E-Paper
The ?quota? of disharmony is up again
POLITICIANS NEITHER learn from their own mistakes nor from those of others. Before making a mockery of the merit-based higher education system in the country, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh should have studied the political graph of former prime minister and architect of Mandal-I Vishwanath Pratap Singh. The former prime minister?s graph, in the post-Mandal scenario, irretrievably plummeted to such a level that he failed to resurrect despite sharing dais with a cross-section of parties and politicians.
POLITICIANS NEITHER learn from their own mistakes nor from those of others. Before making a mockery of the merit-based higher education system in the country, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh should have studied the political graph of former prime minister and architect of Mandal-I Vishwanath Pratap Singh. The former prime minister’s graph, in the post-Mandal scenario, irretrievably plummeted to such a level that he failed to resurrect despite sharing dais with a cross-section of parties and politicians.
And if the minister insists that his decision to hike the quota percentage from 27 to 49.5 in all government-funded higher education institutions is not driven by sheer vote politics, then he needs to be reminded of the self-immolations as well as bids by students, though the reaction has so far been muted. Quota in any and every form has only created social disharmony in the name of social justice.
Moreover, the minister would have done justice to both the socially and economically underprivileged and the privileged class by studying the list of quota beneficiaries, both in academic institutions and government jobs. Often they belong to the so-called creamy layer as their well-established parents, occupying plum positions in the Parliament and the Government, are in a position to garner the benefits of quota.
Question remains how can quota benefit students in higher educational institutions? Would they be able to compete with students who qualify for admissions on the basis of their calibre and not caste? They may manage to get admissions in higher education institutions, but will they be able to cope up with the level of education imparted in them? Or is the government planning to downgrade the standards of these institutions so that quota beneficiaries survive and not drop out? There are lot of questions that the government needs to answer. Perhaps the minister would have done better by improving the standard of education at the primary level in the countryside by improving the quality of schools, the qualifications of the ‘Masterji’, instead of forcing quota in Central universities. Perhaps the minister needs to do an in-depth survey of quota benefits in the countryside!
Recently at a function in Karnataka, President APJ Abdul Kalam administered a ten-point oath to students. One of which was not to support any religious, caste or language differentiation. By implementing 49.5 per cent quota in merit-based institutions, aren’t we going to encourage this caste-based differentiation? Henceforth students would be known by their caste and not merit, while sullying the image of the country’s prime academic centres in the world. Imagine placement camps where companies would first see the track record and not the report card -- admission by merit or quota. Government’s decision would automatically bring all pass-outs under cloud.
Twenty-four hours before the HRD Minister announced the government’s decision of hiking quota in all government-funded higher education institutions, there was a countrywide euphoria over a student of the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business bagging an offer of over a crore rupees from an Indian IT company.
It had raised the hopes of millions of students, who slog, who aspire to enter one of these prime academic centres. It encouraged even the economically poor students to study harder as it could be ‘him/her’ one day. Did anyone, even for once, enquire about the student’s caste? Perhaps none as it was his sheer hard work that brought him the highest ever salary paid to a B-school graduate, irrespective of his caste. Similarly, when IIM, IIT students get mind-boggling offers no one doubts their capacity or caliber. Instead the report of their placements encourages lakhs and lakhs of students, irrespective of the caste they belong to, to clear entrance examinations.
Ironically, the government functions in strange ways. If it cannot improve the quality of education, it downgrades it. Instead of improving education standard of socially and economically underprivileged classes the so-called progressive UPA government has taken a decision, which would definitely downgrade the image of academic centres, if not their standards. Government cannot check the mushrooming growth of ‘Munnabhais’ and ‘Jholachaap’ doctors but is keen to hike quota in AIIMS and other medical schools. There is no harm in quota, provided it comes with merit. So the criteria should be economic background of the underprivileged classes and not caste alone.
Unfortunately the decision has come at a time when many NRIs were looking towards their home, when many IIT, IIM students were showing their willingness to serve the country instead of flying to Washington. But brain drain hardly worries the minister. The government wants to do social justice, irrespective of the cost the country would pay. What pains more is the fact that the country cannot expect social harmony with justice from any politician or political party as they all are there for their own benefit.
