Reservations about reservations about reservations about...
The recent governmental decision to increase reservations in government funded institutions to 49.5% is vote-motivated, divisive and discriminatory. It's also short sighted and retrogressive and will adversely impact the efficiency of this country. To cut a long explanation short, they're trying to mask their failure to provide an adequate primary and secondary education to the masses. They should, instead, raise their own standards.
As I see it, the government has the following primary responsibilities in a democracy: Education, Safety and Security, Healthcare and Infrastructure. From the looks of it, successive governments have failed us, and are busy squabbling for power among themselves. They spend more on elections than on development. As I said in a response to Shekhar(of Fractured Earth), this seems to be the perfect opportunity for a political party to attempt to garner mass support by opposing the reservations, given that a majority of the much larger general population seems to oppose this move. Yes, dear reader, we see an opportunity in everything. Unfortunately, no political party seems to be willing to take that risk. In my opinion, this is the NCP's chance.
As of now all the political parties seem the same and lest there’s a ‘none of the above’ option in the ballot paper, I'm likely to abstain from voting because I’m in a majority that isn’t being represented. Here's what I'd written about democracy earlier, and now it seems that a fractured mob is just as useless as a dumb one.
Even the online space is fractured, and mostly incoherent. I've got several mails from Orkut, asking me to 'Please join this group also' and also several petitions to sign, many of which express viewpoints that I don't fully endorse. Here are some of the less intelligent comments I've read:
1. Surely reservation is just politician game,it is not charity,but to satishfy its own appetite of vote & power.
2. hi this is 2 bring all the student havin a agony about this so called FATVAA by @$$!#%dr.arjun singh UNDER ONE ROOF and run a movement on ORKUT ur each joinin will be cosidered as support for us will give strength to our movement.
the major problem is even after reservation student who use to get addmission not able complete there studies in 4 years(btech) THAN I WANT TO AKS WILL ARJUN SINGH WILL COMPLETE ON THERE BEHALF I THINK HE HAS ON ANSWER
save india by communicatin about this community and hlep to gather suppot under roof
DO TELL OTHERS TO MAKE A SPEEDY MOMVEMENT
DO WRITE UR VOICE AS EVRY VOICE WILL MAKE YHE MOVMENT STRONGER
PLS COOPERATE WITH US
3. all HRD ministers should be made to stand in a row and should be shooted out
4. This reservation funda is totally uncool. This is just done for the votes and nothing else, but these people donot know that by bringing reservation in here affects the country itself, this all is a gimmick, a way to be the superior most and the government is to be blamed for this.
Reservation of every kind is bad - be it even sex, diability or economical class, not just caste and religion.
5. do u kno that if no. of termite become excess they r riqured to contrl
otherwise they will devastate the house
HELP IN MAKIN THIS MOVEMENT BIGGEST OF ALL TIME SO THAT THESE TERMITE
MUST KNO THAT WHEN WE YOUNG GUN FIRES THEN ITS ALSO DEVASTATIN
COM AND JOIN THE MOVEMENT
6. ALL IIT AND IIM STUDENTS HAVE DECIDED TO BOYCOTT
CLASSES ON 17TH APRIL 2006 MONDAY IN PROTEST AGAINST
50% RESERVATION !!!! IF YOU WANT TO STOP THIS SHIT OF
RESERVATION PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR
CONTACTS......"BOYCOTT 17TH APRIL 2006"
http://***address removed**/against_reservation.htm
sorry for the forwarding of this message to the
unconcerned persons..
7. STOP PROTESTING LIKE GANDHI LOVING MORONS
8. Form your own country or anything, our country cannot and will not change.
9. here also we need some hitler or stalin who will just obliterate these illiterate politicians of india..
10. problem was not ambedkar or nehru...problem was mahatma..whose watermarking we ca see in indian currency..if the father of the nation was a *******...what can u expect from the child...
11. Time for a terrorist organization for the really smart people. The kind of terrorist who does no real damage to any living being or property or anything with value...
12. When the worker unions can go and sit in front of the Director's office, why can't the students?
If still the govt. does not pay heed, boycott the end-sems. And then, stage a procession in front of the parliament. Mobilise all the college across Delhi and you will have enough people. Hasn't Rang de Basanti taught us something? It is not the time to wait and watch. It is the time to act.
13. (A petition to the President begins with:) Are you aware of the fact that from coming academic session the Govt of India has proposed to introduce a new Quota System for addmissions to Professional courses.
14. We, the so called upper castes living in urban India created this country and the politicians are using the fruits of our hard work and reaping political benefits through reservations. If all of us belonging to the unreserved categories simply quit India, or stop going to these so called elite instituions where reservations are done, India will be doomed and the Institutes will lose all their name and prestige.
We are the creators of a prosperous modern India, these politicians are forgetiing that without the so called upper castes its Bye, Bye... India, No ecomic boom, no anything.
Or shopuld we jsut ask for a seperate region for ourselves? If the Muslim invaders who came so late can ask for their share, why not us original residents? Then the world will see where prosperous India comes from and who are dragging their legs.
Shoot people, post your opinion.
Please note that I don't necessarily endorse any of the points listed above, and the emphasis is mine. I found the comment about telling others to make 'speedy movement' quite amusing. The lack of objective thought, both among the politicans and the student community is saddenning. I've only come across one email and one petition that addresses the issues objectively and in a systematic and reasonable manner. Not that I want to see more, of course. During the Mandal commission protests, self immolation made headlines. Today, even suicide doesn't make a difference, and everyone has been numbed by the apathy of the government.
Tags:
| reservations | india | petition | democracy | politics |
As I see it, the government has the following primary responsibilities in a democracy: Education, Safety and Security, Healthcare and Infrastructure. From the looks of it, successive governments have failed us, and are busy squabbling for power among themselves. They spend more on elections than on development. As I said in a response to Shekhar(of Fractured Earth), this seems to be the perfect opportunity for a political party to attempt to garner mass support by opposing the reservations, given that a majority of the much larger general population seems to oppose this move. Yes, dear reader, we see an opportunity in everything. Unfortunately, no political party seems to be willing to take that risk. In my opinion, this is the NCP's chance.
As of now all the political parties seem the same and lest there’s a ‘none of the above’ option in the ballot paper, I'm likely to abstain from voting because I’m in a majority that isn’t being represented. Here's what I'd written about democracy earlier, and now it seems that a fractured mob is just as useless as a dumb one.
Even the online space is fractured, and mostly incoherent. I've got several mails from Orkut, asking me to 'Please join this group also' and also several petitions to sign, many of which express viewpoints that I don't fully endorse. Here are some of the less intelligent comments I've read:
1. Surely reservation is just politician game,it is not charity,but to satishfy its own appetite of vote & power.
2. hi this is 2 bring all the student havin a agony about this so called FATVAA by @$$!#%dr.arjun singh UNDER ONE ROOF and run a movement on ORKUT ur each joinin will be cosidered as support for us will give strength to our movement.
the major problem is even after reservation student who use to get addmission not able complete there studies in 4 years(btech) THAN I WANT TO AKS WILL ARJUN SINGH WILL COMPLETE ON THERE BEHALF I THINK HE HAS ON ANSWER
save india by communicatin about this community and hlep to gather suppot under roof
DO TELL OTHERS TO MAKE A SPEEDY MOMVEMENT
DO WRITE UR VOICE AS EVRY VOICE WILL MAKE YHE MOVMENT STRONGER
PLS COOPERATE WITH US
3. all HRD ministers should be made to stand in a row and should be shooted out
4. This reservation funda is totally uncool. This is just done for the votes and nothing else, but these people donot know that by bringing reservation in here affects the country itself, this all is a gimmick, a way to be the superior most and the government is to be blamed for this.
Reservation of every kind is bad - be it even sex, diability or economical class, not just caste and religion.
5. do u kno that if no. of termite become excess they r riqured to contrl
otherwise they will devastate the house
HELP IN MAKIN THIS MOVEMENT BIGGEST OF ALL TIME SO THAT THESE TERMITE
MUST KNO THAT WHEN WE YOUNG GUN FIRES THEN ITS ALSO DEVASTATIN
COM AND JOIN THE MOVEMENT
6. ALL IIT AND IIM STUDENTS HAVE DECIDED TO BOYCOTT
CLASSES ON 17TH APRIL 2006 MONDAY IN PROTEST AGAINST
50% RESERVATION !!!! IF YOU WANT TO STOP THIS SHIT OF
RESERVATION PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR
CONTACTS......"BOYCOTT 17TH APRIL 2006"
http://***address removed**/against_reservation.htm
sorry for the forwarding of this message to the
unconcerned persons..
7. STOP PROTESTING LIKE GANDHI LOVING MORONS
8. Form your own country or anything, our country cannot and will not change.
9. here also we need some hitler or stalin who will just obliterate these illiterate politicians of india..
10. problem was not ambedkar or nehru...problem was mahatma..whose watermarking we ca see in indian currency..if the father of the nation was a *******...what can u expect from the child...
11. Time for a terrorist organization for the really smart people. The kind of terrorist who does no real damage to any living being or property or anything with value...
12. When the worker unions can go and sit in front of the Director's office, why can't the students?
If still the govt. does not pay heed, boycott the end-sems. And then, stage a procession in front of the parliament. Mobilise all the college across Delhi and you will have enough people. Hasn't Rang de Basanti taught us something? It is not the time to wait and watch. It is the time to act.
13. (A petition to the President begins with:) Are you aware of the fact that from coming academic session the Govt of India has proposed to introduce a new Quota System for addmissions to Professional courses.
14. We, the so called upper castes living in urban India created this country and the politicians are using the fruits of our hard work and reaping political benefits through reservations. If all of us belonging to the unreserved categories simply quit India, or stop going to these so called elite instituions where reservations are done, India will be doomed and the Institutes will lose all their name and prestige.
We are the creators of a prosperous modern India, these politicians are forgetiing that without the so called upper castes its Bye, Bye... India, No ecomic boom, no anything.
Or shopuld we jsut ask for a seperate region for ourselves? If the Muslim invaders who came so late can ask for their share, why not us original residents? Then the world will see where prosperous India comes from and who are dragging their legs.
Shoot people, post your opinion.
Please note that I don't necessarily endorse any of the points listed above, and the emphasis is mine. I found the comment about telling others to make 'speedy movement' quite amusing. The lack of objective thought, both among the politicans and the student community is saddenning. I've only come across one email and one petition that addresses the issues objectively and in a systematic and reasonable manner. Not that I want to see more, of course. During the Mandal commission protests, self immolation made headlines. Today, even suicide doesn't make a difference, and everyone has been numbed by the apathy of the government.
Tags:
| reservations | india | petition | democracy | politics |
sad, innit?
the rang de basanti team has also joined NBA, or something like that flashed past me when i was channel surfing.
we deserve the jokers that we vote to power. we really do.
~ harneet
what the...
~ harneet
Harneet:
Call me a cynic, but this comes across as a calculated attempt by Aamir Khan to enter politics. Of course, the best way, as the shrewd Mrs. Gandhi has always shown, is to deny any interest. Have you read Chandrahas' post on Rang De Basanti? He was spot on.
From next time onwards, I'll probably wonder what I did to deserve the jokers that others voted into power.
Camelpost: planning to kamikaze?
politics, i am not sure of. but amir khan is one shrewd little marketing machine and how he promoted lagaan before the academy awards is ample proof of that. yeah, i read that post sometime back. i thought the movie was plain ridiculous with the 'message'.
and hey, we are all someone else's jokers.
~ harneet
"Well the song was over long back. We are left only with the National Anthem."
bygawd!
We must investigate the term "merit".Is "merit" just a score in entrance exams at age of 17?
Take the claim of "merit based" entrance to all IIMs and dozens of other institutes.
The CAT exam is based on the SAT exam in the USA . It has been proved beyond doubt that the SAT test is culturally biased . Blacks and hispanics do poorly at it year after year .
If a student who is eligible for admission to IIM on the basis of his CAT score, were to take the same CAT exam in which he/she cleared in a language that he/she did not understand then he/she would be at a disadvantage compared to someone who was schooled in that language . Not knowing that language does not mean you lack the capacity to clear that exam.
Approximately 25 % of CAT test is about English! Another 25 % is about English Comprehension!!!! There you are !!!! About 50 % so called aptitude test is a hoax for someone who is from a non-english speaking background .
This is how the CAT like the SAT is discriminatory .
See the full form of SAT …Scholastic Aptitude Test . The problem is aptitude testing is not so simple . There is no test on earth which can reliably tests aptitude .
Aptitude tests such as the SAT have a historical tie to the concept of innate mental abilities and the belief that such abilities can be defined and meaningfully measured. Neither notion has been supported by modern research. Few scientists who have considered these matters seriously would argue that aptitude tests such as the SAT provide a true measure of intellectual abilities.
It was found that people could be coached to better their scores at SAT . The name SAT …Scholastic Aptitude Test could not be correct . So under such valid criticism the name was changed to Scholastic Assessment Test, since a test that can be coached clearly did not measure inherent "scholastic aptitude", but was influenced largely by what the test subject had learned in school. Even the College Board which conducts the SAT has beaten a hasty retreat.This was a major theoretical retreat by the College Board conducting SAT, which had previously maintained that the test measured inherent aptitude and was free of bias.
About ten years back , however, even the redundancy of the term assessment test was recognized and the name was changed to the neutral, and non-descriptive, SAT. At the time, the College Board announced, "Please note that SAT is not an initialism. It does not stand for anything."
The framers of these SAT tests assumed that intelligence was a unitary inherited attribute, that it was not subject to change over a lifetime, and that it could be measured and individuals could be ranked and assigned their place in society accordingly. The SAT evolved from these questionable assumptions about human talent and potential.
More and more people are questioning the validity of SAT . In the past MENSA used to accept high SAT score individuals . For the past decade it has stopped accepting SAT scores .
The whole exercise of deciding merit based on CAT scores discriminates against those from lower socio-economic status.
Though many non-IIM institutes have started accepting CAT scores, the application fee of these institutes is still inexplicably high.
The CAT is primarily an exam of Math and English. Logical and Analytical Reasoning is nearly absent (except for some verbal reasoning which again depends on knowing English well!!!!).
CAT is a clever way to keep those from lower socio-economic strata away Institutes funded with tax payers money .
So claims of “Merit” based on CAT scores is hollow and discriminatory against those of lower socio-economic strata.
Dhirubhai Ambani had a poor command over English . He would not have made it through CAT. So what "merit" are we talking of?
Hey Anonymous. Yours is an inordinately long response, and I'd advise that you be more economical with words if you want to be read.
I skimmed through it and here's my say:
1. Just because other countries have employed reservations doesn't mean that we do to. what is applicable to them need not be the best possible solution to our problems
2. What you are essentially doing is strengthening the discriminatory caste system; it will be further entrenched into our minds and one will presuppose that a person from the reservation background didn't deserve it: it'll reduce social acceptance
3. We are all equal under the rule of money - he who can make more money for the company, stays. In a globalised world, efficiency should not be compromised. There is, however, the necessity to include people from different backgrounds only because diversity promotes innovation.
4. There are Indian companies who don't believe in hereditary control of management. Infy is a prime example. Ranbaxy, under late Dr. Parminder Singh was another, though that has changed. The Mittals (Airtel) have stated that management control stays only with this generation; the next will not have management control until merit demands it.
Anyway, there's a difference between affirmative action, which is voluntary, and reservations, which are enforced.
If I may be so blunt - I don't mind being beaten by a better/more qualified candidate, but if some fucker is going to get my seat or my job because of reservations - I've every right to fight against it.
You may read John Osbourne's Look Back in Anger - it's about an educated man who is unable to get ahead in life in spite of qualification, because of the class system. The point is, he was given an education that was equal to that of others. That system has now evolved, and class is of little consideration in Britain. Why? Because the quality of education was good enough. The government, instead of stuffing politicans pockets, should be spending that money on teachers and infrastructure.
And it's interesting that you should quote Lyndon Johnson, of all people.
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