Go for merit, not quota politics

No community grows through reservations, say our surfers.

Reservation has always been a touchy subject for Indians. Small wonder, they are out in the open denouncing any move to introduce reservation in private colleges across the country.

HT Image

People see it is nothing but a political gimmick. And add that in the last fifty years, nothing good has come of it.

We carried an article about how the issue had been hotly debated. All our surfers were unanimously against the move.

They seem to be highlighting two points: first, quota system has done India no good. If the policy did no good in the last 55 years, the implications were clear that the policy was flawed. Second, if at all it must exist it should restricted to primary school level, certainly not in higher education.

In a fiercely competitive world of today, the policy would scuttle merit and India would not be able to make the big leap from "developing" to "developed" world.

Laxman from Melbourne could barely shield his anger.

"It is an utter nonsense to reserve seats citing community as a method of entrance. India has granted the facility of reservations for the last 50 years. It is disgusting to see that a student who hardly gets 30 per cent gets a seat before a student who gets 85 per cent because he is a schedule caste."

"Do we want to grow or only dabble in such cheap politics? Only deserving candidates should get if payment rules for SC/ST and others are the same," he fumed.

He was clear that the policy and his ire against it had nothing to with caste. He was all for giving support for all deserving students irrespective of caste or creed. After all, for India to prosper the intelligent had to succeed. Reservation, he added, implied that people are looking for methods of back-door entry in search of opportunities.

Viqy from Hyderabad was quite categorical that SC and ST should not be given reservations in private institutions as they are already enjoying a lot in government quota.

Santosh Kumar from Noida too felt setting aside the talent of a person and selecting persons based on caste and creed, would not be good for the nation.

New Delhi's Umesh was certain merit alone should be the basis of any selection.

Prashanth from Orange, USA too advocated creating a level-playing environment.

"This business of 'reservations' is holding our country back. You need not bring down someone to pull up the other. You can create an environment for better education but can't give free seats. People have to earn it. Remember the saying: give a fish he will eat a day, teach him catch a fish he will make a living."

Well put, Prashanth.

Going back on the history of reservation, Pankaj from Noida had this to say.

"Caste-based reservation was originally planned for only 10 years. It was expected that after those 10 years the beneficiaries of this policy would be at par with the others. But if we are still continuing with this policy it means that the policy of reservation has still not been able to achieve its original objective."

"And if a policy could no do good to the people in 55 years, I bet it can't do any good ever. So, we should accept that there is a basic flaw in this policy and this should be immediately stopped and another alternate should be devised."

Expanding on the topic further, Hemant from Mumbai came up with this suggestion.

"I advocate long-term soft loans rather than a hand-out. You need to push people to achieve something. If you give them reservations without any effort on their part, you are doing disservice to the regular students."

He added the policy was absolutely flawed. The whole education system would be compromised and standard would fall. Deserving students would get left behind.

Amol from Syracuse, USA was appalled how in a democracy private institutions could be bullied into policy meant to appease a section of the population.

"If private institutions are called private then they have right to some exclusivity and privacy where state interference should not be tolerated. It is another matter a national emergency demands such an action."

He further added that the need of the hour was to see that only those people among the backward classes get support who is really poor. If the Govt wanted to make law so as to compel private institutions to accept this policy then the same law should differentiate between those so-called backward classes who are well-to-do and can afford to pay for their education and those who really don't have the means.

Well-said Amol.

Vijoy from Nagpur was in no mood to be polite. He was firm that government should steer clear of private institutions. No social justice here.

"While logically it amounts to intrusion on some one's private property, it has been approved by not-so-clean bunch of politicians unanimously with a motive solely of vote bank. It has absolutely nothing to do with social justice. If the politicians are so much concerned about such reservation why don't they forego the Rs 2 crore per MP MPLAD fund and ask the government to start institutions imparting quality educations with such reservation policies?" he asked.

Kanakasabesan from Maputo, Mozambique was sure that in the long run, the policy would boomerang on India. Quality of service would take a heavy beating.

"Reservation at graduation and post-graduation level must be only on economic ground to those with proven ability and merit. In our bid to improve the lot of SC/ST, we cannot afford any compromise on quality. With India, venturing into a free competitive world, any lop-sided reservation policy might adversely affect our quality of products/services to the world which in turn might result in loss of market particularly in the services sectors."

Phani from Atlanta was fuming fire. His clarion call: the politicians (illiterate thieves) who rake up this issue for their political survival should be guillotined.

Irfan Ali from Paterson, USA felt this would only take India backward. Pakistan and Bangladesh will move ahead of India.

"Why would Sonia Gandhi's Congress care about India's progress anyway? They want votes and power," he rued.

M Shahan from San Mateo, USA wryly said, "Looks like it is the forward classes that are a minority now as most have moved out of the country due to very little opportunity on account of reservation."

Coming from him, how prophetic!

He has this to suggest.

"Instead a system like the US should be adopted where the downtrodden are give preference if there is a conflict of marks for admission into educational institutions or in terms of merit for a job."

Hmm… worth pondering over.

Subhash Goel from Douglas, USA as in agreement about the private versus public angle on the issue.

"Private institutions are run on the invested by the owners. It is just like any other business. This is a bad tradition that government is going to set. What is next? Telling private business owners to sell their items to certain class of people at certain rate? This is an infringement of right of property."

But ended on an optimistic note as he hoped SC would strike down such an unconstitutional law.

The solution then seems to lie in improving the public education system, not in reservation politics.