Monday, July 07, 2008

Reservation and common man

Yes, I know this is what you are thinking - has reservation become my pet topic? Though I can write on other issues but something happened that instigated me to write about this topic once again.

There is a small shop near my house which is run by Mr. X, who is a gujjar from rajasthan by caste. He knows that I am a native of Rajasthan and for some unknown reason, thinks that I have some connection with media.

I went to his shop some 3 weeks after Rajasthan govt. granted additional 5% reservation to Gujjars. He welcomed me with a smirk and quipped, "aap media wale chahe kitna hungama kiye, lekin hum logon ko bhi paanch taka (5%) mil hi gaya".

I know this guy has moved with his full family, lock, stock and barrel to mumbai and may be does not go to Rajasthan even once a year. This reservation is hardly going to bring an iota of change in his life but his happiness knew no bounds.

Since this common man is the one who decides the government, it is no surprise that all the political parties have queued up to pander to unreasonable and unsustainable demands of these so-called backward castes.

God save the talent of this nation !!!

4 comments:

Narayanan B said...

A legislator's primary motive is to ensure he stays in power. This is basic human nature and little can be done about it.

Hence he/she would have to pander to demands which will affect his/her electoral performance. So we're really not getting anywhere with this :)

Unknown said...

A short term sacrifice is needed for long term success...we need to move and change old ways to get anywhere. Someone needs to take a firm step and say NO when needed.

Muralidhar said...

No offence meant but you sound like an intolerant monster. You should be happy and thankful to the Lord for all that he has blessed you with, and not crib endlessly. If you are claiming to be a voice of the 10 odd candidates who are denied admission because of reservation preemption, you would do better by telling them to carry on with their lives.. because they would feel no worse than what you would feel when you're denied admission to MIT because an African-American candidate with lesser credentials preempted your 'opportunity'.. I would be delighted if you told me that you helped your 'SC/ST' friend in his acads, or motivated him to do well, but instead you seem eager to prove a point that your friend was not 'meritorious' because he came through reservation. Are you trying to allure us into believing that if you did away with reservation, you would create an entirely objective world without any biases? Wake up my dear friend. I say that because you are one in a million Indians who can inspire a bunch of us. There are problems everywhere around us.. use your power to heal the situation/people around you, and that would create a better society, not inspiring factionalism or cribbing/ranting.

Unknown said...

@Murali: I am not cribbing and I have elped a few friends and batchmates of mine, who came from reserved as well as unreserved classes but the aim of the post was not self praise.

I am trying to voice for an equitable environment to the extent possible, I am asking for a better dissemination of reservation - giving it to a poor intelligent upper caste devoid of best means for education instead of a rich SC/ST dumbo who would waste the resources.

I am not against reservation, I am against the current form of reservation.

I believe in teaching a person to walk rather than gifting him a set of crutches.