Reservation!!!

It is in vogue to reserve seats in hotels airways and railways, but there one does not see caste and class. But clearly, to reserve seats in Institutions of Excellence is wholly unacceptable and overwhelmingly outrageous. ‘Reservations’ has today become a clichéd word, often abused, somewhat misunderstood and overtly hated.

The argument in favour of reservation is that the ‘backwards’ have been exploited by the ‘forwards’. Then there is the argument of ‘backwards’ having ‘suffered’ at the hands of the ‘uppers’.

To my mind, if a majority of us prides in being backward, rest assured India will not move forward. Even as we understand from one Mr. Thomas Friedman that “The World is Flat” and that India is a major entity in this flat world, reservations will make India fall flat on its face, let alone stand with grace, if ever they are implemented.

Let us all face this fact: Yes, there were exploitations. Yes, there have been discriminations. Yes, there have been unfair judgements. BUT THEY WERE ABBERRATIONS. They came from the wrong people, at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons.

I fail to understand as to what is the significance of these so-called last 5000 years of exploitation, when the last so many generations were not even born? And most of these stories of exploitation have been passing through the generations. True, there have been discriminations, but it was once. And today is a new day with an even more unforgiving world.
History is often distorted. And one of the victims of such distortions has been the contentious issue of reservations. If we are to retrospect over the years gone by, it is better to look back as to why did we allow foreign powers to rule and molest India for centuries together? Why did we allow ourselves to be put in a position where we would not be masters of our own destinies? I submit that we in India unfortunately do not seem to be a united lot. We are not Indian per se. We happen to be Punjabis and Parsees first. Malyalees and Muslims even. But not Indians.
The point I am trying to make is, if exploitation amongst castes is what is being highlighted in the justification for reservations, then I believe, the exploitation that India was subjected to under the garb of colonialism is far worse. It is necessary to work as a united force. Politics of and for the vote banks, appeasements to these ‘oppressed’ classes by way of reservations would only kill their initiative to work.

Those politicians who have the audacity to turn unity in diversity into nuclear fission must also note that there are dalits who have made it big by refusing the seats reserved for them and instead competing from the open merit-based process of admissions. This is sadly not highlighted.

Reserving seats on financial ground can be acceptable. What can be really done about the issue of caste-based reservations is that these SC/ST and OBC people need to be trained in some vocations so that they are self-employed.

Even if these reservations are implemented, imagine the plight of these people in the society at large and workplaces too, where they WILL be looked at with deformed vision. It will then be US vs THEM. There would be no WE.

And when this happens, it will be the end of unity and a new beginning of class war. And when then, it will be the beginning to an end. A beginning where hostility will be the order of the day. Where India will not be a Republic, but a loosely held confederation of states.

The one way is to stop letting the heart to rule, and the brain to take over. The other way is to expect miracles. But, miracles do not just happen.

To conclude,
RESERVATION IS A PEST;
MERIT IS BEST;
AND NEVER THE TWAIN MUST MEET
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ASPP