Reserved for the Deserved

I dislike any kind of reservations. If we go in for any kind of reservations on communal and caste basis, we will swamp the bright and able people and remain second-rate or third-rate. The moment we encourage the second-rate, we are lost. This way lies not only folly, but also disaster. - Jawaharlal Nehru

I don't admire the person I quote unlike the Minister for Human Resource Development, Arjun Singh. I sure do see our first prime minister's logic during the early days of republic India. This ideology of Nehru promptly changed when he saw how big a potential this issue has, as a vote grabber. The times this issue has helped politicians grab positions like our minister in question are innumerable.

I didn’t know the exact numbers of how many people will be helped, till I read the interview rightly named, the Devil’s Advocate, but I sure hoped at least the minister knew them since time and again he claims this bill had been cautiously, carefully and meticulously discussed in Parliament and a decision taken. Alas, I was so taken aback after reading the article, that I felt nauseated and sick.

The question, of whether or not reservations are required has been asked a million times and the issue debated for a long time. I personally don’t believe reservations are the right way to help the backward and I wish to explore a few possibilities, which I think might work. Friends you are welcome to debate and put forward more ideas. I present you my first philosophy.

The government already has a policy on free elementary education and all of us know the plight of government schools. Sent to school by parents for free food and taught by teachers under trees in the hot scorching sun the kid grows out his childhood in a so called school. We cannot expect students taught at that level to compete with students trained in a posh ‘convent’ with more than required facilities. I totally agree. So to help the poor kid what needs to be done? Give them a seat free of cost, for his higher studies? What about our standards?

Let’s say we are helping a few in this manner forgetting the future of India. What about the rest of the backward community, who couldn’t even afford to compete? Are we justifying anything? Let’s say we are building a skyscraper and instead of laying the foundation right, we go on building the tower and as and when it looks precarious, we start using bamboo sticks to support the tower. And we go on building floor after floor following the same manner. The building is bound to collapse. What we are doing is the same. Instead of building the system right and tight we are trying to find ways to cover up our mistakes.

Once we have a good foundation laid, a well funded, quality education system created make not only the elementary education free, but also till their tenth or plus two grades. Rich parents will still get their kids educated in posh schools, but poor will not be deprived of quality education. More and middle class people will swing towards getting their kids educated in government schools and colleges helping the institutions to fund this movement. This may sound too optimistic or utopian but we never tried did we? (We sure did clap and whistle for Shankar’s Gentleman. Didn’t we?)

All I say is instead of spending millions of rupees on increasing facilities for undeserving students pursuing their higher studies, lets spend it on less fortunate children and on the ‘about to break’ school system of India. If we could better the facilities, spend more money in schools, we could bring all the students to a common level, a common pedestal to compete with one another. This will remove the need for reservations. And this was the real aim of the father of reservations, Dr. Ambedkar.

We would not only be walking in the right way in building a better India but also a more secular India. May all our dreams come true nad lets all promise we will work hard for it.

Jaihind