All about reservations

The honourable Supreme court of India in its landmark judgement gave the go ahead to the 27%reservation for OBCs in the higher educational institutes funded by the government.This is a welcome move and it will go a long way in reducing the social and economic backwardness which is quite rampant in our society.But it is facing some stiff resistances from some expected quarters who term it as merely a casteist and political decision.

The basis for this reservation is based on the recommedation from the Mandal commission. and hence this commission has been in eye of storm since its recommedations were accepted. People on both side of this debate have attacked Mandal commission for providing the reservation based on castes. This charge is ill founded. The commission in fact used 11 social, economic and educational indicators which were worked out through sceintific investigation involving experts from various discliplines to identify the backward classes. Even a cursory look at these indicators can tell you that it has nothing to do with the castes. Befor levelling any accusations at the commmission, the opponents of reservation should look at their own conduct. Their protests smack of their high handedness and their insensitivenss towards the lower rungs of society. They behave as if no social inequality exists in the society !! The projection of reservation based on castes , which is actually not, shows the caste bias prevailing in their mind. The reality is that we need reservation because of the existing caste divide in the society and not the other way around.

The opposers of reservation argue that instead of providing reservation in higher education government should pay attention to primary education. They are right in their demand. But whether they really want this to happen is quite doubtful. The organisations(like Youth for equality) who take to streets on the very next day for theit anit-reservation protests have failed to hit the steets even once for the demand of improvemnet of primary education. In fact no one talked for it for nearly 2 yeras when their was a hearing going on in Supreme court (and the verdict seem to be going in their favour). But with the current infrastructure that government has, it might take another 50 years or even more to bring any significant improvement. In a country which has failed to provide proper meals three times a day to its people, the talk of giving free education sounds like a cruel joke. So using this as a ground to block reservation to the needy is an intelligent way to make sure that these people never become a part of the mainstream of the society.

Many people oppose reservation because it has failed to achieve its goals in tha last 60 years. True, we didn't got the results as we expected out of it, in many cases it failed to reach the needy people. But did anybody bothered to know the reasons behind it? In our country the top law makin bodies(parliaments, cabinets, secretariats), law enforcing agencies(central and state bueraucracies), even media have been dominated by people coming from the forward sections of the society(who constitute less then 20% of poulation) . And when your top decision making bodies have been heavily dominated by only one section of society, they ensured that the benefits of reservation didn't percolate down to the needy people. No wonder that many poor sections of the society are still not aware of the resrvation provided to them by the government. To ensure that reservation really achieves its purpose, its essential that people from the backward classes get proportionate representation in the power centres. And hence providing reservation in rea power centres like IAS, IITs and IIMs is the right step in this direction.With the reservation in IITs and IIMs , the talk of increase in brain drain is gaining ground.To me in this of era of globalisation and liberalisation the brain drain does not holds water. There is talent on one side and money on other. In a free market like this no one can control brain drain when everone keeps looking for greener pastures.

In a country like ours which has deep rooted fedual mindset and caste biases among the people, reservation is inescapable.Even after 60 years of independence, we still have our 80% of population ruled by rest 20%. The concept of democracy becomes meaningless if the power remains concentrated only in a few hands. So, despite how much concern we raise against the reservations, it is the need of the hour to create truly just society.

The haters of the lalus, mulayams and mayawatis

These are all the big names on the horizon of the Indian political sky. The reason is not hard to find, for these people have mastered the art of winning elections in the hindi heartland and thus created a niche for themselves in the Indian politics. Although their success have been marred upon by charges of corruption, scandals, ill-governance , still they remain a rallying point for people in the rural India.In fact, it won't be an exagerration to say that they have been ruling the hearts of masses in these parts of the country for quite some time.
But the very mentioning of these names in urban India changes the colour of many a faces. You take these names and can see red faces, and u can easily read lines of hatred which perhaps provides the redness.Now just expand the discussion by involving some other names like Bofors case of Rajiv Gandhi, Babri case of Advani, tehleka case of Geroge Fernandes. The color changes from red to pale, and u can notice the u-turn that people take. They suddenly go on defensive mode from being offensive, and start to defend these leaders. Finally befor concluding the discussion, ask about the Bofors case of Amitabh Bachchan and TADA case of Sanjay Dutt. No facial expressions, but u can see eyes wide opened in disbelief. It is worth noting that all of these people have been accused of some wrongdoings, which might be true or might end up as one of political vendetta. However in the eyes of the people certain category of people are more defendable than others irrespective of their acts.If these were reactions of some rural people ,then it could have been attributed to their illiteracy or ignornace or some other biases. But the fact that it comes from the so called intelligensia and educated sections, it shows up their mental bankruptancy.


When we analyse the situation, it is clear that the hate and opposition these people face is not based on any principle, rather it is on some demographic factors which have caused the urban and rural divide. The urbans in this country have always considered themselves superior to the rural people and when this supremacy is challenged by likes of lalus, mulayams and mayawatis they retatliate by showing their hatred against them.Their background plays very heavily in the minds of people..They are not media savvy, didn't went to any elite colleges, have no fluency over english, don't dress well, don't attend page 3 parties and the worst part is their origins, they are from the lowermost sections of the society. Naturally this does not augurs well for people of the big cities. A laloo rising from nowhere to the power center raises some suspision,but a Rajeev Gandhi seated to the topmost post overnight is accepted without a single question. A lecture by laloo at IIMs is termed as a gimmick while a rath yatra by Advani is considered as a historical movement. A Mayawati fighting for the dalits and downtroddens is termed as casteist by those sections who have been responsible for opressing them!! A mulayam son getting ticket to lok sabha is termed as dynasty politics while the sons of Gandhis, pilots, scindias and deoras is promotion of youth in politics!!But when it comes to people like Sanjay dutt, who is convicted by the courts for some serious crimes, still urbanites are able to identify with them. Their elite background, their media image, their reputation takes precedence over their acts of omission and commission. and hence people show sympathies for them and others who fit into this category.

The hate is, in fact, not at these leaders, the hate is against the poor people from where they come from. The elites in this country give a damn to the poor and in fact derive pride from it. This explains the treatment we give to the sweepers and cleaners, they are denied the basic right of dignity. This is the legacy of feudalism from the British times, which has created mental barriers dificult to cross for elites. But the rural masses are crossing this barrier through the rise of their leaders and which makes them more hated than before.These leaders might not be the most qualified, but we are living in a democracy where quantity matters more than quality.Initially these leaders might have seemed to sound like rabble-rousers, but certainly they are much more than it. Their social engineering formula has benefited them a lot, but yes it has helped the society also in terms of creating social equality among different sections. and by hating people like them, who represnt the aspirations of rural masses, doesn't solve the problems. But a society which is deeply biased in favour of elites, this feeling of hatred is here to stay. and it doesn't surprises me to see what lage raho munna bhai did for sanju baba , the railways failed to do for Lalu.

Economic policies of Inequality.

The globalisation and liberalisation is the buzzword these days. With the demise of communism and subsequent rise of capitalism in stature, they are here to stay and no country can remain untouched by their mighty hands. The face of Indian economy too has undergone a vast change to suit it to the taste of globalisation. and currently everything seems to be working in our favour(even monsoons too). All the efforts of government are aimed at achieving the GDP growth rate, towards getting more FDIs to keep its economy in good shape. and of course it is upbeat about its achievement of meeting the desired growth rates as projected by international monetary agencies like world bank and IMF. The government is satisfied by getting full marks in its report cards from the reputed international agencies and is aggressively pushing forward its agenda of economic development as dictated by them.

But statistics are often misleading, this can be seen in the case of Indian economy. More than the rate of GDP growth, the suicide rate of farmers is increasing which was not happening even when there used to be droughts in the country. The most alarming is the increase in the economic ineqalities between different sections of society. No doubt, the economic growth is quite essential for the nation and to cope up with the problems like unemployment and inflation. but if this growth does not penentrtes to the bottom level of society, then it becomes useless and in fact it given rise to other problems which have ever-lasting effects. The benefits of this growth has not been reaped by everyone, in fact a vast section of population has remain untouched by it.These section includes people like farmers, labourers, daily wage workers, street vendors who constitute the majority of workforce of our country. They have remained unaffected by the wind of globalisation and in some cases they have paid the price of it also.

The current model of economic growth is flawed in many respects. Clearly the government policies policies are not only negligent, but also discriminatory. The creation of SEZs and entry of MNCs inretail industry are a point in the case. The promptness shown in creating SEZs is lacking when it comes to providing adequate compensations to the farmers whose land has been forcibly taken away for it. And any voice raised against it is oppressed using brtual force or money power. Similarly government has no concrete palns for millions of small retailers who will lose their livelihood as a result of entry of MNCs in this sector. Also the current model has failed to address the regional imbalances, it is lop sided in favour of metropolitans leaving the small towns in lurch.

The economic policies followed by successive governments have been responsible for this situaton. The euphoria behind the economic growth has already started to diminish. If these kind of economic policies are pursued then things will soon be out of control of anybody.In this model the rich becomes richer and poor becomes poorer and ultimately the society is divided into two classes- haves and haven'ts . This leads to birth of class struggles as stated by Marx. It will ultimately lead to social unrest will is highly detrimental to the proper functioning of democracy. As we know the kind of influence that money brings with itself will be a tough challenge to cope up with for the various establishments, especially in the current political set up where money plays an important role in decison making. In a democratic set up like ours, the economic equality is of paramount importance. otherwise world's largest democracy might end up as an oligacracy.

Rani

This kavita is dedicated to my bangalore friends(specially chotu singh from whom I learned how to use this term) and all the ranis in whose love we grew up.



pehli nazar dekhte hi suru go gayi apni kahani
tere roop ko dekh fisal gayi meri jawani
tere naino se ghayal hokar baat humne maani
tum hi ho mere dil ki rani

pilaya tune kitno ko ghat ghat ka pani,
phir bhi hai duniya teri diwani
bas ek baar ban ja meri rani
phir roz pilaunga tujhe special neembu pani

tere aane se khushaal meri zindagani
rang birangi lage hai duniya saari
ab to tere sang hi jeene marne ki hai maine thani
kyon ki tum ho meri rani

tere pyar ne ufaan hai maari
tere liye kuraban meri mehbooba poorani
tere sang hi shaadi mujhko banani
zindagi tere saath hai beetani

ab der na karo bharne mein hami
ban jayo sada ke liye meri maharani warna
hum dhoondh lege koi doosri sayani
jo banegi mere dil ki rani.

The Lost India......

India, the emerging economy of 21st century, the software hub of world, the most sought after destination for MNCs for their investment(of course after china), the next superpower in the making is what we proudly flaunt today to the rest of the world.But a few years back, say from 25years back, the picture was quite contrasting- the land of snake charmers, the land of bullock carts, the place of naked sadhus, the place where millions died of hunger!! The journey has been, no doubt, quite remarkable.
In the glory of resurgent India, lets just spare a moment to think about what has been lost. Behind the talk of big and powerful MNCs, the feeble voice of swadeshi is lost.In the loud voice of globalisation and liberalisation, the cries of the families of farmers who commited suicide are lost.In the increasing scandals and criminalistion of politics, the credibility of indian democracy is lost. In the rise of regional sentiments, the national feelings are lost. In the victory of Gujarat elections, the memories of Godhra victims are lost. In the celebrations of Bhatiya parwasi diwas(for NRIs), the sufferings of millions who live below the poverty line are lost.In the pompous lightings of big malls, the darkness of millions of villages is lost.In the grand dishes of five star parties, the hungers of millions starving on streets are lost.In the media hype of valentines day, the independence day and republic day are lost.In the cacophony of MTV generation, the melody of Indian classical music is lost.In the huge crowd of mertos and cities, the small villages are lost.In the mad rush for making money, the basic human values are lost.

And when so much things are lost, who cares about the snake charmers and bullock carts, who have quitely disappeared to make way for the shining India!!

She...........

As I walk the empty street

comfortably numb by the cold breeze

She appears to be somewhere

not to be seen anywhere!!

To love her is foolish says the mind

but to miss her is what misses my heart the most

between the conflict of emotion and reason

love is the winner....

The love remains a enigma

the more you have of it

the less you know of it

but what is life without enigma

and what is love without she

for she is answer to all of them