Aarakshan::Reservation- I rest my Case

Ok... caught in my own Life's Aarakshan and of course the hue and cry of bill sent to Govt of India by Anna Hazare et.al, I somehow couldn't write my final post on the age old issue. Not that anyone really cares (Blogger is not really showing any stats on my previous 2 posts on the issue) but as a blogger, my apologies if anyone was in fact looking forward for the final read on the issue even for a brief moment. 

So where were we??? Oh yeah... we heard both sides of the story and were stuck at crossroads....

              

If we support reservation, it means that we still enjoy caste-ism and favoritism in the name of welfare. Also implying that we still are confident that without reservation welfare isn't even remotely plausible. And unfortunately, any unchecked system would act as a reactant to an impending collapse of the bigger system-the society.

If we do not support reservation, it means that we are Hippocrates demanding "equality" in opportunity when the precursor to opportunity is definitely not equal. Also it implies that we fail to apply two principles of Science. (Following TV series "The Big Bang Theory" these days)

1. Archimedes principle: If a farmer's son at level 1 has used reservation to become a banker at level 2, then someone from level 2 has to come to level 1. So why the hell do you cry saying "If they (SC/ST/OBC) have taken our (High class) jobs we'll have to do theirs" (A dialogue in the movie Aarakshan).... If one has  a problem with shifting classes then he/she should not dream of shifting to a higher class (if there is) either. 
2. Law of Limitation: We are only as strong as our weakest class of society. So, If one doesn't bother about the weakest class of society (no matter what caste they belong) don't dream of living in "!ncredible" India but just India.

If like in the movie Aarakshan (yeah i saw the movie finally) you put up coaching classes so that the under privileged challenge a higher cut off, then again the "high class" people are doomed and won't like it as the Law of Reservation says "If a student of reservation class clears a General class cut off then he/she shall be accommodated in General class and not reservation class." Its like a double edged sword for I can say. 

The problem lies in having a nonsensical categorization of people in the first place. (as if the classification done by zoologists for Homo sapiens is not enough!). Ok lets agree for a moment that categorization brings in the ease of planning and making things better in an efficient manner. But the major problems comes when we stick to ancient classes(castes) , which are based on our ancestral way of earning livelihood and not our current class or status (the way our parents earn livelihood). 

If we reserve reservation only to a certain extent and not make it almost ubiquitous; club reservation to parent's income and ways of generating income and completely remove the nonsensical and passe classes and castes, wouldn't it be beneficial for all?? It will also keep a check on Income Tax payment (if applicable), as Income Tax papers would be one of the certificates required during admission process rather than a caste certificate.

Surely any amendment to the Reservation bill will be met with stronger actions and reactions (Newton's Law) with the pro reservation at Ramlila and anti reservation at Jantar Mantar... it might need clones of Anna and might even outweigh the TRP of the JanLokpal Bill... but in the end what matters is a logical , practical and foresighted "Aarakshan" and thus I rest my case.

Aarakshan: Reservation:: Reserve or Reverse Part-II

In my last post I shared with you part-I of my view point on this debatable issue of reservation. In this post I wanna open with a question of reality. 

After 64 years of Independence where does India stand? Advancement in technology and infrastructure is one thing, advancement in its people's mindset is another. As an Indian I would like to brag about the former (even if certain stuff is only gas) but, as the same Indian am I proud of the latter? 

Lets go back to our history lesson to "try" answering the above.. 

When the reservations were introduced, naturally all the lower class people drank in jubilation for their "freedom" and most of the upper class drank in dejection for loosing out on privileges. They failed to notice that  they have enjoyed 100% of these privileges for so long and its time they learnt to share these privileges. This caused the pro reservation and anti reservation groups to emerge. However, the country wasn't deprived of saints back then. There were some high class people who were pro-reservation and wanted India, their country to evolve like the other countries of the world. 

As time passed by, these privileges could no longer be categorized as privileges. The access to and supply of ways to improve lifestyle boomed and there was enough room for everybody. And by law of nature, the Anti- reservation-ists mellowed down. Thanks to reservation, today class/caste can't be defined by the present "occupation".It simply denotes what our fore fathers and families did for their living. People of one class have now crossed over to another class by occupation. Everybody has learnt everything and is doing everything. Everybody SEEMS to be happy. 

So WHAT'S the problem now??? 

1. The population of the country exploded at twice the amoebic rate. Even one for two is a danger! 
2. The supply and demand for better lifestyle went for a toss with the former falling short and the equilibrium seems to reach its destination only tomorrow (for which we all are waiting). 
3. The people who are fortunate enough to get rights of reservation seem to have lost track down the lane and seem to become negligent of utilizing their opportunity (there are always reasons). 
4. There are still many people who are eligible for the reservation rights and yet don't utilize them due to lack of funding and knowledge of raising funds for the same or due to simple ignorance. 
5. To keep up the constitutional law of reservation, the institutions providing the opportunities for betterment are forced to put up a low cut off. (Law of economics). Thus diluting the input,output and the very essence of the opportunities.
6. People have moved onto different classes WITHOUT leaving behind their actual class/caste tags.  

All these factors have put a sense of insecurity and deprivation of rights to those so called high class people. They made the anti reservation groups to re-emerge and thus Class-ism and caste-ism  back into the country reversing all the advancements. 

What's the solution?? What am I - Pro or anti reservation??? KEEP WATCHING THIS SPACE.

Aarakshan-Reservation::Reserve or Reverse - Part I

For today's generation, "Reservation" seems to be an overrated and overtly abused and misused term. All the age old controversial and debatable dialogues and emotions sure have spurt up from the volcanic tubes like lava (yet again) when dear Prakash Jha announced his movie AARAKSHAN. I haven't seen the movie yet, but from the news (items); movie reviews and its trailers with strong dialogues on TV.. I have somehow gathered some knowledge of the film and its story.. Anyhow not restricting myself with the film, here is what I as an Indian feel about the issue....

If you go back to into the history of the forgotten, the divide of high class and low class seems to have been arbitrarily designated with the kind of "occupation" a class/family was into... Back then, most people focused on doing what their Dad's did for a living... 'coz that is how a prince became a King...(always). Once a sort of categorization began to be quite evident, vertical hierarchy which we today call as castes/class came into strong existence...and the people seemed to agree not to cross over each other in profession. (Except for those who had a futuristic mindset, exceptionally). 

For centuries together this went on and on and "reservation" ran in the background with the people without the people noticing it. Slowly the background became so strong, (with the help of rulers who believed in Divide and Rule way before the English, unconsciously) that it gave rise to a black era of "untouchability". With little access to and supply of better lifestyle which includes education, recreation, worship etc; came the ubiquitous and  absurd law of "100% reservation" for higher class people. The lower class/caste people were barred even for entering the premises of these "holy and high class" places, leave alone acquiring/utilizing the opportunity for better lifestyle. Ironically the Harijans are also called "Children of God" and yet treated as out-castes!!!

The English who then ruled India at this point , identified  this weakness of the country and used it as a weapon against Indian Freedom struggle, further widening the gap and scaring the country and its people. It was only at the last stages of the freedom struggle that the English thought they need to re-call this weapon together with the help of Indian leaders with futuristic view points. They thought that if they did not re-call it, there might be a catastrophe waiting to happen. They did not want to scar its history and dignity and let the world say "look what you have done to this lovely country". This brought in the idea of reservation for lower and  neglected class of the society, and help them find the lost glory of LIFE. Please note this is not 100% reservation..it is thus not a REVENGE like many anti reservation people quote it as....................

This is just one side of the story, watch this space for the other side of the story. COMING SOON...