The topic has died down now a bit, eh ?

Again, it’s a lot about generalizing at wrong place ( see Interpretation is everything ) . Hey govt, what you do is in general apply some relaxations to reserved categories candidates, in almost all places where you are directly involved. How do you know that all of them have intelligence below average ( speaking of  lowering qualification / pass  marks in exams, interviews etc. ), or all of them have less income, or, say at large, all of them are less privileged ? Especially, when our country has crossed 60 yrs of independence ? And that also overlooking the constitution, which says to continue with the policy for 50 yrs after it ( the constitution ) comes to effect. So it should have been done away with in 2000 ! then why not ? Okay, the condition of the reserved category people was BAD then, but is it so still ? If not, then why the policy ? And if yes, then what did YOU do in the last 50 yrs ??

And those who are benefiting, they are ashamed to concede their ‘reserved’ status, yet battle to earn the privileges. Even the well-to-do part among them not leaving out their own chances for ethical reasons. Gujjars are now fighting to be ST from SC! Huh.

The govt is not only not abolishing this practice, it is now encouraging it, even, I believe, pressurizing at some places to implement it. No prizes for guessing why. Actually that very reason prompted me for this post. I am is ISI, the only institute in the country outside the HRD or education ministry that can award its own independent degrees. Its entrance tests are one of the country’s toughest, and no fluke can get you through. Until last yr, our ‘reservation policy’ was only limited to paying travel expense of coming to the institute after selection in any course. It was well nigh okay, in an institute of such national importance. But suddenly, this yr it has stopped being an outlier, halving prospectus prices and bold-facing ‘due consideration will be given to SC/ST candidates’ in every ad. Even the institute website now displays an elaborate ‘reservation policy’! Shame. Why such change? Can’t at all eliminate chance that any pressure was not given.

Okay, excellence is the last word here. Even if someone un-deserving gets in, he CAN’T survive in ISI. I have that belief.

 

Actually, I am not against reservation. But that must be case-specific, person-specific, circumstance-specific, … not general. That’s the actual ‘the-govt-cares-for-you’ gesture. Policies must be flexible, if they are implemented for some good of the country.