Saturday, March 31, 2007

Reservation argument

A lengthy argument was in progress in one of the groups that I am a member in about the recent indian supreme court judgement on the issue of reservation in IIT's, IIM's etc. A friend of mine, Naina alias Naveen, produced this gem. Thought it would be nice to reproduce the same here.

--- Start of mail ---

hi all,

am finding it very hard to take sides in this reservation debate. coz i feel the whole wrangle is based on dangerous/superficial notions of 'sucess', 'happiness', 'development','education','status' etc etc and it doesnt matter who sits at the emperors throne, they are all naked. (be it upper caste, lower caste, white man, black man, yellow man)

how is it going to matter to the sparrows,dolphins, the penguins, the salmon,the tiger, the mangroves and the millions of abused others in the earth family, whether the next student at IIT or IIM is a bramhin or an OBC? how is that going to reduce their exploitation and decimation!?

the theory on equitable distribution of wealth (and opportunities) sounds nice, but how often has that even when sucessful, brought about voluntary moratariums on egocentric ambition, greed, and "progress"? once beyond roti, kapada, makan(and a lil bank balance), how often do we see individuals, communities,or countries saying "ok we' now have enough. lets stop progressing!"

how is a greater share of this factory-baked industrial pie going to stop us from bringing the house down soon?
how is it going to stop THE race? is it time to bake a NEW and DIFFERENT pie!?

and what is the nature of these educational institutions we are hankering to get more folks into? how often do we find them turning out sensitive, smart human beings with good values,courage and love in their hearts? are the dreams some of us 'misfits' hold because od the system or despite it! dont we know better, than to push more of our beloved ones into these zombie factories?

plz explain,
naveen

--- end of mail ---

What is the point in fighting to ensure equality in the results of a rat race? That too a race in which the winners (who are less than 1% of the lot) are crowned and the losers are mercilessly slaughtered. Stuff to ponder over.

2 comments:

Narasim said...

I am not sure I have an answer to the question on whether we should still continue to run the rat race. I think it is for individuals to decide whether they want to or not.

But as far as reservation/affirmative action goes, We should understand that a section of the society is sometimes not even aware of the oppurtunities that exist for them. In some cases they are aware and they want to use these oppurtunities but are not able to, because of financial constraints.

We need to do two things
1. Create an awarness among people so that they can make an informed decision on what to do with their life.
2. Provide easy financial assistance for the needy.

Caste based reservation needs to be shunned, whatever be the historical reasons people can think of.

Partha said...

I really don't want to get into the reservation debate dude.. one, there are equally valid arguments on either side... second, even if reservations are provided to the oppressed classes, those who gain by that will only join the rest in further oppressing the oppressed classes..

society subsidizes education for the most talented as it will help the society... our education system definitely does not do this.. so why stick with this system?