Reservations

In what is broadly seen as Mandal II, this is about the Indian Govt trying to implement providing reservations in the Private Sector for "Backward Classes" as per their UPA CMP (Common Minimum Program). Of course, the debate has taken new life with Azim Premji, Wipro's Chairman, commenting on it that he would firmly oppose the PM (Govt's) efforts in this regard.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1499633.cms

There has been a lot of debate about this within India and I was surprised that a lot of Indian students here at UW - Madison have strong views in this regard. A common comparison seems to be with the educational system here in the U.S. Of course, that is not a good benchmark since there is almost as much debate as to how "Affirmative Action" should work in US universities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4773425.stm

The immediate comparison being drawn is to the prevalence of Captitation fees/seats in Private colleges in India and the supposed prevalence of "reservations" for NRIs at IITs and the IIMs - Supposed prevalence because this doesn't seem to be true in the first place. --

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/programmes/pgpapply_eligibility.htm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2003/stories/20030214007506500.htm

An interesting observation by one person:

:::
Just to illustrate how poticians have a double standard in this issue, let's see what one ofthe most vocal pro-reservation politicians, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said about 33% reservation for women about an year ago. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1317532,0008.htm
"Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav onTuesday said his party was not in favour of giving 33per cent reservation to women in legislatures as this would have to be done at the cost of "rights of men".Yadav said his objection to the bill seeking reservation for women was based on the fact that such a quota would amount to the total number of seats reserved in Parliament rising to as much as 57 percent.
:::

The reponse for such divisive debates seem to be NDTV talk shows, editorial and op-ed pieces in news papers burgeoning or collapsing into anything from total apathy to bandhs, hartals and hunger strikes.The debate seems to be very predictable from the perspective of who is expected to be on what side of things, except this:

http://www.iitfoundation.org/msgboard/showmsg.php?&id=2999&sortby=thread&

It is unfortunate that politicians are trying to fix what is agreed widely to be a non-uniform representation of the various classes by wanting to pull down the merit bar rather than trying to improve lives, schools and educational institutions so that more people can clear the existing merit bar and in fact raising the bar in doing so.

This too is probably predictable and repetetive in some sense.

What I find interesting is the parallels with the thought process in the U.S. There seems to be very little thought in the minds of policy-makers regarding how policies will affect the next generation. Far-sightedness seems to be especially scarce and in many cases frowned upon when it comes to the qualifications and actions of people I expect to have that quality as their primary qualification.