Reservation: mediocrity assured
Representative democracy comes with its own set of disadvantages and one of them being letting loose of the selected ones. And the most recent outcome of this derived con is the proposed dastardly reservation policy. It aims to set aside half of the seats in central govt. colleges for what is perceived as backward classes. The profound implications of this short sighted step would hamper India's growth in more than one manner.
First of all this move is completely uncalled for. If 60 years after independence we still need to reserve something for seemingly socially backward classes then there has been definitely a big flaw in Govt. policies till date. The govt. instead of making honest investment in human capital at elementary stage is taking the shorter and dangerous route. There has been enough time for the Govt. to draft its policies and implement the plans to suit the Indian social fabric. However the lopsided and futile efforts over the years have resulted in disproportionate growth. One of the positive outcomes was the creation of islands of excellence. But reservation policy now being introduced is all set to mitigate this glimmering hope.
The main beneficiaries of reservation are not the ones who need it but the ones who already have it. The ones selected by reservation are the wards of economically better off people who get the facilities at par with general candidates. The dividends have plateaued over years. So its continuance serves no purpose let alone reintroduction.
The impact could be felt in both short as well as long term. Immediate result would be the sharp decline in the quality of intake of the institutions. Deserving students who are the backbone of any educational institute would be left to look for other pastures as India doesn't have to offer much to its elite minds. The scenario of classes could well be imagined. Presently some 20% are non-participants but with this step this almost half of the class strength would be rendered, if I put it bluntly; useless. The plight of profs. cannot be ignored as most of them leave fat paying jobs to cherish teaching.
India's growth is taking big strides despite non performance of primary sector thanks to service sector that has thrived so well and contributed to excellent growth rate in spite of govt. being in place. It has been predicted by various agencies that this sector may face shortage of deserving applicants as there are not many colleges producing quality lot. Now with our prestigious institutions churning out mediocres or even worse one doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to infer the fiasco. The credibility and reputation of these institutes build so painstakingly over the years by their alumni cannot be allowed to squander away. This is one of the times when India need best of the people to meet high demanding service and manufacturing sector and govt. is hell bent to wither away opportunities. It can be concluded beyond doubt that this step would pull India at least 15 years behind which India can certainly not afford.
Various spineless theories have been proposed by govt. and supporters that defies any logic. In civilised society any sane person can easily point out the fallbacks. However to garner electoral gains Govt. is taking such a terribly wrong step. Our leadership doesn’t have enough guts to take corrective actions which are quite evident from unanimous support extended to it by legislature.
There are definitely ways out of this impasse. The one proposed by the Govt. is certainly not plausible. Increasing seats would magnify the strain of already over burdened resources of these institutes. Though reservation can never be justified yet alternatives could be proposed. The most obvious and reasonable solution is to implement policies of social emancipation at grassroots level by addressing problems related to vicious cycle of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. The Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyaan(SSA) is one good step to strengthen primary education. Then there were suggestions from political scientists to calculate backwardness index consisting of various parameters such as social class, economic condition, upbringing etc. however these steps should be taken only if there is an upper time limit on continuance of policies which if we take history in account is not possible.
There might be a flip side but I strongly believe that does not contribute much to the society.
Representative democracy comes with its own set of disadvantages and one of them being letting loose of the selected ones. And the most recent outcome of this derived con is the proposed dastardly reservation policy. It aims to set aside half of the seats in central govt. colleges for what is perceived as backward classes. The profound implications of this short sighted step would hamper India's growth in more than one manner.
First of all this move is completely uncalled for. If 60 years after independence we still need to reserve something for seemingly socially backward classes then there has been definitely a big flaw in Govt. policies till date. The govt. instead of making honest investment in human capital at elementary stage is taking the shorter and dangerous route. There has been enough time for the Govt. to draft its policies and implement the plans to suit the Indian social fabric. However the lopsided and futile efforts over the years have resulted in disproportionate growth. One of the positive outcomes was the creation of islands of excellence. But reservation policy now being introduced is all set to mitigate this glimmering hope.
The main beneficiaries of reservation are not the ones who need it but the ones who already have it. The ones selected by reservation are the wards of economically better off people who get the facilities at par with general candidates. The dividends have plateaued over years. So its continuance serves no purpose let alone reintroduction.
The impact could be felt in both short as well as long term. Immediate result would be the sharp decline in the quality of intake of the institutions. Deserving students who are the backbone of any educational institute would be left to look for other pastures as India doesn't have to offer much to its elite minds. The scenario of classes could well be imagined. Presently some 20% are non-participants but with this step this almost half of the class strength would be rendered, if I put it bluntly; useless. The plight of profs. cannot be ignored as most of them leave fat paying jobs to cherish teaching.
India's growth is taking big strides despite non performance of primary sector thanks to service sector that has thrived so well and contributed to excellent growth rate in spite of govt. being in place. It has been predicted by various agencies that this sector may face shortage of deserving applicants as there are not many colleges producing quality lot. Now with our prestigious institutions churning out mediocres or even worse one doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to infer the fiasco. The credibility and reputation of these institutes build so painstakingly over the years by their alumni cannot be allowed to squander away. This is one of the times when India need best of the people to meet high demanding service and manufacturing sector and govt. is hell bent to wither away opportunities. It can be concluded beyond doubt that this step would pull India at least 15 years behind which India can certainly not afford.
Various spineless theories have been proposed by govt. and supporters that defies any logic. In civilised society any sane person can easily point out the fallbacks. However to garner electoral gains Govt. is taking such a terribly wrong step. Our leadership doesn’t have enough guts to take corrective actions which are quite evident from unanimous support extended to it by legislature.
There are definitely ways out of this impasse. The one proposed by the Govt. is certainly not plausible. Increasing seats would magnify the strain of already over burdened resources of these institutes. Though reservation can never be justified yet alternatives could be proposed. The most obvious and reasonable solution is to implement policies of social emancipation at grassroots level by addressing problems related to vicious cycle of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. The Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyaan(SSA) is one good step to strengthen primary education. Then there were suggestions from political scientists to calculate backwardness index consisting of various parameters such as social class, economic condition, upbringing etc. however these steps should be taken only if there is an upper time limit on continuance of policies which if we take history in account is not possible.
There might be a flip side but I strongly believe that does not contribute much to the society.
posted by Mohit at
12:35 AM
2 Comments:
nice post Mohit!
Primary education is the base of everything, and thats where a student becomes genius and stupid! Almost everything including libraries, labs and scholarships can be easily disbursed through primary and secondary school institutions. Instead of properly channeling that, govt is simply distributing roti to poors as if they are affected from drought! This is sheer pathetic!
You know, even worse thing to see is our own OBC friends who are going to be benefitted from this move are not coming forward to deny such a beg. Yes, I would like to call that a beg, nothing less. Perhaps they should join our hands against reservation.
By
Shaurabh Bharti, at 11:08 AM
education at primary+secondary level is more than enough to develop the expertise in a student so that he can take himself further alone, and not sitting on a reservation or something.
Quite true that govt is just hiding their mistakes by doing all this, and by changing the focus of media to reservation issue.
By
Shaurabh Bharti, at 11:10 AM
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