My Reserved Life

I tramped through the dirty downtrodden, wait, the noun that follows is defined as roads, but that was but one of the troubles that crease my worried brow. My mood, as any blind beggar with the meanest powers of observation would aptly put it, was far from upbeat. For most of the blighted 10 billion people who populate the earth and are unaware of my existence, I am merely a 17 year old boy who is trampling through the streets of a city called Mahamumbai in the year 2036. Oh yes, I am a not-so-proud citizen of a developing country – India.

I hear frequent tall tales of how India was supposed to be one of the greatest nations of all, of how we emerged from the colonial rule, overcome poverty, hunger, disease, established the world’s largest democracy, of how the students from our universities landed the best jobs in the world, of how Indians were rumoured to be the citizens of a superpower, and how there was a time when our growth rate was second to none and how (here’s the one with the greatest height) and how - for those who lost track of the sentence – there was indeed a time when there were equal opportunities for all.

Then, around three decades back, our fortunes took a turn for the worse. There occurred a paradigm shift, a policy that was initiated by the logically challenged. Then our education system and soon the entire social establishment went to the canids.

However, this tale is not about the digression of our society. Instead it’s the current pathetic state of affairs that we have landed in. Here are the few rules that have come up in the last few years. The rules have all been adaptations of Rule 16 (4), the rule established few years after independence that insisted on reservations for those sections of Indians who were not adequately represented. Soon, as standards reduced, grammar deteriorated and adequate began to be interpreted as proportional. Now there is 47% reservation for OBCs in all Universities, Central and Private Sector Jobs, 28% for SC/STs and another 15% left to the whims and fancies of the college/company. However, mind you, this is merely another type of affirmative action taken to uplift the downtrodden masses. It is of no consequence that quite a large percentage of the supposed upper class is in a lower income bracket. It does not matter if the supposed lower class lands up in the best institutes due to their caste certificate, you are a caste-driven fanatic if you are of the opinion that it is unfair that they have access to the best amenities due to virtue of being born in a family with a surname that entitles them to classified as “low class”

It was around two or more decades ago that up to 50% of seats were reserved in all Central Universities due to a minister with delusions of grandeur. Few years later, all private institutions had reservations. For private institutions to reservation in private jobs was no quantum leap, merely an incident that provoked a little bit of outrage, vied for print space in media reports and was accepted and taken in stride. Few minor changes then took place. Firstly, income tax was reduced for all citizens belonging to the castes and subcastes that Mr. BP Mandal has enumerated in his report in the 1980s. A system was introduced by which they got 10% discounts in all stores.

Then one of our many political maestros hit upon the idea, why not introduce reservations in politics? This too faced little opposition as no one wanted to commit political hara-kiri by denying the “socially backward” the right to be represented in the making of the laws of the nation. Now, every 3rd President must be an OBC or an SC/ST else we are not providing retribution to the people for historical grievances committed on their ancestors 5000 years ago by the ancestors of the elitist general class.

More rules emerged. Ludicrous yes, but some bordered on the verge of insanity. Like the one which stated that any backward class citizen who had an annual income greater than 27 lakhs, if his business crashed, he would receive compensation from the government. If a disaster occurred, the first to be rescued and rehabilitated would be the supposed posterior of Indian Society

The downside of having reservations was that when thousands got into universities by pure anomaly of fate, few passed. The worried government instantly reduced the education system by claiming that it laid too much stress on the brain of the youth. When this did not achieve desired results, the citizens of the backward class were encouraged and provided financial support to raise larger families so that the number of students would increase and the chances of a smart young un being born and capable of passing through the university was higher. In retrospect, many admit that might not have been the smartest piece of legislation but then, it was done by the people and for the people. With the result that now there were more students clamouring for less seats with more competition.

Any reader, who not being present in this wondorous time may wonder, why did the government not increase seats in universities, provide more jobs and privatize the airlines or the railways to provide more job opportunities? Well, when other nations noticed that the talent coming out from the top brass of Indian Universities was not up to their expectations, a supposed travesty of justice occurred due to which they lost faith in the Indian economy. Due to reduction in Foreign Investment, the Sensex crashed. It is currently struggling at around 8000 points.

Most of our budding industrial leaders left India to make their fortune in foreign lands. Duly accuse of being treacherous and unpatriotic, the finest crème de la crème of emerging India intelligentsia moved to other nations where opportunities were not denied by virtue of birth.
It’s a shame. The current scenario is reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s work – Atlas Shrugged where industry collapses. This is worse. The fabric of society into which we all were interwoven as one people in one nation has been shredded to bits by those who lust to reside in corridors of power.
Well, we had a debate in class about the current situations. When I laid across my viewpoint (which I had chanced to read in some old archive of one of a newspaper) that in 2006, when there 50% of the population constituted OBCs, and assuming atleast 0.25% grew to be of college going age, was it too difficult to find few thousand meritorious brilliant students from the OBC category out of the 13 lakh students? If yes, were we not undermining the intellectual capacity of these people? They are humans, born as equal as us. They do need to grow up holding crutches. They are capable enough to be given enough dignity to make their mark in society without the aid of a caste certificate.

If by some chaotic fluke, they weren’t then what was the point of including students devoid of intellect in an institution which would drive them nuts? Was the problem being addressed by simply laying down reservations or did the problem lie deep within at the very roots? On hearing this, I was accused of developing casteist undertones, being a bad influence on the fragile minds of other youngsters and sent to therapy for having a dubious psychological profile and unpatriotic thoughts.

As a punishment, I was asked to write a 300 word composition on My Motherland. The other students were shocked to hear that such a harsh punishment was meted out to me. Most textbooks after all had only 180 words on such topics. Well, I wrote this and poured all my angst, my frustration, the pity that a once proud nation was reduced to and a hope that in other parallel multiverses, the future would not be so rotten.

Yours Democratically,
S.O.S

(Shattered Opinion of Sanity)

The Farce of Democracy

One need not read the following text if you are categorized as clairvoyant, illiterate or nonchalant to the point of stupidity. You may be excused if you are bored or if you already know about the whole reservation fiasco and have signed a petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/No_Quota/petition.html.

Been following the news lately?

For those of you who haven't, you would (or rather should) be aware of the fact that our great HRD minister (Human Resources and Development, methinks) has announced a 27% reservation of seats for OBCs in all Central Universities.

For those of you who belong to the supposed elitist "General Category" and who aren't filled with a rankling sense of injustice and high strung outrage at such a blasphemous action by the Parliament, you possibly do not understand the outcome of such a rule and the dire consequences that will spring to your life due to this rule for the people, by the people and of the people.

India is a rich and diverse country with years and years of "culture". Apart from striving to be worthy of its rich and varied heritage, one must understand that we are millennia away from the Vedic Age and that the direct result of having few people in power in that era led to the caste system, which at its very roots emanated a fundamental logic of identifying people by their profession. The direct branching of this logic into underhanded motives of the rule-makers led to thousands of supposed "lower castes" being mistreated and looked down upon. Centuries later, we still have Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who merely subsist, they have little or no sources of income, they live in dilapidated regions with little or no scope of development and in certain parts of India where people still stick to their supposedly proud Hindutva Roots; they are still ill-treated.

This was the germination of the seed of Reservation, the reason why "Dalits" (which is a very offensive undermining term) and other tribes got subsidies from the government. After all, these were underdeveloped sections of society and the tribes were the original inhabitants of the land who had had no notion that their few scraps of land would be taken way to herald in a republic.

Come the new age, there was a feeling that somebody should do something about it. Though there were many good people who sincerely cared, the majority of our great leaders were interested in wooing the votes of this class of people. Though far from ethical, this at least was understandable from the viewpoint of the Indian citizen who considered anyone who dabbled in politics to be the slime and muck of society anyway.

Usher in Mr. B.P.Mandal. The character of Mr. Mandal is unknown to the common man. He may have been a nice man, kind to animals and such-like, but on absence of data, these facts are hard to prove. However Mr Mandal headed a committee that was to decide on the social and economic upliftment of these classes. To ease myself the pain of doing justice to the injustice done to Mandal and his compatriots, I would like to refer to the opinions of Mr. S.S. Gill, one who was part of the Mandal committee.

Check him out at http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/06/24/stories/2003062400731000.htm.
So, am I stating that Reservations should be imparted considering the financial position of the individual? No, that is like igniting a fire to conceal a spark. Social stigma can to some extent be corrected by achieving a social position of economic stability. But economic backwardness is not a clear cut measurable quantity as a person’s income has the capacity to vary with time. Ups and down, rags to riches and vice versa stories are quite popular urban legends/myths/facts. The notion to award deserving students scholarships is sound but on what criterion would you adjudge the ability of a student? On a test of some sort. But is that exactly what we are so desperately trying not to do? And poor and rich are relative terms. To quote Mr. S.S. Gill’s article Billions of rupees under the Five Year Plans are spent every year for the eradication of poverty and the benefits accrue to all the poor people, including those among the `upper' castes.

Also, a new twist to the rule applied which was passed by the highest judicial body in the country states that an individual who gets in purely by merit does not qualify to be tagged under the quota. To put it simply, an OBC who gets in on pure merit will get his seat from the general category. So, for an exam like the JEE for which 3 lakh and growing students attempt, the first 2000 (the author has approximated the seats to 4000) seats are awarded on a purely meritorious basis, whereas the last 2000 seats are based on the highest OBC and SC/ST rankers whose ranks go from 2000 onwards. Intermittent gaps of 500 or 1000 rankers will not affect the Central government in any way. So what if a student with a rank of 5014 gets preference of a student who is 3000 ranks above him. So what if standards get diluted beyond normality? The Government does NOT CARE. After all, the legislation to be implemented from the next year was created and approved by the elected representatives of the people and the law was made by, of and for the people.

All Premier institutions of the country will now have a 50% reservation for OBCs and SC/STs. Even an institute like NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) will have few vacant seats as reservation whether their occupants have any interest or skill or creativity. Ever state college will have this reservation enforced on it.

This is just the beginning of the Mandalisation of Education. This will spread. Next year even the private colleges will not be spared the onslaught. And added to that, no additional seats will be put up due to "shortage of funds" in all these premier institutes.

Some may think that this is undermining the intelligence of these classes and we are blasting things out of proportion. 60% of those candidates who have failed after getting into IIT due to them not being able to cope up with the level of competition are students who got in on the SC/ST quota.

This is not only unfair to the students of the general quota, but also unfair to the SC/ST students who can’t be expected to compete at such a high level as their fundamental education has been grossly neglected. The government should take sterner measures to promote basic primary, secondary and even college education among these backward classes before taking such a huge step as 50% reservation in all universities of higher education. But no, instead of taking the tough way out, the government will choose the shorter, easier way and as usual the masses are sacrificed at the altar of vote driven maniacs who crave to be in power without addressing the true issues that face the country.

It would be way more logical to create special universities only for these backward classes so that they learn at their pace and not simply to acquire a tag of qualification. BUT NO!!! That would be tantamount to castiesm. But when the government puts more than half of the total students into a university simply because they’ve got a caste certificate and they end up being tagged as a quota student, become the cause and brunt of the frustration of others and the poor souls end up with high competition they can’t cope with, having to face others’ hate and self-doubt, that is positive affirmative discrimination.

Most students end up learning about the presence of backward classes due to reservation of seats. When one sees others who are less qualified or who have got in on virtue of birth, that sows the seed of anger, animosity and outrage. This is what brings about discrimination on basis of caste. One needs hardly any reminding to look back at the caste riots that took place one and half decades ago.

If such steps like the Mandalisation of education do help, then why haven't the backward classes progressed in the last 10 years. And if they have, then why are they still bannered with the title of "Backward" and if they have progressed then why the need for reservation?.

Back to Square One. Reductio at absurdum.

But then, what do we, the students, the future of this great and powerful republican democracy do against this farce?

Scream out, slog harder to beat competition, create new political parties, take to the streets and start rioting or kill the HRD Minister a la Rang De Basanti? (That is NOT an option. Please do not pickup subtle hints of violence and make me preemptory accessory to the crime. This is not instigating arson or murder and might be treated as an attempt at humour if so desired)
This is where your eloquent, slightly dull, highly outraged and supposed upper caste author falls flat. He has no answer. Like a blind man in a dark cul-de-sac, he is clueless and is simply left with the dull, mind-numbing feeling that someone should do something about the mess.

Hence the long patronizing rant that has stretched so long. I needed to express my angst, the pent up anger against such a cold, shrewd, vote-soliciting action by the Indian Leaders.

Have you noticed that not one political leader has spoken against the reservation bill. Yes, they have denounced Arjun Singh, Manmohan Singh and spewed mud on Sonia Gandhi. But no – one has protested against the entire Reservation idea as such.

COOL IDEA : Why not have reservation for everyone?? 38% within each quota for women, 8% in each sub-quota for those who know the longest word in the dictionary (pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis), 13% with scars in their ankle and another 3% for those with pet cats. That should make things interesting.

EVEN COOLER!!! Why not just stamp a graduate sticker on all SC/STs or all OBCs . 17 years after his birth and registration as a member of the classes, he will get a graduation certificate couriered to his house.

That should reduce competition AND gain votes of, by and for the people.

Sorry if I seem grotesquely bitter but that's what this incident has left me. I have lost faith in Indian bureaucracy. The country seems to going to the dogs. Next year, they are planning to introduce the quota into private colleges even and also into courses in super – specialty medicine.

A new disaster or event will grip the mind of the ever-fascinated media which seems to have the attention span of a sparrow's mentally deficient young one and all will soon forget about the whole thing and this author will just be one of many who go one plodding relentlessly with their lives, their short outbursts of emotion lost in the chaotic miasma of events that life is made of. He will go on to studying, saying the nation has no hope, another shattered soul who will appear for such competitive exams the next year and go on with his life….

For those who survived till the end, I will await comments, suggestions, bouquets and brickbats. Point out all the mistakes to me. You want to establish a point contrary to mine. Go ahead. Would love to hear others’ opinions.

Thank u 4 taking time out to read this, also please do petition if u feel as strongly as I do…