella.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Backwardpeople
OU students rally for instant quota
[ Thursday, May 25, 2006 03:28:26 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] HYDERABAD:
]
Students of Osmania University have demanded that the OBC reservation approved by the Union government should be implemented from the current academic year (2006-07) itself and not the next, as proposed by the government.
The Tuesday night's decision by the government to implement 27 per cent quota for OBCs in top educational institutes like IITs, IIMs and central universities across the country was hailed by BC students and professors of the university, but at the same time they demanded that the reservation be implemented from this academic year itself.
Hundreds of students of the university took out a rally from Arts College to Tarnaka and staged a rasta roko there on Wednesday morning.
As they were holding up traffic, the police stepped in and asked them not to resort to such measures. Moreover, they did not have permission to take out a rally, the police added.
"I reasoned with the agitating students that their demonstration should not inconvenience others and since they did not have the permission to stage the dharna, they had to leave.
The protesters obliged," said P Narsimhulu, circle inspector, Osmania University. "We read in the newspapers that the quota will be implemented in 2007 after a bill to this effect is passed in the monsoon session of Parliament...
...
But we want the BC quota be implemented this academic year, at least in IITs and IIMs, where the admissions process will begin shortly.
As it is, despite having a constitutional amendment to implement the quota long back, pressure from upper castes has prevented the government in doing so until now.
We do not want any more delays, since the government has already decided on giving the quota," said BC Students' Union state president Rajaram Yadav, who was part of the demonstration.
Yadav and his fellow protesters said that if the government plans to increase the seats in general category, even those seats should be considered for quota.
That is, if there is 27 per cent reservation in 100 seats and 50 more seats are added in the general category, 27 per cent quota should be given to them in the increased 50 seats as well.
Meanwhile, anti-reservation lobbies are using the wireless network to spread their message far and wide. Phones are buzzing with messages.
Several unconfirmed reports and rumours of deaths of agitating doctors are being SMSed country wide, exhorting people to fight reservation.
While some messages talk of alleged death of two doctors after during an anti-reservation rally, some others are in lighter vein and say "majority of persons who may be drowning in an 'Indian Titanic' will not be saved, because most of the life boats will be reserved for SC/STs and BCs
[ Thursday, May 25, 2006 03:28:26 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] HYDERABAD:
]
Students of Osmania University have demanded that the OBC reservation approved by the Union government should be implemented from the current academic year (2006-07) itself and not the next, as proposed by the government.
The Tuesday night's decision by the government to implement 27 per cent quota for OBCs in top educational institutes like IITs, IIMs and central universities across the country was hailed by BC students and professors of the university, but at the same time they demanded that the reservation be implemented from this academic year itself.
Hundreds of students of the university took out a rally from Arts College to Tarnaka and staged a rasta roko there on Wednesday morning.
As they were holding up traffic, the police stepped in and asked them not to resort to such measures. Moreover, they did not have permission to take out a rally, the police added.
"I reasoned with the agitating students that their demonstration should not inconvenience others and since they did not have the permission to stage the dharna, they had to leave.
The protesters obliged," said P Narsimhulu, circle inspector, Osmania University. "We read in the newspapers that the quota will be implemented in 2007 after a bill to this effect is passed in the monsoon session of Parliament...
...
But we want the BC quota be implemented this academic year, at least in IITs and IIMs, where the admissions process will begin shortly.
As it is, despite having a constitutional amendment to implement the quota long back, pressure from upper castes has prevented the government in doing so until now.
We do not want any more delays, since the government has already decided on giving the quota," said BC Students' Union state president Rajaram Yadav, who was part of the demonstration.
Yadav and his fellow protesters said that if the government plans to increase the seats in general category, even those seats should be considered for quota.
That is, if there is 27 per cent reservation in 100 seats and 50 more seats are added in the general category, 27 per cent quota should be given to them in the increased 50 seats as well.
Meanwhile, anti-reservation lobbies are using the wireless network to spread their message far and wide. Phones are buzzing with messages.
Several unconfirmed reports and rumours of deaths of agitating doctors are being SMSed country wide, exhorting people to fight reservation.
While some messages talk of alleged death of two doctors after during an anti-reservation rally, some others are in lighter vein and say "majority of persons who may be drowning in an 'Indian Titanic' will not be saved, because most of the life boats will be reserved for SC/STs and BCs
Backwardpeople
To my meritorious friends
Despite the efforts to foment widespread resentment among the students community on the question of reservations being extended to OBCs by the Brahmin Baniya media, print and electronic, rightly fearing that the reservations next being extended to private sector, have not succeeded.
It is because the editors of this media have a vested agenda mandated to them by the press barons who pay them and the upper caste label bequeathed to them by their parents make them naturally biased and so they lack professional integrity as is evident from the fact that they are putting forth only the antireservtionist views to appease their masters and appease their upper caste ego.
How shameful that Mumbai edition of a national newspaper started with the catch line that let there be light showed that the spreadsheet paper lacks light. How shameful! Such people are indeed manuwadil lacking moral courage.
This media constantly misguides the gullible masses about basic concepts like the tenure of reservations, which are essentially for representing the 85% population of India the OBCs/SCs/STS/DTNTs/VJNTs (along with such other groups from religions like Islam and Christianity which are yet to be included) in all walks of life.
Article 334 of the Constitution which deals with reservations in the House of People and state legislative assemblies specifying time limit that can be extended by constitutional amendment has nothing to do with reservations in educational institutions funded by the State as well as employment opportunities which come under the purview of the State.
In short in the zeal of adding motive to facts the media conveniently ignores article 15(4) as amended by the 93rd amendment adds clause (5), which reads as "(5) Nothing in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of Article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30 ” in addition to article 16(4), and 46 of the Constitution which very rightly keeping in mind the socio economic reality of the Indian society does not make it obligatory to the State to spell the time limit for such type of reservations.
Secondly the media barring exceptional examples like Outlook and Frontline magazines produce one-sided interviews of aberrational examples of failures of few students who could not cope with the studies forgetting at the sometime the successful many. I am sure the Brahmin baniya media has missed Mandal 2 bus this time perhaps they might be trying to catch Kamandal 2 bus now. Amen! Ayushyman Kamble
Despite the efforts to foment widespread resentment among the students community on the question of reservations being extended to OBCs by the Brahmin Baniya media, print and electronic, rightly fearing that the reservations next being extended to private sector, have not succeeded.
It is because the editors of this media have a vested agenda mandated to them by the press barons who pay them and the upper caste label bequeathed to them by their parents make them naturally biased and so they lack professional integrity as is evident from the fact that they are putting forth only the antireservtionist views to appease their masters and appease their upper caste ego.
How shameful that Mumbai edition of a national newspaper started with the catch line that let there be light showed that the spreadsheet paper lacks light. How shameful! Such people are indeed manuwadil lacking moral courage.
This media constantly misguides the gullible masses about basic concepts like the tenure of reservations, which are essentially for representing the 85% population of India the OBCs/SCs/STS/DTNTs/VJNTs (along with such other groups from religions like Islam and Christianity which are yet to be included) in all walks of life.
Article 334 of the Constitution which deals with reservations in the House of People and state legislative assemblies specifying time limit that can be extended by constitutional amendment has nothing to do with reservations in educational institutions funded by the State as well as employment opportunities which come under the purview of the State.
In short in the zeal of adding motive to facts the media conveniently ignores article 15(4) as amended by the 93rd amendment adds clause (5), which reads as "(5) Nothing in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of Article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30 ” in addition to article 16(4), and 46 of the Constitution which very rightly keeping in mind the socio economic reality of the Indian society does not make it obligatory to the State to spell the time limit for such type of reservations.
Secondly the media barring exceptional examples like Outlook and Frontline magazines produce one-sided interviews of aberrational examples of failures of few students who could not cope with the studies forgetting at the sometime the successful many. I am sure the Brahmin baniya media has missed Mandal 2 bus this time perhaps they might be trying to catch Kamandal 2 bus now. Amen! Ayushyman Kamble
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Backwardpeople
Reservation Debate: A Great Opportunity To Restrengthen Dalit Bahujan Alliance
By V.B.Rawat -
One need to give due credit to V.T.Rajshekar, editor of Dalit Voice, Banglore, for wonderfully explaining the issue of merit and reservation. Rajshekar himself faced threat when he was in Delhi during those heydays of anti Mandal agitation of the upper caste youths 1990-91. Mr Rajshekar has a sharp mind who understand well the brahmanical crookedness and has been really well ahead of his contemporaries in analyzing caste system in India.
He is quoted two excellent judgment of Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice Chinappa Reddy in his thought provoking article " The Myth of Merit and Efficiency Dalit Voice January 16th, 1987. I take liberty in quoting the wonderful judgment of Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice Chinnapa Reddy from the article for the benefit of readers.
Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court says in the ABSK Sangh case 1981)
"Trite arguments about efficiency are a trifle phoney. ... We are not impressed with the misfortune about the governmental personnel being manned by morons, merely because a sprinkling of harijans and Girijans happened to find their way into the service. The malady of modern India lies elsewhere, and the merit monger are greater risks in many respects than the native tribals, and slightly better off lower caste.
.. The fundamental question arises, as to what's 'merit' and 'suitability'? Elitists, whose sympathies with the masses have dried up, are from standards of Indian people, least suitable to run the government and least meritorious to handle the state business. ...
A sensitized heart and vibrant head tuned to the tears of the people, will speedily quicken the developmental needs of the country... Sincere dedication and intellectual integrity - these are some of the components of merit and suitability- not a degree from Oxford or Cambridge, Harvard or Simian.
Unfortunately, the very orientation of our selection process is distorted and those like the candidates from Scheduled Castes whom from their birth, have a traumatic understanding of the conditions of agrestic India, have in one sense more capability than those who lived under affluent circumstances and are callous to the human lot of the sorrowing masses."
According to Justice Chinnappa Reddy of the Supreme Court :
"There is no statistical basis or expert evidence to support the assumption that efficiency will be impaired if reservation is continued or if reservation exceeds a certain percentage or reservation is extended to promotional posts."
Justice Chinnappa Reddy of Supreme Court said (in the Railways case 1881) "Therefore, we see that when the posts ... are reserved ... to members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and economically Backward Classes it is not a concession or privilege extended to them, it is in the recognition of their undoubted fundamental right to equality of opportunity and ...and to secure to all its citizens, justice, social, economic and political and equality of status and opportunity ... to ensure their participation on an equal basis in the administration of the country ..
What is merit?
Perhaps those campaigning against reservation may not even know that Justice Krishna Iyer, one of India's most illustrious judicial reformists made such a scathing remark on the issue of merit.
The fact of the matter is that upper Hindus, their masters in the media and business rarely read books. They are not bothered about human rights. Rarely would they feel apologetic about what their forefathers have done to the Dalits.
The violence against Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities is still rampant. None of our brothers want to discuss on this and carry a campaign against the same.
They are equally not bothered about getting a seat through money and muscle power. Watch at any railway station they would like to book reserve seat for them. Why cannot they go in general category if they are so enamored with General. You oppose reservation where you feel others will damage your 5000 years hegemony. You support it where you can buy it.
The same upper caste Hindus are back in action after a long wait of useless sitting. They did not come in the street when Gujarat was burning. No doctor boycotted Praveen Togadia, a shame on medical profession who warned doctors not to treat the Muslims.
They did not come to the street when Ayodhya's Babari Mosque was demolished 1992. They cannot come to the street when Hindus in Kashmir are massacred. They do not cry against the Sharmas who are involved in a majority of criminal cases for the last ten years.
Beginning from the tandoor famous Sushil Sharma to Shivani murder case R.K.Sharma and then onwards hundreds of Sharmas are behind the bar facing criminal charges. No upper caste in the street come forward to condemn Sharmaisation of crime. During the British period the same upper castes with the help of their British bosses declared some of the Dalits and backward communities as criminal tribe.
If one Mushhar was caught for stealing a piece of bread, the entire Mushhar community was branded as thief. Similarly, Gujars were declared as criminal tribes. Upper castes have no time to think over it, for they think it is not their issue.
They are born to rule the country and therefore when the political system is Mandalised, they still feel they can still rule the country through media and bureaucracy. Sorry, their time has gone.
Debate on Merit therefore is gaining ground. We are hearing Trivedis, Chaturvedis, Malhotras, Guptas, Sanghvis, Chawalas on the virtue of a 'meritorious' society. One does not know what do they mean by meritorious society. Let us start to unravel some facts of merit.
As Ambedkar once wittingly said that Hindus failed to write even their two great epics the Mahabharata and Ramayana. We all know that these epics were written by sage Vyasa and sageValmiki.
The third Epic, the constitution of Modern India was written by Ambedkar himself. All three happened to be Dalits.Where was the merits of upper castes. Of course, when a Brahmin heads the Maths in Badrinath or Chennai, Varanasi or Tirupati, there are no open tenders.
In all other communities including Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, any one can become priests. There are some procedures and when they pass out they become priests. In the racist Varnashram Dharma there is no meritorious quota fixed for being a priest.
After all, a priest should be not only knowledgeable but also look respecting the 'freedom, equality and liberty'. Instead, they abuse and spit fire. That is Hindu way of life. Always being crooked, cunning and pretending very liberal. Where are liberal Hindus who can discuss quota?
South Indian states led by Tamilnadu have more than 69% quota and as a recent report in Frontline suggests not a single institution has been affected due to efficiency of merit.
Karnatka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh are also following the same pratice and yet without any social backlash.
In fact as noted Bahujan historian Kancha Illaiah rightly says, South Indian states are better governed than their north Indian states despite high dose of reservation. There is no such protest against reservation. But after making Banglore the hub of North Indian activities, they are back to same dirty tactics.
Meritorious reporters
Strangely, the debate on merit is started by those who are not meritorious at all and sitting there from one connection or others. Editors once upon a time were sensitive enough to social cause but today their first loyalty is towards their supplier.
Most of the editors are more involved in 'Jugad' with political parties, sitting with them and asking for a favor. Can the editors and those pretty faces on the TV channels claim they are the best to represent the country?
Since you do not want to see the ugly side of your own faces, you close eyes and say you are unaware of it. Let us discuss some of the merits of our editors.
Some of them got to the job with political connections. One editor of a famous news weekly has a Sangh background. It was said that he could not write even two pages of a report in English.
Today, he heads such a big organization and under him are a number of meritorious editors suffocating and grinning. There are similar stories in other media organizations where the meritorious reporters and editors have to work with politically crooked fellows.
I would not like to name here personally but the fact is those preaching us merit should disclose their educational background and where they stood in their classes. It would make anything by just saying that they passed out. Writing, they say, come from sensibilities of society. British and European scholars visit India, stay in villages and respect its diversity and have contributed more than our own social scientists because of the dishonesty of its upper caste intellectual class.
Why are Indian editors and writers behaving racially? Why is that the Dalits are now forced to write their own history? It is simply because our history has been a victim of brahmanical notoriety, the value system of Hindus which hid everything which was meant for social justice.
It is also necessary for these upper caste reporters to understand what India is. You cannot understand India by just reporting from Kargil from the bunker of army? Neither can you report from injecting upper caste mind on all us. For any reporter, understanding India's diversity and social issues is a must. But then why should TV channels bother about these.
Their concern is to make a few of them as star.
Those who have watching TV for the past 12 days would certainly want to ask question on the merit of the editors. Do we deserve 24 hours Mahajan Puran for several days on our bedrooms? No doubt he was a young leader who died an unnatural death.
Surely, he was a great manipulator of things, so-called strategist but that does not make him a mass leader. Going by the same criteria the channels should have devoted a few days to inform us about the greatness of Dr Rajkumar, a great Kannadiga or MGR who people worshipped in Tamilnadu. The same channels and great editors would not give a page or 5 minutes tribute to K.R. Narayanan or Gyani Jail Singh, two great former presidents of India.
The caste Hindus and their dirty minds would always play game in India. They would like us to believe what they believe. Fortunately, we still do not vote according to the whims and fancies of these insincere reporters, a complete prostitution of a sane profession.
South African blacks need reservation now
A number of backward castes and Dalit intellectuals have been roped in to inform people that reservation is against merit. Indian Express recently carried out a report from South Africa and how it is working on affirmative action.
The fact of the matter is Nelson Mandela was unable to extract any thing specific for the blacks. One has to see history that Mandela is more popular abroad than in his communities. The demand for participation in power has to come through quota. If the same whites who ruled Africa for years and crushed it, are ruling without any challenge on their authority with a 'black' head of state, that does not mean any change.
One has to remember that Mandela after his release came to India first in February 1991 when the country was facing the worst-ever upper caste protests against reservation. Mandela refused to speak on it. Clear enough, Mandela became bigger than the issue of South African blacks.
The result was that South African cricket team still is a white team and the bureaucracy is still dominated by the whites. If change of power mean transfer of power from one prime minister to other, then South Africa has achieved all its goal but if change means power to the people, South African leadership has failed in that direction. One is sure Mobuki knows this better than his predecessor.
The Neighboring Zimbabwe when tried to implement Land Reforms, the white human Rights Organizations came against Robert Mughave.
He was termed as racist and undemocratic. Every time there has been efforts by Robert Mughave to provide land to the black poor, international agencies criticized him. Even when he won elections on a massive mandate, charges of forgery made against him. This is West's style to downgrade democracy and put in their interests.
Land Reform and Reservation: Undoing Historic Wrongs
One has to understand that reservation and Land Reform go hand in hand. Land Reform brings to a large number of rural landless people into the mainstream. It is meant to undo historic wrong while quota in the government services mean representation in power structure.
It has to be proportionate based. Often argument is given that Dalits and backward do not compete with the upper caste students. What could be far from truth is that such lies continue to spread through media. I am sure they should know that a large number of Dalits in the bureaucracy are functioning relatively better than their upper caste counterparts. Some of them have been writing in daily newspapers. Dalit academia has come up and writing their history which has been concocted by the upper caste historians.
The case of Justice KG Balakrishnan is a reminder. Justice Balakrishnanas' name was Suggested by late President K.R.Narayanan.
The media made hue and cry. Narayanan wrote that there are many efficient judges from Dalits, Backward and tribal categories and they should be given representation in judiciary.
The answer he got from the Government was that Balakrishnan was competent judge but underage. But the real fear was that if Justice Bala Krishanan is not denied due opportunity, he would be one of the longest serving Chief Justices of Indian Supreme Court, nearly for six years.
That is the matter of concern for the manipulators. Upper castes wanted judiciary to remain in their hands so that all the executive order are abolished by judicial judgments under the false pretext of Public Interest Litigations.
Hindus are expert in these litigations and become leaders after filing them in the court. It is not easy for any other community particularly for Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis to file PIL and get accepted.
Recently, an outlook story pointed out how a senior officer belonging to Scheduled Castes was first made Deputy Governor and then demoted.
Such injustices against Dalits happen in large number. If there is no quota, we know the upper castes have no respect for merit. They will want an India led by the North Indian Brahmins and their Bania chums. Since the political environment has changed therefore they are targeting educational institutions.
Our Industries so far are domain of Marwaris run on family business. I am sure Rahul Bajaj would not appoint any other meritorious person as head of his organization against his own children. I am sure he wont claim that he has the best brain.
Dalit and backwards are running business now
As far as Dalits and backwards are concern, no body can put any doubt on their merit. They are running business institutions and even banks.
Siddhartha Bank in Maharstra, Kunbi cooperative Bank in Konkan, Banks in the name of Ambedkar in and around Madhya Pradesh are working and succeeding. Blaming Dalits for just 2% of job is Another calumny, which the Hindus are experts in over the year. One needs not to tell these guys as who are the people who make 'Dastkar' or 'Fab India' what they are today.
How come the upper castes minting money on the excellence and work of Dalit Adivasi women in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharastra. Do upper caste reward them with this merit?
Today, Dr Narendra Jadav is one of the most respected
Economists in Government of India and deputed to Central Bank of Afganistan to support build financially strong Afganistan. This upper caste phobia of reservation against merit has to be rebutted. To run a country and its administration, we need diversity reflected in our masses. A few Brahmins and Marwaris cannot represent India. You have to give fare representation to Linguistic and religious minorities. Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities have faced discrimination for years and therefore they need special attention by the governments.
Lesson for backward communities: Dalits face brunt of the upper castes for supporting backward communities. It is not unusual that Dalits were in the forefront of support to Mandal Commission Report. That was a time when Dalit Bahujan concept materialized. Unfortunately, because of short term gains of our political leaders, all succumbed to Hindutva game plan.
Backwards became champion of Hindutva gang and started hitting the Dalits in their respective power domain. Whether it is Yadavas in UP and Bihar or Thewars in Andhra or Gujjars in Uttar-Pradesh and Haryana, backward communities worked as a foot soldiers of their brahmanical bosses.
But in this important battle for reclamation of their rights, backwards have found that they lack a complete political will to fight this battle. They should now humbly follow the Dalits in this battle of reservation. Dalits have Ambedkar, Phule as their icons and backwards would do well to gain from
Ambedkar and his writings.
In the meanwhile, all Dalit bahujan should join hand against the upper caste onslaught on their rights. Remember, the brahmanical forces of the cow belt are afraid of losing their hegemony. They have already lost the political battle. They run politics on crookedness. It is time the Dalits, backwards, Adivasis come together and give a fitting reply. Organise debates and debunk the upper caste merit. Merit is nothing but a Dronacharya syndrome. That was past. Today in the 21st century such Dronacharyas would be taught a lesson.
India cannot gain if a majority of its population is absent from power structure. Let us force the government to implement quota fully. Let government bring out a white paper on reservation and tell us what exactly is the percentage of Dalits,and backwards in government services. Give us report categories wise. Let us demand that where are 27% backward IAS officers or 17.5% Dalit IAS officers in government if quota is fairly implemented.
Meanwhile, the Medical students would do well to study their classes and think of their future. Such blackmailing on part of them would be counterproductive for India's health. Let this debate also build up a formidable alliance of Dalit Bahujan which got derailed in the past.
The upper caste protest therefore will ultimately help us realize the long cherish dream of unity of all the oppressed communities led by the Dalits. For the Dalit backward Member of Parliament, it is time to awake and arise. Put the entire reservation for OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis in IX Schedule of the constitution so that it remained outside the judicial scrutiny, as has been the case in Tamilnadu.
Perhaps, this anti reservation rhetoric of the upper caste 'spiritual' medical practitioners, a majority of whom are unethical and follow Tantra and have allowed to build temples outside ICUs of the hospitals against rational medical practices, will help Dalits and bahujan communities to sink their differences and draw a common strategy to secure their future
By V.B.Rawat -
One need to give due credit to V.T.Rajshekar, editor of Dalit Voice, Banglore, for wonderfully explaining the issue of merit and reservation. Rajshekar himself faced threat when he was in Delhi during those heydays of anti Mandal agitation of the upper caste youths 1990-91. Mr Rajshekar has a sharp mind who understand well the brahmanical crookedness and has been really well ahead of his contemporaries in analyzing caste system in India.
He is quoted two excellent judgment of Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice Chinappa Reddy in his thought provoking article " The Myth of Merit and Efficiency Dalit Voice January 16th, 1987. I take liberty in quoting the wonderful judgment of Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice Chinnapa Reddy from the article for the benefit of readers.
Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court says in the ABSK Sangh case 1981)
"Trite arguments about efficiency are a trifle phoney. ... We are not impressed with the misfortune about the governmental personnel being manned by morons, merely because a sprinkling of harijans and Girijans happened to find their way into the service. The malady of modern India lies elsewhere, and the merit monger are greater risks in many respects than the native tribals, and slightly better off lower caste.
.. The fundamental question arises, as to what's 'merit' and 'suitability'? Elitists, whose sympathies with the masses have dried up, are from standards of Indian people, least suitable to run the government and least meritorious to handle the state business. ...
A sensitized heart and vibrant head tuned to the tears of the people, will speedily quicken the developmental needs of the country... Sincere dedication and intellectual integrity - these are some of the components of merit and suitability- not a degree from Oxford or Cambridge, Harvard or Simian.
Unfortunately, the very orientation of our selection process is distorted and those like the candidates from Scheduled Castes whom from their birth, have a traumatic understanding of the conditions of agrestic India, have in one sense more capability than those who lived under affluent circumstances and are callous to the human lot of the sorrowing masses."
According to Justice Chinnappa Reddy of the Supreme Court :
"There is no statistical basis or expert evidence to support the assumption that efficiency will be impaired if reservation is continued or if reservation exceeds a certain percentage or reservation is extended to promotional posts."
Justice Chinnappa Reddy of Supreme Court said (in the Railways case 1881) "Therefore, we see that when the posts ... are reserved ... to members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and economically Backward Classes it is not a concession or privilege extended to them, it is in the recognition of their undoubted fundamental right to equality of opportunity and ...and to secure to all its citizens, justice, social, economic and political and equality of status and opportunity ... to ensure their participation on an equal basis in the administration of the country ..
What is merit?
Perhaps those campaigning against reservation may not even know that Justice Krishna Iyer, one of India's most illustrious judicial reformists made such a scathing remark on the issue of merit.
The fact of the matter is that upper Hindus, their masters in the media and business rarely read books. They are not bothered about human rights. Rarely would they feel apologetic about what their forefathers have done to the Dalits.
The violence against Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities is still rampant. None of our brothers want to discuss on this and carry a campaign against the same.
They are equally not bothered about getting a seat through money and muscle power. Watch at any railway station they would like to book reserve seat for them. Why cannot they go in general category if they are so enamored with General. You oppose reservation where you feel others will damage your 5000 years hegemony. You support it where you can buy it.
The same upper caste Hindus are back in action after a long wait of useless sitting. They did not come in the street when Gujarat was burning. No doctor boycotted Praveen Togadia, a shame on medical profession who warned doctors not to treat the Muslims.
They did not come to the street when Ayodhya's Babari Mosque was demolished 1992. They cannot come to the street when Hindus in Kashmir are massacred. They do not cry against the Sharmas who are involved in a majority of criminal cases for the last ten years.
Beginning from the tandoor famous Sushil Sharma to Shivani murder case R.K.Sharma and then onwards hundreds of Sharmas are behind the bar facing criminal charges. No upper caste in the street come forward to condemn Sharmaisation of crime. During the British period the same upper castes with the help of their British bosses declared some of the Dalits and backward communities as criminal tribe.
If one Mushhar was caught for stealing a piece of bread, the entire Mushhar community was branded as thief. Similarly, Gujars were declared as criminal tribes. Upper castes have no time to think over it, for they think it is not their issue.
They are born to rule the country and therefore when the political system is Mandalised, they still feel they can still rule the country through media and bureaucracy. Sorry, their time has gone.
Debate on Merit therefore is gaining ground. We are hearing Trivedis, Chaturvedis, Malhotras, Guptas, Sanghvis, Chawalas on the virtue of a 'meritorious' society. One does not know what do they mean by meritorious society. Let us start to unravel some facts of merit.
As Ambedkar once wittingly said that Hindus failed to write even their two great epics the Mahabharata and Ramayana. We all know that these epics were written by sage Vyasa and sageValmiki.
The third Epic, the constitution of Modern India was written by Ambedkar himself. All three happened to be Dalits.Where was the merits of upper castes. Of course, when a Brahmin heads the Maths in Badrinath or Chennai, Varanasi or Tirupati, there are no open tenders.
In all other communities including Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, any one can become priests. There are some procedures and when they pass out they become priests. In the racist Varnashram Dharma there is no meritorious quota fixed for being a priest.
After all, a priest should be not only knowledgeable but also look respecting the 'freedom, equality and liberty'. Instead, they abuse and spit fire. That is Hindu way of life. Always being crooked, cunning and pretending very liberal. Where are liberal Hindus who can discuss quota?
South Indian states led by Tamilnadu have more than 69% quota and as a recent report in Frontline suggests not a single institution has been affected due to efficiency of merit.
Karnatka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh are also following the same pratice and yet without any social backlash.
In fact as noted Bahujan historian Kancha Illaiah rightly says, South Indian states are better governed than their north Indian states despite high dose of reservation. There is no such protest against reservation. But after making Banglore the hub of North Indian activities, they are back to same dirty tactics.
Meritorious reporters
Strangely, the debate on merit is started by those who are not meritorious at all and sitting there from one connection or others. Editors once upon a time were sensitive enough to social cause but today their first loyalty is towards their supplier.
Most of the editors are more involved in 'Jugad' with political parties, sitting with them and asking for a favor. Can the editors and those pretty faces on the TV channels claim they are the best to represent the country?
Since you do not want to see the ugly side of your own faces, you close eyes and say you are unaware of it. Let us discuss some of the merits of our editors.
Some of them got to the job with political connections. One editor of a famous news weekly has a Sangh background. It was said that he could not write even two pages of a report in English.
Today, he heads such a big organization and under him are a number of meritorious editors suffocating and grinning. There are similar stories in other media organizations where the meritorious reporters and editors have to work with politically crooked fellows.
I would not like to name here personally but the fact is those preaching us merit should disclose their educational background and where they stood in their classes. It would make anything by just saying that they passed out. Writing, they say, come from sensibilities of society. British and European scholars visit India, stay in villages and respect its diversity and have contributed more than our own social scientists because of the dishonesty of its upper caste intellectual class.
Why are Indian editors and writers behaving racially? Why is that the Dalits are now forced to write their own history? It is simply because our history has been a victim of brahmanical notoriety, the value system of Hindus which hid everything which was meant for social justice.
It is also necessary for these upper caste reporters to understand what India is. You cannot understand India by just reporting from Kargil from the bunker of army? Neither can you report from injecting upper caste mind on all us. For any reporter, understanding India's diversity and social issues is a must. But then why should TV channels bother about these.
Their concern is to make a few of them as star.
Those who have watching TV for the past 12 days would certainly want to ask question on the merit of the editors. Do we deserve 24 hours Mahajan Puran for several days on our bedrooms? No doubt he was a young leader who died an unnatural death.
Surely, he was a great manipulator of things, so-called strategist but that does not make him a mass leader. Going by the same criteria the channels should have devoted a few days to inform us about the greatness of Dr Rajkumar, a great Kannadiga or MGR who people worshipped in Tamilnadu. The same channels and great editors would not give a page or 5 minutes tribute to K.R. Narayanan or Gyani Jail Singh, two great former presidents of India.
The caste Hindus and their dirty minds would always play game in India. They would like us to believe what they believe. Fortunately, we still do not vote according to the whims and fancies of these insincere reporters, a complete prostitution of a sane profession.
South African blacks need reservation now
A number of backward castes and Dalit intellectuals have been roped in to inform people that reservation is against merit. Indian Express recently carried out a report from South Africa and how it is working on affirmative action.
The fact of the matter is Nelson Mandela was unable to extract any thing specific for the blacks. One has to see history that Mandela is more popular abroad than in his communities. The demand for participation in power has to come through quota. If the same whites who ruled Africa for years and crushed it, are ruling without any challenge on their authority with a 'black' head of state, that does not mean any change.
One has to remember that Mandela after his release came to India first in February 1991 when the country was facing the worst-ever upper caste protests against reservation. Mandela refused to speak on it. Clear enough, Mandela became bigger than the issue of South African blacks.
The result was that South African cricket team still is a white team and the bureaucracy is still dominated by the whites. If change of power mean transfer of power from one prime minister to other, then South Africa has achieved all its goal but if change means power to the people, South African leadership has failed in that direction. One is sure Mobuki knows this better than his predecessor.
The Neighboring Zimbabwe when tried to implement Land Reforms, the white human Rights Organizations came against Robert Mughave.
He was termed as racist and undemocratic. Every time there has been efforts by Robert Mughave to provide land to the black poor, international agencies criticized him. Even when he won elections on a massive mandate, charges of forgery made against him. This is West's style to downgrade democracy and put in their interests.
Land Reform and Reservation: Undoing Historic Wrongs
One has to understand that reservation and Land Reform go hand in hand. Land Reform brings to a large number of rural landless people into the mainstream. It is meant to undo historic wrong while quota in the government services mean representation in power structure.
It has to be proportionate based. Often argument is given that Dalits and backward do not compete with the upper caste students. What could be far from truth is that such lies continue to spread through media. I am sure they should know that a large number of Dalits in the bureaucracy are functioning relatively better than their upper caste counterparts. Some of them have been writing in daily newspapers. Dalit academia has come up and writing their history which has been concocted by the upper caste historians.
The case of Justice KG Balakrishnan is a reminder. Justice Balakrishnanas' name was Suggested by late President K.R.Narayanan.
The media made hue and cry. Narayanan wrote that there are many efficient judges from Dalits, Backward and tribal categories and they should be given representation in judiciary.
The answer he got from the Government was that Balakrishnan was competent judge but underage. But the real fear was that if Justice Bala Krishanan is not denied due opportunity, he would be one of the longest serving Chief Justices of Indian Supreme Court, nearly for six years.
That is the matter of concern for the manipulators. Upper castes wanted judiciary to remain in their hands so that all the executive order are abolished by judicial judgments under the false pretext of Public Interest Litigations.
Hindus are expert in these litigations and become leaders after filing them in the court. It is not easy for any other community particularly for Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis to file PIL and get accepted.
Recently, an outlook story pointed out how a senior officer belonging to Scheduled Castes was first made Deputy Governor and then demoted.
Such injustices against Dalits happen in large number. If there is no quota, we know the upper castes have no respect for merit. They will want an India led by the North Indian Brahmins and their Bania chums. Since the political environment has changed therefore they are targeting educational institutions.
Our Industries so far are domain of Marwaris run on family business. I am sure Rahul Bajaj would not appoint any other meritorious person as head of his organization against his own children. I am sure he wont claim that he has the best brain.
Dalit and backwards are running business now
As far as Dalits and backwards are concern, no body can put any doubt on their merit. They are running business institutions and even banks.
Siddhartha Bank in Maharstra, Kunbi cooperative Bank in Konkan, Banks in the name of Ambedkar in and around Madhya Pradesh are working and succeeding. Blaming Dalits for just 2% of job is Another calumny, which the Hindus are experts in over the year. One needs not to tell these guys as who are the people who make 'Dastkar' or 'Fab India' what they are today.
How come the upper castes minting money on the excellence and work of Dalit Adivasi women in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharastra. Do upper caste reward them with this merit?
Today, Dr Narendra Jadav is one of the most respected
Economists in Government of India and deputed to Central Bank of Afganistan to support build financially strong Afganistan. This upper caste phobia of reservation against merit has to be rebutted. To run a country and its administration, we need diversity reflected in our masses. A few Brahmins and Marwaris cannot represent India. You have to give fare representation to Linguistic and religious minorities. Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities have faced discrimination for years and therefore they need special attention by the governments.
Lesson for backward communities: Dalits face brunt of the upper castes for supporting backward communities. It is not unusual that Dalits were in the forefront of support to Mandal Commission Report. That was a time when Dalit Bahujan concept materialized. Unfortunately, because of short term gains of our political leaders, all succumbed to Hindutva game plan.
Backwards became champion of Hindutva gang and started hitting the Dalits in their respective power domain. Whether it is Yadavas in UP and Bihar or Thewars in Andhra or Gujjars in Uttar-Pradesh and Haryana, backward communities worked as a foot soldiers of their brahmanical bosses.
But in this important battle for reclamation of their rights, backwards have found that they lack a complete political will to fight this battle. They should now humbly follow the Dalits in this battle of reservation. Dalits have Ambedkar, Phule as their icons and backwards would do well to gain from
Ambedkar and his writings.
In the meanwhile, all Dalit bahujan should join hand against the upper caste onslaught on their rights. Remember, the brahmanical forces of the cow belt are afraid of losing their hegemony. They have already lost the political battle. They run politics on crookedness. It is time the Dalits, backwards, Adivasis come together and give a fitting reply. Organise debates and debunk the upper caste merit. Merit is nothing but a Dronacharya syndrome. That was past. Today in the 21st century such Dronacharyas would be taught a lesson.
India cannot gain if a majority of its population is absent from power structure. Let us force the government to implement quota fully. Let government bring out a white paper on reservation and tell us what exactly is the percentage of Dalits,and backwards in government services. Give us report categories wise. Let us demand that where are 27% backward IAS officers or 17.5% Dalit IAS officers in government if quota is fairly implemented.
Meanwhile, the Medical students would do well to study their classes and think of their future. Such blackmailing on part of them would be counterproductive for India's health. Let this debate also build up a formidable alliance of Dalit Bahujan which got derailed in the past.
The upper caste protest therefore will ultimately help us realize the long cherish dream of unity of all the oppressed communities led by the Dalits. For the Dalit backward Member of Parliament, it is time to awake and arise. Put the entire reservation for OBCs, Dalits and Adivasis in IX Schedule of the constitution so that it remained outside the judicial scrutiny, as has been the case in Tamilnadu.
Perhaps, this anti reservation rhetoric of the upper caste 'spiritual' medical practitioners, a majority of whom are unethical and follow Tantra and have allowed to build temples outside ICUs of the hospitals against rational medical practices, will help Dalits and bahujan communities to sink their differences and draw a common strategy to secure their future
Backwardpeople
It is certainly true that reservation for O.B.Cs. will cause a lot of heart-burning to others. But should the mere fact of this heart burning be allowed to operate as a moral veto against social reform. A lot of heart burning was caused to the British when they left India . It burns the hearts of all whites when the black protest against apartheid in South Africa . When the higher castes constituting less than 20 per cent of the country’s population subjected the rest to all manner of social injustice, it must have caused a lot of heart burning to the lower castes. But now that the lower castes are asking for a modest share of the national cake of power and prestige, a chorus of alarm is being raised on the plea that this will cause heart burning to the ruling elite. Of all the spacious arguments advanced against reservation for backward classes, there is none which beats this one about ‘heart burning’ in sheer sophistry.
Report of the Backward Classes Commission, 1980 (Mandal Commission), First Part, Chapter XIII, pages 57 & 58. Government of India 1980.
Report of the Backward Classes Commission, 1980 (Mandal Commission), First Part, Chapter XIII, pages 57 & 58. Government of India 1980.
Backwardpeople
Reservation for OBCs - Lessons from the new intolerance
Harish Khare – The Hindu, 12-04-2006
Whether or not the IIMs and IITs are forced to open their doors a little wider, the new fashionable intolerance exhibited in these last few days should be a sobering experience for all of us.
THESE LAST few days have witnessed a fascinating battle for the control of the public discourse. A handful of newspapers and a couple of English language television channels have done their best to stoke a 1990-type hysteria over the proposed new reservation regime in Central educational institutions.
Television crews have been despatched to find voices of "merit" that are aghast at the very idea that institutes of management, presumed bastion of merit and competition, are now sought to be pried open to admit children of the lesser gods. Captains of industry are on record as to how a few hundred seats in management schools will erode India's competitiveness in this age of globalisation.
A twist has been given to the controversy by casting Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh as the villain of the piece. All this in the belief that if enough hype is created, the decent man, Manmohan Singh, will intervene and put an end to this "mischief" afoot. Even the nice and sincere gentlemen in the Election Commission allowed themselves to be taken in by this elite media noise.
There is little chance of resurrecting the 1990-type hysteria. The reason is simple. The 1990 agitation could be sustained because the largest political party, Congress, lent its support to the anti-Mandal agitation. Rajiv Gandhi's Congress was peeved at the Raja of Manda making it to the Prime Minister's chair.
When the V.P. Singh Government opted for the Mandal report, the Congress brought into play all its muscle power to create an illusion of a massive backlash against the reservation regime. Those self-immolations were all paid for by a cynical political party. The V.P. Singh Government had to go not because of the anti-Mandal agitation but because of the intractable intrigues within the Janata Dal. But in popular historical perception, "Mandal" is deemed the cause of Mr. Singh's downfall. Two years later, the same Congress took credit for implementing the Mandal scheme.
2006 is not 1990. The Mandal initiative has helped to change the face of the Indian polity and society. The grammar of entitlement has become part of the language of Indian politics. There can be a debate on how to go about it but all political parties accept the logic and reality of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2005. As and when the Human Resource Development Ministry comes up with a Bill commensurate with the 93rd Amendment, Parliament and the country will get to debate the issue anew.
But the 2006 controversy has only reminded one and all of how entrenched social prejudices remain and how deep runs the hostility to change in areas where it matters the most. Suddenly it seems fashionable to speak of "them" who now dare want to enter the holy portals of management and technology institutes.
All political systems witness a continuous struggle over societal resources, according to the accepted rules of the game. In India these rules are prescribed in the Constitution but are always reinterpreted according to the distribution of power. As it were, power — political and electoral — has passed into the hands of the less socially and educationally advanced groups.
And it is only a matter of time before the logic of democracy and numbers asserts itself in every sphere of social activity.
Today it is the IIMs and IITs that are sought to meet the demands of social justice, tomorrow it will be the private sector that will be called upon to broad-base its mostly caste-based personnel structures. Those who demand and get, and prosper from the state's protection cannot remain oblivious to its obligation to engineer some kind of equity.
The crux of our present day dilemma was foreseen many years ago by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. In the last sitting of the Constituent Assembly, he noted: "We are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man-one vote and one vote-one value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man-one value.
How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril.
We must remove this contradiction at the earlier possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built up."
Dr. Ambedkar, social justice, egalitarianism, and equity seem obsolete to the influential sections of the Indian society. Our discourse-manufacturers have worked themselves into a comfortable delusion that the "market" has made India a vast level-playing field and therefore any suggestion of any kind of affirmative action is a violation of some sacred mantra.
"Reservation" is deemed one of those devious stratagems these undesirable politicians are forever devising just to keep themselves in power. It is taken as an affront to a new India that thinks of itself as a partner in a cosmopolitan march to prosperity. The unstated claim is that the market has cured India of all its social inequalities and inequities.
Power of the market
The assumption is that the 300-million strong consumerist middle class has sorted out its caste stratifications and is now uniformly and unanimously worshipping on the altar of merit and competence. The curative power of market has melted away social distinctions and disadvantages.
Politics and politicians have failed India and they should not be allowed to dispel the market magic. This middle class, the assumption goes, is capable of propelling India into becoming a super economic power and is smart enough to engage with the global economy on competitive terms. In any case, this middle class need not be hobbled by the burden of the rest of the 700 million and their deprivations.
In the midst of the market euphoria, there is a strong reluctance to see, let alone acknowledge, inequalities. Take for instance the controversy a few months ago over the so-called "Muslim headcount" in the armed forces. The voices that raised a din on the Muslim headcount are, more or less, the same kicking up a shindy on "reservation."
Last year, for example, only 11 Muslim candidates could make the grade out of the 422 men and women selected for the IAS, IFS, IPS and other Central services.
Of these 11, eight made it in the category of Other Backward Classes (OBC). No one wants to acknowledge the near-systemic marginalisation of the largest minority in the country.
Yet any attempt to even catalogue discrimination and disadvantages faced by the minorities is immediately dubbed anti-merit, anti-progress, and anti-national. As long as a problem is not acknowledged, there will be no obligation to find a solution.
But precisely because the new economy is creating new inequalities in our society, the Indian state and its political instruments are duty-bound to find ways of institutionalising some kind of fairness. This duty has become even more pronounced now that the state has been forced to retreat from many areas of economic activity.
If the politicians were not to address themselves to the aspirations and dreams of the socially disadvantageous groups, the polity and economy would not experience the peace to enjoy the fruits of the eight per cent economic growth.
As it is, vast chunks of the country have already come under the naxalite sway, amenable neither to the state's coercion nor to the lure of the market. The 2006 reservation controversy will not get resolved easily.
Whether or not the IIMs and IITs are forced to open their doors a little wider, the new fashionable intolerance exhibited in these last few days should be a sobering experience for all of us.
The Constitution is not a convenient document but a compact that the people of India made among themselves. That compact is premised on the promise of an egalitarian social order. The new intolerance is at odds with that promise. Promoters and patrons of the new economy need to realise the implications of this new intolerance
Harish Khare – The Hindu, 12-04-2006
Whether or not the IIMs and IITs are forced to open their doors a little wider, the new fashionable intolerance exhibited in these last few days should be a sobering experience for all of us.
THESE LAST few days have witnessed a fascinating battle for the control of the public discourse. A handful of newspapers and a couple of English language television channels have done their best to stoke a 1990-type hysteria over the proposed new reservation regime in Central educational institutions.
Television crews have been despatched to find voices of "merit" that are aghast at the very idea that institutes of management, presumed bastion of merit and competition, are now sought to be pried open to admit children of the lesser gods. Captains of industry are on record as to how a few hundred seats in management schools will erode India's competitiveness in this age of globalisation.
A twist has been given to the controversy by casting Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh as the villain of the piece. All this in the belief that if enough hype is created, the decent man, Manmohan Singh, will intervene and put an end to this "mischief" afoot. Even the nice and sincere gentlemen in the Election Commission allowed themselves to be taken in by this elite media noise.
There is little chance of resurrecting the 1990-type hysteria. The reason is simple. The 1990 agitation could be sustained because the largest political party, Congress, lent its support to the anti-Mandal agitation. Rajiv Gandhi's Congress was peeved at the Raja of Manda making it to the Prime Minister's chair.
When the V.P. Singh Government opted for the Mandal report, the Congress brought into play all its muscle power to create an illusion of a massive backlash against the reservation regime. Those self-immolations were all paid for by a cynical political party. The V.P. Singh Government had to go not because of the anti-Mandal agitation but because of the intractable intrigues within the Janata Dal. But in popular historical perception, "Mandal" is deemed the cause of Mr. Singh's downfall. Two years later, the same Congress took credit for implementing the Mandal scheme.
2006 is not 1990. The Mandal initiative has helped to change the face of the Indian polity and society. The grammar of entitlement has become part of the language of Indian politics. There can be a debate on how to go about it but all political parties accept the logic and reality of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2005. As and when the Human Resource Development Ministry comes up with a Bill commensurate with the 93rd Amendment, Parliament and the country will get to debate the issue anew.
But the 2006 controversy has only reminded one and all of how entrenched social prejudices remain and how deep runs the hostility to change in areas where it matters the most. Suddenly it seems fashionable to speak of "them" who now dare want to enter the holy portals of management and technology institutes.
All political systems witness a continuous struggle over societal resources, according to the accepted rules of the game. In India these rules are prescribed in the Constitution but are always reinterpreted according to the distribution of power. As it were, power — political and electoral — has passed into the hands of the less socially and educationally advanced groups.
And it is only a matter of time before the logic of democracy and numbers asserts itself in every sphere of social activity.
Today it is the IIMs and IITs that are sought to meet the demands of social justice, tomorrow it will be the private sector that will be called upon to broad-base its mostly caste-based personnel structures. Those who demand and get, and prosper from the state's protection cannot remain oblivious to its obligation to engineer some kind of equity.
The crux of our present day dilemma was foreseen many years ago by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. In the last sitting of the Constituent Assembly, he noted: "We are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man-one vote and one vote-one value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man-one value.
How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril.
We must remove this contradiction at the earlier possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built up."
Dr. Ambedkar, social justice, egalitarianism, and equity seem obsolete to the influential sections of the Indian society. Our discourse-manufacturers have worked themselves into a comfortable delusion that the "market" has made India a vast level-playing field and therefore any suggestion of any kind of affirmative action is a violation of some sacred mantra.
"Reservation" is deemed one of those devious stratagems these undesirable politicians are forever devising just to keep themselves in power. It is taken as an affront to a new India that thinks of itself as a partner in a cosmopolitan march to prosperity. The unstated claim is that the market has cured India of all its social inequalities and inequities.
Power of the market
The assumption is that the 300-million strong consumerist middle class has sorted out its caste stratifications and is now uniformly and unanimously worshipping on the altar of merit and competence. The curative power of market has melted away social distinctions and disadvantages.
Politics and politicians have failed India and they should not be allowed to dispel the market magic. This middle class, the assumption goes, is capable of propelling India into becoming a super economic power and is smart enough to engage with the global economy on competitive terms. In any case, this middle class need not be hobbled by the burden of the rest of the 700 million and their deprivations.
In the midst of the market euphoria, there is a strong reluctance to see, let alone acknowledge, inequalities. Take for instance the controversy a few months ago over the so-called "Muslim headcount" in the armed forces. The voices that raised a din on the Muslim headcount are, more or less, the same kicking up a shindy on "reservation."
Last year, for example, only 11 Muslim candidates could make the grade out of the 422 men and women selected for the IAS, IFS, IPS and other Central services.
Of these 11, eight made it in the category of Other Backward Classes (OBC). No one wants to acknowledge the near-systemic marginalisation of the largest minority in the country.
Yet any attempt to even catalogue discrimination and disadvantages faced by the minorities is immediately dubbed anti-merit, anti-progress, and anti-national. As long as a problem is not acknowledged, there will be no obligation to find a solution.
But precisely because the new economy is creating new inequalities in our society, the Indian state and its political instruments are duty-bound to find ways of institutionalising some kind of fairness. This duty has become even more pronounced now that the state has been forced to retreat from many areas of economic activity.
If the politicians were not to address themselves to the aspirations and dreams of the socially disadvantageous groups, the polity and economy would not experience the peace to enjoy the fruits of the eight per cent economic growth.
As it is, vast chunks of the country have already come under the naxalite sway, amenable neither to the state's coercion nor to the lure of the market. The 2006 reservation controversy will not get resolved easily.
Whether or not the IIMs and IITs are forced to open their doors a little wider, the new fashionable intolerance exhibited in these last few days should be a sobering experience for all of us.
The Constitution is not a convenient document but a compact that the people of India made among themselves. That compact is premised on the promise of an egalitarian social order. The new intolerance is at odds with that promise. Promoters and patrons of the new economy need to realise the implications of this new intolerance
Monday, May 08, 2006
Backwardpeople
Reservations and the MediaAbhishek Behl April 20, 2006
This is my first article on this forum called Chowk.
I am here because I think this is one of the most democratic things to happen today.
I say so in the light of the fact that the conventional media, both print and electronic, has failed to evolve into a mature organism and this is perhaps due to the fact that more businessmen than journalists and more professionals have entered this profession for the sake of moolah rather than for any genuine commitment for the society.
Today, I begin with an issue which is close to my heart and whose coverage by the media has shocked the wits out of me i.e. the raging issue or rather a non-issue called OBC reservations.
OBCs which have around 60 percent of the population in this country called Bharat consist of various castes particularly the working classes-Barbers, Boatmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, washermen, oil-millers and numerous others.
Historically and in reality, this section of the society comprises of the section called Shudras, in fact all those sections of the society which were not the Brahmins, Rajputs and Banias were Shudras. And, mind you the present day SC/ STs were not even included in the Varna system imposed by the Brahmin-Rajput nexus for centuries in this country.
Nowhere in the world was such a devious system imposed on the 80 percent population of the country to keep themselves out of the loop of life.
Untold, miseries were imposed upon these people in the name of Varnas, they could neither read nor write, they could not migrate from one village to another.
There were separate quarters for them to live, the people could not intermarry, and they would not climb up the social ladder, there was no equality before law and these people were like slaves.
The domination of upper-castes was so pernicious that it would allow these people to breathe in open air let alone live. It was only after the arrival of British and after the independence that the SC/STs and OBCs could at least think of being free. Although the constitution had given them equality before law, but it could not ensure equality in society.
For these low castes were still the scum of the society, the laggards, who were a burden on the nation. The government still was controlled by the high-born, the politics in their hands, business was theirs and so was the entire power.
However, due to some minor or major changes there was a change for the good also. Due to his sheer obduracy, Ambedkar managed to beat the class conscious Congress into submission and won for his brethren some concessions.
These were yielded but grudgingly, but the major change was effected by VP Singh, the Mandal messiah, worshipped by some and castigated by others. His gambit of giving the 27 percent reservations perhaps changed the entire political spectrum of India.
In one stroke he had empowered the OBCs, the pushovers, who had been lost in the development debate. People, who had numbers but no political will suddenly emerged from the shadows and boondocks of Bihar and UP and numerous other areas and decided enough was enough.
This also led to the emergence of Lalus, Rabris, Mulayams and score of other leaders, ready to take on the caste politics till date being played with ease by the upper caste congress and Jansangh.This and perhaps the later developments are too known to discuss here.
However, one thing must be said that the upper castes, who have never considered the OBCs as their brothers have never taken kindly to this revolution by their standards of the low caste lohars, chamars, telis and their ilk. In the present case also, while Arjun Singh, he might want some votes, has tried to provide some succour to the OBCs through reservations in IITs and IIMs and other institutes of higher learning but this has been opposed by the rich and powerful upper castes. Perhaps they forget that for four thousand years the Brahmins had simply reserved education for themselves, no one could learn Vedas, none could recite holy mantras, and no one could learn any skill which was not sanctioned by his caste.
This was perpetuated with such conviction that even now the upper castes believe that India should revert to old system of Varnas, where they enjoyed all the power and pelf, no questions asked. And guess which section of the society is upholding this notion?
The much enlightened Indian Media. In his edit page in The Indian Express Shekhar Gupta writes, "Arjun Singh is more direct, first pushing for reservations in private institutions and now slicing away half of the IITs and IIMs for reserved quotas.
But his desperate bid to re-invent himself as V.P. Singh Mark II will not benefit his party. It will damage it as much as V.P. Singh Mark I did. Given today’s messy politics nobody wants to vote against any idea of increasing reservations.
But he will only succeed in destroying these great institutions by politicising them.
To that extent he will be more successful than his predecessor, Murli Manohar Joshi. And just as Joshi did, he will also turn away the middle-class, upwardly mobile, even small-town and aspirational voter in disgust.
Further, it will not impress the OBCs." Shubojit Mehta writes in Indian Express, “The first voice of protest against Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh’s decision to impose 49.5 per cent quota in IITs, IIMs and Central universities has come from the high-profile National Knowledge Commission (NKC), which reports directly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and whose mandate is to sharpen the country’s “knowledge edge”.
The above examples are not exceptions but the norm. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that ninety-nine percent of the Indian media is controlled by the upper caste and class conscious intelligentsia. Most of the journalists writing and producing stories might have their own constraints and the interests of their own to take care of.
However, in the interest of justice and journalism itself, it is important that they report events and news taking into account the versions of both sides and make the story
This is my first article on this forum called Chowk.
I am here because I think this is one of the most democratic things to happen today.
I say so in the light of the fact that the conventional media, both print and electronic, has failed to evolve into a mature organism and this is perhaps due to the fact that more businessmen than journalists and more professionals have entered this profession for the sake of moolah rather than for any genuine commitment for the society.
Today, I begin with an issue which is close to my heart and whose coverage by the media has shocked the wits out of me i.e. the raging issue or rather a non-issue called OBC reservations.
OBCs which have around 60 percent of the population in this country called Bharat consist of various castes particularly the working classes-Barbers, Boatmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, washermen, oil-millers and numerous others.
Historically and in reality, this section of the society comprises of the section called Shudras, in fact all those sections of the society which were not the Brahmins, Rajputs and Banias were Shudras. And, mind you the present day SC/ STs were not even included in the Varna system imposed by the Brahmin-Rajput nexus for centuries in this country.
Nowhere in the world was such a devious system imposed on the 80 percent population of the country to keep themselves out of the loop of life.
Untold, miseries were imposed upon these people in the name of Varnas, they could neither read nor write, they could not migrate from one village to another.
There were separate quarters for them to live, the people could not intermarry, and they would not climb up the social ladder, there was no equality before law and these people were like slaves.
The domination of upper-castes was so pernicious that it would allow these people to breathe in open air let alone live. It was only after the arrival of British and after the independence that the SC/STs and OBCs could at least think of being free. Although the constitution had given them equality before law, but it could not ensure equality in society.
For these low castes were still the scum of the society, the laggards, who were a burden on the nation. The government still was controlled by the high-born, the politics in their hands, business was theirs and so was the entire power.
However, due to some minor or major changes there was a change for the good also. Due to his sheer obduracy, Ambedkar managed to beat the class conscious Congress into submission and won for his brethren some concessions.
These were yielded but grudgingly, but the major change was effected by VP Singh, the Mandal messiah, worshipped by some and castigated by others. His gambit of giving the 27 percent reservations perhaps changed the entire political spectrum of India.
In one stroke he had empowered the OBCs, the pushovers, who had been lost in the development debate. People, who had numbers but no political will suddenly emerged from the shadows and boondocks of Bihar and UP and numerous other areas and decided enough was enough.
This also led to the emergence of Lalus, Rabris, Mulayams and score of other leaders, ready to take on the caste politics till date being played with ease by the upper caste congress and Jansangh.This and perhaps the later developments are too known to discuss here.
However, one thing must be said that the upper castes, who have never considered the OBCs as their brothers have never taken kindly to this revolution by their standards of the low caste lohars, chamars, telis and their ilk. In the present case also, while Arjun Singh, he might want some votes, has tried to provide some succour to the OBCs through reservations in IITs and IIMs and other institutes of higher learning but this has been opposed by the rich and powerful upper castes. Perhaps they forget that for four thousand years the Brahmins had simply reserved education for themselves, no one could learn Vedas, none could recite holy mantras, and no one could learn any skill which was not sanctioned by his caste.
This was perpetuated with such conviction that even now the upper castes believe that India should revert to old system of Varnas, where they enjoyed all the power and pelf, no questions asked. And guess which section of the society is upholding this notion?
The much enlightened Indian Media. In his edit page in The Indian Express Shekhar Gupta writes, "Arjun Singh is more direct, first pushing for reservations in private institutions and now slicing away half of the IITs and IIMs for reserved quotas.
But his desperate bid to re-invent himself as V.P. Singh Mark II will not benefit his party. It will damage it as much as V.P. Singh Mark I did. Given today’s messy politics nobody wants to vote against any idea of increasing reservations.
But he will only succeed in destroying these great institutions by politicising them.
To that extent he will be more successful than his predecessor, Murli Manohar Joshi. And just as Joshi did, he will also turn away the middle-class, upwardly mobile, even small-town and aspirational voter in disgust.
Further, it will not impress the OBCs." Shubojit Mehta writes in Indian Express, “The first voice of protest against Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh’s decision to impose 49.5 per cent quota in IITs, IIMs and Central universities has come from the high-profile National Knowledge Commission (NKC), which reports directly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and whose mandate is to sharpen the country’s “knowledge edge”.
The above examples are not exceptions but the norm. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that ninety-nine percent of the Indian media is controlled by the upper caste and class conscious intelligentsia. Most of the journalists writing and producing stories might have their own constraints and the interests of their own to take care of.
However, in the interest of justice and journalism itself, it is important that they report events and news taking into account the versions of both sides and make the story
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Backwardpeople
I read the article below in Hindu and its a wonderful piece in which the author offers a non-partisan support to reservations in IITs and IIMs.
Abhishek Behl
Eviscerating a holy cow
NISHEETH SRIVASTAVA
LET US NOT DELUDE OURSELVES. IIT IS A VERY EFFICIENT AND CONSISTENT BREEDING GROUND FOR PRODUCTIVE MEDIOCRITY
It is very fashionable for the young upper middle class `global' Indian citizen to inveigh against the `sectarian', `populist' and `parochial' policies of the government. The article `Reservation saga' (Open Page, April 23) denouncing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in the IITs and IIMs falls under this category. It seeks to question the validity of the anti-reservation lobby. As a specific case, we will examine their claims with regard to IIT.
The most feasible approach towards analysing the argument against reservation in IIT is to view the underlying axioms that its proponents cheerfully assume to be unquestionably true.
The most banal of them all is the presumption that the IITs are merit-based `prestigious' `temples of education' that command international respect.
Centres of excellence?
Merit-based? As of JEE 2004, more than 25 per cent entrants to IIT had been enrolled in a coaching institute named FIIT-JEE. The curriculum is based on analysing trends in JEE papers and focusing students' preparation on mindless precision in solving problems to clear the JEE.
The fee for the two-year course is upwards of Rs. 40,000. And FIIT-JEE is but one of myriads of coaching institutes that populate the high-school education system in our cities. Vidyamandir in Delhi, Ramaiah in Hyderabad and Bansal in Kota are household names in the society of JEE aspirants.
All these institutes, with perhaps the honourable exception of Vidyamandir, concentrate on rote-repetition and practice to prepare candidates for the JEE.
Prestigious? Infosys recruits upwards of 50 B. Tech students, from a batch of about 500, to work as software-writing minions at a salary of Rs. 11,000 a month. The IIT system has acquired a reputation for producing `techno-clerks' to create wealth for the burgeoning Indian economy. That's not prestige; it's pragmatism.
Temples of education? Of the 180 credits that a B. Tech student is required to accumulate towards completing his degree, how many do not relate to science and technology? A grand total of twelve — including an instructional course in English. How much flexibility does a B. Tech student possess in deciding his course work? None.
Let us not delude ourselves. IIT is a very efficient and consistent breeding ground for productive mediocrity. It generates graduates with a one-dimensional view of the world and with an intellectual horizon stunted to perform in a particular field of economic activity, viz. technology.
This leads us to the crux of the argument against reservation — there should be no regulations upon excellence. "Why not have reservation in the army? Is education not as important as defence?" goes the plaintive cry. Such an argument would have much merit if we were speaking of actual centres of research that do indeed strive for creative and disciplined endeavour — TIFR, BARC and IISc are the first examples that spring to mind.
But to raise such an argument in favour of the IITs evinces an almost criminal disregard for the ground reality.
Even a cursory perusal of campus culture in the IITs — their cultural hierarchy, their social interactions, their means of recreation, etc., paints a definitive picture of IIT students as self-aggrandising delusional brats living off the fat of the land in the form of subsidies that an indulgent government continues to ritually bestow upon a system that has deviated so far from its founding principles that it betokens those who feel responsible for it to look the other way.
It is instructive to note that the only opposition to the reservation proposal arises from the sections of society that will `suffer' as a consequence — the self-labelled `Forward Class.' Both the faculty and the administration of these markedly autonomous institutes have expressed no views publicly on the matter.
Does this not imply that a concern regarding the dilution of merit as a consequence of the reservation is groundless? Either that or, as is more likely, the faculty at these institutes is too blasé to view any change as making a difference to the commercially guided ethos that prevails.
Suggestion
Thus, the argument against reservation ought to be viewed for what it is — a self-serving, pompous plaint. A parallel could be drawn, without much exaggeration, with the righteous indignation of the French aristocracy at the time of the Revolution. While a caste-based reservation system may be opposed on other principles, the argument that it would dilute the quality of the intellectual product it offers India is flawed because it presupposes that such quality actually exists. This is an extremely narcissistic claim.
(The writer is a student at IIT Madras)
Abhishek Behl
Eviscerating a holy cow
NISHEETH SRIVASTAVA
LET US NOT DELUDE OURSELVES. IIT IS A VERY EFFICIENT AND CONSISTENT BREEDING GROUND FOR PRODUCTIVE MEDIOCRITY
It is very fashionable for the young upper middle class `global' Indian citizen to inveigh against the `sectarian', `populist' and `parochial' policies of the government. The article `Reservation saga' (Open Page, April 23) denouncing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in the IITs and IIMs falls under this category. It seeks to question the validity of the anti-reservation lobby. As a specific case, we will examine their claims with regard to IIT.
The most feasible approach towards analysing the argument against reservation in IIT is to view the underlying axioms that its proponents cheerfully assume to be unquestionably true.
The most banal of them all is the presumption that the IITs are merit-based `prestigious' `temples of education' that command international respect.
Centres of excellence?
Merit-based? As of JEE 2004, more than 25 per cent entrants to IIT had been enrolled in a coaching institute named FIIT-JEE. The curriculum is based on analysing trends in JEE papers and focusing students' preparation on mindless precision in solving problems to clear the JEE.
The fee for the two-year course is upwards of Rs. 40,000. And FIIT-JEE is but one of myriads of coaching institutes that populate the high-school education system in our cities. Vidyamandir in Delhi, Ramaiah in Hyderabad and Bansal in Kota are household names in the society of JEE aspirants.
All these institutes, with perhaps the honourable exception of Vidyamandir, concentrate on rote-repetition and practice to prepare candidates for the JEE.
Prestigious? Infosys recruits upwards of 50 B. Tech students, from a batch of about 500, to work as software-writing minions at a salary of Rs. 11,000 a month. The IIT system has acquired a reputation for producing `techno-clerks' to create wealth for the burgeoning Indian economy. That's not prestige; it's pragmatism.
Temples of education? Of the 180 credits that a B. Tech student is required to accumulate towards completing his degree, how many do not relate to science and technology? A grand total of twelve — including an instructional course in English. How much flexibility does a B. Tech student possess in deciding his course work? None.
Let us not delude ourselves. IIT is a very efficient and consistent breeding ground for productive mediocrity. It generates graduates with a one-dimensional view of the world and with an intellectual horizon stunted to perform in a particular field of economic activity, viz. technology.
This leads us to the crux of the argument against reservation — there should be no regulations upon excellence. "Why not have reservation in the army? Is education not as important as defence?" goes the plaintive cry. Such an argument would have much merit if we were speaking of actual centres of research that do indeed strive for creative and disciplined endeavour — TIFR, BARC and IISc are the first examples that spring to mind.
But to raise such an argument in favour of the IITs evinces an almost criminal disregard for the ground reality.
Even a cursory perusal of campus culture in the IITs — their cultural hierarchy, their social interactions, their means of recreation, etc., paints a definitive picture of IIT students as self-aggrandising delusional brats living off the fat of the land in the form of subsidies that an indulgent government continues to ritually bestow upon a system that has deviated so far from its founding principles that it betokens those who feel responsible for it to look the other way.
It is instructive to note that the only opposition to the reservation proposal arises from the sections of society that will `suffer' as a consequence — the self-labelled `Forward Class.' Both the faculty and the administration of these markedly autonomous institutes have expressed no views publicly on the matter.
Does this not imply that a concern regarding the dilution of merit as a consequence of the reservation is groundless? Either that or, as is more likely, the faculty at these institutes is too blasé to view any change as making a difference to the commercially guided ethos that prevails.
Suggestion
Thus, the argument against reservation ought to be viewed for what it is — a self-serving, pompous plaint. A parallel could be drawn, without much exaggeration, with the righteous indignation of the French aristocracy at the time of the Revolution. While a caste-based reservation system may be opposed on other principles, the argument that it would dilute the quality of the intellectual product it offers India is flawed because it presupposes that such quality actually exists. This is an extremely narcissistic claim.
(The writer is a student at IIT Madras)
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Backwardpeople
I am posting an article written by Vivek Kumar, a sociologist from JNU, which was published in Times of India few days back.
I hope it will make an interesting reading on this issue. The other side of merit & Mandal II CITIZENSPEAK/Vivek Kumar Whenever the issue of reservation comes up for public debate, the entire Dalit and backward community is painted as devoid of any merit without caring about the fact that a majority of them survive without reservation.
On the other hand, the debate declares the so-called upper castes as meritorious. Therefore at this juncture when the debate on reservation is rife, let us gauge merit on both sides. The merit of upper castes can be evaluated by assessing their performance on the basis of the traditional social structure. Looking at history the Varnas-Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishyas were assigned with particular functions.
The Brahman had the privilege of teaching, the Kshatriya of protecting all creatures and the Vaishya living by commerce. The Dalits could ask the Brahmans if they were so meritorious why then half of the country's population is illiterate.
If the Kshatriyas were so meritorious then why could they not defend our borders? The Shaka, Huns, Tartars, Mughals, Dutch, British etc. all defeated them and subjugated us. Similarly, if the Vaishyas were so meritorious then why is trade and commerce of India in shambles?
In the same vein, if Arjuna of Mahabharata was so meritorious then why did Dronacharya demand Eklavya's thumb. In contemporary times, look at the low Human Develop Index (HDI). India is placed at 127 in the group of 174 countries.
In the Corruption Perception Index for the year 2004, India ranked 90 in the group of 146 countries (Transparency International India report 2004). Above all, the external debt of India is at a whopping Rs 5,11,861 crore (Economic Survey 2003-4: p.128). If meritorious economists and administrators are managing the affairs of the country without any reservation, why are we so economically poor? Why are farmers committing suicide as if it is rural India's ritual? Why do we have hundreds and thousands of legal cases pending at higher levels of our meritorious judiciary? Science and technology is considered the realm of super specialty and hence kept out of the bounds of reservation in India.
In this regard, Professor Nian Chai Liu and his colleagues at the Shanghai Jio Tong University in China spent two years collating and analyzing the output of 2000 universities worldwide and published their results by ranking 500 universities. Only three universities/ institutions from India figured in the top 500 -- The Indian Institute of Sciences at 260 and the Indian Institutes of Technology at Kharagpur and Delhi, respectively at 459 and 460. IIT Madras, Kanpur, Mumbai and Roorkee did not figure at all and of course there is no reservation for OBCs yet at these centres for learning.
There is something intriguing in the relationship between merit, commitment and contributing to a nation as seen by reservation bashers. Why is that career becomes more important than service to nation to many IITians and IIMians, who wait to go abroad even before they pass out? Let us look at the merit of the doctors working in the most prestigious hospitals of the country.
If the Indian doctors and medical specialists are so meritorious than why is that most of the VVIPs run away to foreign countries at the simplest of illnesses. Even the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, an ardent supporter of Swadeshi had to call an NRI orthopedic surgeon for his knee operation.
Further, is it not logical to evaluate the merit of the professionals passing out from the various private universities, engineering, medical and management colleges where a seat can be bought for a few lakh rupees? There is no reservation in sports even then a nation of over a billion has not been able to produce a single individual gold medalist in Olympics.
Similarly is it really a case of meritocracy that all the progenies of film stars are given a chance to act and sing in the film industry even though they do not have any experience? Are these cases of merit or pedigree reservation? The answer is self-evident, as most of them have been one-film wonders.
But the fact remains that most of them could reach there just because of their pedigree. A fact often neglected. We can asses the merit of the private sector by the contribution it makes to the world export market; it is just a trickle, just 0.7%. But still, it beats my imagination why the same private sector is vehemently opposed to reservation, has been demanding a level playing field for itself with the onset of the process of liberalization.
How can even then the private sector boast of its efficiency and merit? If the Indian industries are so meritocratic, why is it that they have not produced a single brand or item which can be internationally prescribed or has become an international commodity? What right do industrialists of today have to call themselves meritorious when most of the owners of established business houses have inherited their business from their parents? None of the top industrialists is a first generation industrialist.
They might have expanded the business but they could do so because they belong to a certain pedigree only. According to the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA), 122 vanishing Companies have run away with Rs 838 crore of public money. That is why a number of social scientists have argued that the rewards in the educational and economic system are not based on merit.
The educational and occupational attainments are related to family background and a number of circumstantial parameters rather than talent and ability. That is why people with the same educational qualification do not get the same type of jobs and those in the same jobs do not get equal remuneration.
Vivek Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University
I hope it will make an interesting reading on this issue. The other side of merit & Mandal II CITIZENSPEAK/Vivek Kumar Whenever the issue of reservation comes up for public debate, the entire Dalit and backward community is painted as devoid of any merit without caring about the fact that a majority of them survive without reservation.
On the other hand, the debate declares the so-called upper castes as meritorious. Therefore at this juncture when the debate on reservation is rife, let us gauge merit on both sides. The merit of upper castes can be evaluated by assessing their performance on the basis of the traditional social structure. Looking at history the Varnas-Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishyas were assigned with particular functions.
The Brahman had the privilege of teaching, the Kshatriya of protecting all creatures and the Vaishya living by commerce. The Dalits could ask the Brahmans if they were so meritorious why then half of the country's population is illiterate.
If the Kshatriyas were so meritorious then why could they not defend our borders? The Shaka, Huns, Tartars, Mughals, Dutch, British etc. all defeated them and subjugated us. Similarly, if the Vaishyas were so meritorious then why is trade and commerce of India in shambles?
In the same vein, if Arjuna of Mahabharata was so meritorious then why did Dronacharya demand Eklavya's thumb. In contemporary times, look at the low Human Develop Index (HDI). India is placed at 127 in the group of 174 countries.
In the Corruption Perception Index for the year 2004, India ranked 90 in the group of 146 countries (Transparency International India report 2004). Above all, the external debt of India is at a whopping Rs 5,11,861 crore (Economic Survey 2003-4: p.128). If meritorious economists and administrators are managing the affairs of the country without any reservation, why are we so economically poor? Why are farmers committing suicide as if it is rural India's ritual? Why do we have hundreds and thousands of legal cases pending at higher levels of our meritorious judiciary? Science and technology is considered the realm of super specialty and hence kept out of the bounds of reservation in India.
In this regard, Professor Nian Chai Liu and his colleagues at the Shanghai Jio Tong University in China spent two years collating and analyzing the output of 2000 universities worldwide and published their results by ranking 500 universities. Only three universities/ institutions from India figured in the top 500 -- The Indian Institute of Sciences at 260 and the Indian Institutes of Technology at Kharagpur and Delhi, respectively at 459 and 460. IIT Madras, Kanpur, Mumbai and Roorkee did not figure at all and of course there is no reservation for OBCs yet at these centres for learning.
There is something intriguing in the relationship between merit, commitment and contributing to a nation as seen by reservation bashers. Why is that career becomes more important than service to nation to many IITians and IIMians, who wait to go abroad even before they pass out? Let us look at the merit of the doctors working in the most prestigious hospitals of the country.
If the Indian doctors and medical specialists are so meritorious than why is that most of the VVIPs run away to foreign countries at the simplest of illnesses. Even the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, an ardent supporter of Swadeshi had to call an NRI orthopedic surgeon for his knee operation.
Further, is it not logical to evaluate the merit of the professionals passing out from the various private universities, engineering, medical and management colleges where a seat can be bought for a few lakh rupees? There is no reservation in sports even then a nation of over a billion has not been able to produce a single individual gold medalist in Olympics.
Similarly is it really a case of meritocracy that all the progenies of film stars are given a chance to act and sing in the film industry even though they do not have any experience? Are these cases of merit or pedigree reservation? The answer is self-evident, as most of them have been one-film wonders.
But the fact remains that most of them could reach there just because of their pedigree. A fact often neglected. We can asses the merit of the private sector by the contribution it makes to the world export market; it is just a trickle, just 0.7%. But still, it beats my imagination why the same private sector is vehemently opposed to reservation, has been demanding a level playing field for itself with the onset of the process of liberalization.
How can even then the private sector boast of its efficiency and merit? If the Indian industries are so meritocratic, why is it that they have not produced a single brand or item which can be internationally prescribed or has become an international commodity? What right do industrialists of today have to call themselves meritorious when most of the owners of established business houses have inherited their business from their parents? None of the top industrialists is a first generation industrialist.
They might have expanded the business but they could do so because they belong to a certain pedigree only. According to the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA), 122 vanishing Companies have run away with Rs 838 crore of public money. That is why a number of social scientists have argued that the rewards in the educational and economic system are not based on merit.
The educational and occupational attainments are related to family background and a number of circumstantial parameters rather than talent and ability. That is why people with the same educational qualification do not get the same type of jobs and those in the same jobs do not get equal remuneration.
Vivek Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University
Backward people in India
This is an attempt to connect with the backward people of India. Who are oppressed, poor and need justice. Lets get together.
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