No more reservations!

Indeed, this has been a personal, a mundane, small scale blog revolving around me and me only, so far. But i do live in a big bad world and i do have my very own humble opinions on a few things, however insignificant they might be. Of course, my opinions tend to be stronger in the issues i'm part of directly or indirectly, or those issues that have affected my life, for the better or for the worse. One such is this huge issue of RESERVATIONS, in education and employment, something which generates a big hue and cry everytime the elections or admissions are round the corner. Enough has been said and discussed about it, still, the issue is never settled.

So here, at reverberations, i wanna say a thing or two about reservations. I fully support the cause of differently-abled people or people from the lower economic strata. I completely endorse reservations in education and in employment for such people, only for such people. But the prevalent system of reservation based on caste and minority/majority is, for want of a better word, ridiculous. Nowhere else in the world, would people of the minority consider themselves to be more privileged than the majority, thanks to this funny system called reservation. The reverse is even more true. The people of the so-called forward class indeed repent their roots, just because it takes away a helluva lotsa opportunities from them. They see their dreams getting shattered through the narrowest of misses of the sky-high, himalayan cut-offs, all their hard work getting wasted in hundredth of a mark, while the so-called minority counterparts, happily walk into the coveted corridors of plum courses and colleges, with marks and merit way less than the original cut offs. What a pity! All this holds good, even if the minority person is better off economically,influentially, a son of a rich person(!)and drives to college in an Audi. And the forward class person is some poor kid of a middle class father who struggles to make ends meet. Okay at the next level, how far does that person who comes in via reservations really do well in that course? Wouldn't the seat have been better utilised by a person with more merit?
Why should so many dreams go futile because of vote bank politics and just because some politician just wants to get richer? Why can't we have reservations based only on economic status and not anything else like caste or minority? I just wanted to voice it out, open in public. Not that this outburst of mine is going to do any good to the system. Also, i do want to categorically state that this absolutely has no personal connotations, to whoever is reading it. I don't mean to take away any credit from the people who have gotten into colleges and jobs through reservation. I should also agree to the fact that sometimes the resources are indeed limited for a few students and reservation is necessary in such cases. But the problem has to be addressed at a different level, namely increasing the available resources or coaching for such people and not definitely by bringing down the standards of the renowned institutions. As Kamal Haasan once said, "Don't make mediocricity a standard". The best of institutions like IITs and IIMs should strive to be that - 'the best'. They can't go on diluting standards like this. A simple fact will clear the air: in Tamilnadu engineering admissions, the percentage of seats reserved is a whopping 69% . And the rest of the seats are not exclusively for the forward class alone. Its the open quota, wherein truly meritorious students of the other reserved classes also compete. Where are we heading to??
So the final word, let there be no reservations. Don't openly call a section of the people intellectually backward! And the people being called that way, don't consider it a previlige to be called backward! It's backward, after all, and they are saying you are, in some way, lesser! If at all reservations have to exist, let it be based only on economic basis, excluding the 'creamy layer' as the politicians love to call it!

And talking of matching frequencies, I found my thoughts to be very, very similar to (reverberate with!) this blogger's. But trust me, his clarity of thought, his use of language is better and this helps to discuss the issue better. Just fitting for an IITian who went in there by merit, i should say, nowhere comparable to me! But come on! the world is big and blogosphere even bigger! It has space for everyone, big or small, doesn't it?
Check out the link and do temme your take on the issue.
http://bawandinesh.name/reservations/