Scenario 1 :
A : So wat was your CAT Score?
B : 99.88 percentile
A : Wow!!! Thats amazing man…. you must have got calls from atleast a couple of IIMs
B : Not really…
A : Why?? Bad academic record eh?
B : No. Bad social background. I was born into an ‘upper caste’ family.
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Scenario 2 :
A : Wow man! you got a 3 digit rank in your CET. You’ll definitely get an Electronics seat in a top college here
B : I dont think so man… i might have to settle for Mechanical or something if i want a top college.
A : But why? With such a good score you’re sure shot to get through
B : Dont think so. I’d have been sure to get through only if I wasn’t born in this ‘upper caste’ family. But now i dont think i have that much of a choice.
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Scenario 3 :
A : Hey… i heard you’re undergoing a heart surgery? Where are you going to get it done.
B : I was thinking of flying to UK or the US.
A : But isnt it much cheaper here?
B : True. But i cant take chances with my life. Apparently many of the doctors passing out have not scored very well but have still obtained a job because of reservations. I’m not sure how much of doctors they are.
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The caste based reservations that have been upheld by the SC yesterday have made sure of many things :
1. Deserving candidates in India will definitely look to study abroad and subsequently work there, hence robbing the country of some of the best brains.
2. Though many of them may be extremely competent, it’ll make sure that many undeserving candidates would obtain seats in institutes of higher education and hence bring down the overall quality of the professionals in the country.
3. People will go that extra mile to encourage corruption in order to get their seats in professional colleges by illegal means because there aren’t enough seats to go around for every deserving candidate.
4. People will lose faith in the quality of professionals emerging out of the institutes in this country.
5. Caste based divisions within the society will increase further
Though the judgment seems like a balanced one, with the exclusion of the creamy layer… it is still nothing but politics which is going to divide the society on the lines of caste.
What I don’t understand is why cant they do this
1. Provide free, fair and compulsory education at grass root levels, not based on caste, creed, colour etc.
2. If needed, start with setting up these educational institutions in the areas dominated by the backward classes, scheduled caste and tribes.
3. Make the quality of govt schools as good as that of private schools
4. Make the authorities of govt schools accountable to the government as well as public
5. Include the parents of the students as stake holders in the running of the schools.
Once the above things are taken care of, rest assured, every student passing out of 12th Standard will be on a level playing field
Hence, the competitive exams will be exactly that… competitive. Every student will have similar educational backgrounds and equal opportunities ahead of them. Now, if any candidate deserves a seat but cannot afford to pay the fees, let the government aid his/her education or provide interest free educational loans like those given to farmers or give him/her scholarships.
This will ensure that the quality is not compromised, at the same time, every deserving candidate will be educated on what he wants.
Without addressing the issues at grass root levels, the problem arising is that the very people (poor backward community) are not being helped by the reservations. This is because, in 8 out of 10 cases, kids from these backward communities/regions do not reach the level (graduation or post graduation) to avail of these reservations. Subsequently, only those from the creamy layer would be eligible for the reservations and that means, the entire purpose of the reservations is being defeated.
Also, if we’re talking about premier educational institutions, most of the kids from economically and socially backward families/communities do not have access to the high level of education that is a pre-requisite to get into these premier institutions. For example, when one wants to take up IIT-JEE, the institutions that take coaching classes for these exams charge such exorbitant rates that it is out of the question for many of these kids to even take up the training for it. Subsequently, they’re not qualified enough to sometimes even make the cut-off marks for admissions but still end up getting seats in these institutions and may not understand much of the stuff that is taught at these levels, resulting in below-standards professionals.
Ultimately, the very purpose of these reservations – uplifting of the poor people in the backward community is defeated and it ends up such that people who belong to these backward classes but have are not economically backward end up availing these reservations in spite of having secured lower marks.