Reservation, once again.

I'll begin by saying that I am writing this because i read this little made up story on http://reversation.blogspot.com. The story was good, but the analogy was sick.. What disturbed me more were the comments on that.

So, I am modifying my comment on that story and proceed to give my views about reservation.

Firstly, I agree with the fact that India will surely go to dogs if it keeps favouring merit over incompetency (or over the underprivileged which leads to them becoming incompetent). There is social discrimination in the society and we all know it. I also agree that the percentage of downtrodden people is much greater than those of middle class people. And I also believe that 'the bright and hardworking son of the middle class banker' from chandigarh could have done something good in his life even without a seat in IIT, but the poor, ambitious and no less hard-working dalit from rohtak would have been nothing but a small-time technician or baboo in some sarkari office had he not got into iit on his second attempt, thanks to reservation.

But this still doesn't justify reservation.

Because, this way of bringing things on the same level will be at the cost of merit. Merit, which will serve the country, in a much better and more impactful manner. So, reservation directly translates into a hamper in progress.

Reservation is a pessimistic action. It is not a just mode of social upliftment after 59 years of independence. The root cause, which is social discrimination and lack of oppurtunity at an early stage, must be worked upon. I know it is easier said than done.

So, it basically means that the government must fulfill its role in a better manner. By ensuring schools for all, in the remotest of villages, for the most 'backward' of classes. It must ensure good health, water, employement oppurtunities to make these communities less 'backward'. The Scheduled castes have been 'scheduled' because they were discriminated against. The government must function in a manner that this discrimination is completely removed.

All this should have been done in the last 50 years. By accepting the fact that there are still the downtrodden and the underprivileged, the government is accepting its failures as a responsible government till now. ( And I am not contesting that, there ARE the poor and the underprivileged, and the government COULD have done better).

Reservation is like the 'license raj', i.e., issue of licenses for everything, to protect state's interest. It is like the concept of subsidies( Ironically, WTO's motto is free trade, and India supports it. And we all know how hard India is lobbying so that the european countries remove subsidies on agri products.).

License raj suffocated india's growth for decades till liberalisation came in. Subsidies are a bane to the economic properity of many countries. Do you not see the essential pessimism in the very idea of reservation?? Its not protecting anybody's interest, but actually promoting more discrimination, corruption!!

There is nothing which can justify reservation, not in 2006. India is at a time where it needs more engineers( and better engineers) to support the strong infrastructure growth. It needs more doctors to ensure that all sections of the society are absorbed in the mainstream and get the benefit of the country's booming economy.

And it needs people with open minds, so that there is no discrimination, and thus no reservation.