Wednesday 2 May 2012

We Are Way Behind The Times

God made one earth, nature divided it into continents , man divided it by countries and religion. Our country went a step further and divided people of the same religion on the basis of different castes.
It should have stopped there.

There was once a time when some of the brightest minds in the country decided that some races  have been victim to oppression for centuries and that the time was ripe to bring them to justice.
And it was true , some castes (let's call them 'The Oppressed') had been ill-treated in our country's past. There is no denying it. They were oppressed, insulted , demeaned and denied the right to respect of fellow countrymen- which, in my opinion, is the most basic of all human rights and should be a constitutionally valid fundamental right as well.

What was done to enforce justice to The Oppressed was not right . At least it doesn't seem right now.
Reserving a few seats in educational institutions, providing education to the oppressed at minimal fee, might have seemed to be breakthroughs to the people in power at that time. In today's scenario, these ideas just seem stupid. These concessions should be for the people who need them, not for those who want them just because their forefathers got them and it has become a right of sorts for them.

And yes, The Oppressed were the poorest sections of the society at that time, so it was only logical then to provide them education free of cost, but why now?
Are The Oppressed the only poor (or let's say 'not-that-well-to-do') people of the country?
Are they still the undermined minority?
And if they are, is reserving half the capacity of educational institutions for minority right? Leaving the majority to fight it out tooth-and-nail (and bribe and coaching and endless hours of study and backdoor entries and suicide if nothing else works because all your friends got somewhere except you , as  they were either geniuses or kids of rich people or of those who the government has vowed to cherish and protect as their own) for the other half ?

It is a rule of human nature, that people realize the worth of something only when they have earned it, and paid for it by their blood and sweat and toiled for it with all they had. The Oppressed have their future presented to them on a golden platter , the others have to slog endless hours , and even then , there is only a 51% chance that their efforts will do them good..

What our intelligent leaders don't realize is that it's differentiations like this that divide the society, and don't let people forget that they are separated by something, that there is a difference between the way the world sees them and treats them. How can you be friends-forever with someone if you could not get into the college that could have been the gateway to your bright future because you weren't considered intelligent enough for it, but your friend could, he/she didn't have to prove their intelligence (because the results showed you deserved it more than they did ), but he/she ended up in your place, because centuries ago, your ancestors had ill-treated their forefathers.

Would it let you treat them as your own? I don't think it would.

There is a reason why a system of cut-off percentage is applied in admissions to specialized courses, so that the quality of people being trained is maintained. There is a huge difference between the performance expected from the different sections of society being discussed. It’s not understandable that the people given this advantage are allowed sub-standard performances unlike others.


This discrimination is being extended further . The Oppressed now have reservation in public sector jobs too . And any company that opposes it faces the wrath of the Mighties.
Doomsday for us would be the day when its decided that this rule will be imposed on the private sector as well.

The meritorious will reach success , with these crutches or without them. Kids in remote parts of the country sit in boats  and cross ropeways to reach schools. Our greatest President used to study under a street lamp. They did not have this favoritism fueling their aspirations. Why do some people find the need for them. And more importantly, why is it decided again and again , that they deserve that?

The day when some government has the guts to stand against this would be a great day for our country. The starting line for the leap to progress. That day India would be called a developed nation.


Governments would never be able to muster up the guts to tell off those in favor of this discrimination. They have their motives to think of. But it should be done. This is not right. Education is everyone's right and it should depend only on merit how far a person can go in his career. Not on caste, or religion, or even sex for that matter.
I know many girls who can kick any guy's ass in a quiz contest or a math Olympiad.

Our country has known great men from the classes we consider oppressed, even from the time they actually were being subdued, who rose from the ashes and achieved greatness.  People don't need  mercy to get where we deserve to be. But they also need a fair game to be played.


What can be done here is to appease The Oppressed by giving them a rebate on fee and last dates of receiving forms of admission and extra help with preparation and studies, workshops to educate them about new technologies and career options, to bring them up to speed about where the world is at, so that they don't need to feel behind the times and the other people around them.


We can have  creation of groups of equal number of representatives from The Oppressed and others for all assignments as part of school curriculum so that the feeling of brethren increases during childhood itself. For those sections that really are backward-hail from remote villages, we can assign mentors from good schools : kids their own age, and keep activities that will encourage more social and academic involvement in each other’s lives so that the difference between development of kids from different realms of society can be decreased. After all, that is considered the basis of the demand for reservation. If we eradicate the cause, the problem will go by itself. All that will remain then, would be to appeal to the sensibility of the masses to warm them up to the idea of eliminating reservation all-together. The Achilles Heel of the entire task, yes, but has to be done someday. We can at least stop increasing the percentage of reserved seats in educational institutions. Reducing the number or reserved seats can follow.


 In the end, it should be merit for everyone that get them to places , so that they can hold their heads high while talking about their achievements. The Oppressed need to understand too, that what their forefathers went through at the hands of The Oppressors, is exactly what they are doing to those not included in The Oppressed.

One should get what one deserves and it would be best for all concerned if there is an environment of equality so that the competition is fair and there is no environment of enmity that poisons the air of our nation.