Burning Meritocracy - Can India Afford Quotas In Private Sectors?

Earlier this week, the Backward Classes Commission proposed to implement up to 27 percent reservation in the private sector. Some caste obsessed politicians rushed to support this proposal. In the name of social justice, these netas are, in fact, encouraging social injustice. It has been old gimmickry of them to divide the society along the caste lines in order to play vote banks politics. And, those who are born Dalit or within SCs/STs community are supporting or eager to support this proposal to get a job without much difficulty and that would be a privilege for them.

Undoubtedly, India's social structure has been highly stratified. And there might be a need for reservation for people belonging to backward castes during the making of the Indian constitution. But in today's India, there are laws which safeguard their interests.

During the formulation of the reservation policy, there were not many private companies. So, the policymakers had given reservation to backward castes in public sector employment. But, the present scenario is completely different. The economy of today's India is mainly driven by the taxes generated by goods and services of private companies. Most of the government companies run on subsidy. In other words, it is the private companies that are funding government companies. Also, there is a huge difference in attitude between private and public sector employees toward their job. One works hard from day to night while another cannot satisfy their greed for corruption. No need to categorically mention who is what. It is all because employment of private companies is focused on the "merit". The caste system has never been taken into account while hiring employees in private sectors.

If such absurd proposal is somehow approved, it will ignite a revolution in the whole country. It will also have a strong backlash against SCs/STs. Today, the admission procedure for students in many Indian Universities seems to be grossly unfair. It takes a lot to prepare for mere admission into top Indian institutes like IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, NLUs, etc. The students from general category who missed the opportunity to study in these institutes often feel cheated as they find themselves more qualified than SCs/STs. Giving reservation creates hatred against the Dalit community. The younger generation doesn't know about the atrocities the people from backward castes had to face earlier because of which reservation became a constitutional phenomenon.

Indians no longer prefer to be recognized by their castes, not even in rural India. But, if quotas in private sector get its approval, it will encourage further division within our society. Some argue that caste system is in the blood of India and we cannot get rid of it. But, I think, it cannot last longer–unless this practice is benefiting some groups. Until someone gets special treatment by deprivation of someone else's right, the battle will never end. And, I don't think we'll ever have an equal and just society if this practice is continued.

Comments

The Brand Amma - Social Work or Self Promotion

J Jayalalithaa, the actress turned Chief minister of Tamil Nadu was given the nickname " Amma " by her followers comparing to or assuming her Amma (Mother). But, she developed this nickname to be the biggest brand in Tamil Nadu, the “Amma brand”. Despite having no market value of this brand, it has a very significant value for the people of Tamil Nadu, especially the poor and the have-nots. For them, she is the goddess who is not only filling their hungry stomach but also providing them almost all basic items necessary for living a decent life (including some luxurious items too). After becoming CM, the major work Jayalalithaa's government has done is providing subsidy and freebies to the people. For instance, subsidized cheap food at canteen, packaged water, pharmacy bill, cement, free rice, free mixer grinder, spectacles, mobiles, laptops, bicycles, etc. all under brand "Amma" and at the price no other shopkeepers, manufacturers or the e-commerce compan

The Magical Castle - Sank Of SATAN-3O1

According to the weather forecast experts, it was an ideal weather for commencing a journey. Therefore, the ship SATAN-3O1 commenced its journey to Guyana. It was containing a large number of gold coins which was to be transported via sea route. During the start of this journey, everything was normal. However, somewhere in the mid sea, the weather became extreme. Suddenly, there were high tides, an unstopping rain and a violent storm. The captain and his co-workers fought the storm bravely but couldn't control the ship, and at last, the ship along with all the gold coins sank as the result of extreme weather. And, all the humans in the SATAN-3O1 became dinner of killer Sharks. The Magical Castle In the sea, the sank SATAN-3O1 has now a major attraction for the sea creatures. It has fallen into Octo uncle's territory. Octo was a wise octopus. He decided to build a castle, with the help of crab and sea ants, around it to protect them against theft. The ugly Octo has now beco

Protecting Daughters from Gender Discrimination and Dowry System

What is dowry? Casually, some of us find this as a traditional custom of bribing the groom and their family by bride's parents to get rid of their daughter. Or some of us may consider this as buying of groom by bride's parents through a bidding process. We as a part of Indian society are infamous for dowry and its related offences. When a daughter is born, most of the Indian families don't find that joy a son could have given them. Some of them get depressed after finding out the gender of newborn baby. Having a daughter is a burden to them, mostly, because of the social phenomena like dowry. We make noise and protest against corruption. But we never go through its roots and make substantive changes to uproot it. What is the reason for the corrupt officials to take such risks? The dowry is not the "only" but a good and considerable reason to hoard money through corrupt practices. No media has more reach to our society than Bollywood movies. In the plethora of

India Learning To Live With Air Pollution

After Diwali came the inevitable cloud of smog in Delhi. The fact that smog is going to arrive any moment was known to every single person living in Delhi, just the intensity of this smog was a bit surprising. And why not? The toxicity of air was 14-16 times more than the safe limit. The PM 2.5 level skyrocketed making people vulnerable to various respiratory problems. Usually when the smog checks in, a translucent greyish layer of air cover the city. But this winter, this layer was quite thick, almost opaque. As this year's smog came right after Diwali, a number of people directly blamed Diwali's crackers for it. On the other hand, some remain critical of the farmers of Punjab and Haryana who burned their paddy releasing poisonous gases in the air that reached Delhi through the wind. While both burning crackers or crops fairly invite criticism not because they polluted the air but because these actions could have been avoided or minimized. Diwali is celebrated everywhe

JNU - A Vision of Modern Democratic India

Through the ongoing controversy what we need to understand is that ours is a young nation still in the making which has all the ingredients to become truly a great nation, but it needs time. Give this nation that time, that gestation period and it will show the world the true meaning of greatness, one which is home to a complete spectrum of diverse culture but still thrives together with immeasurable amount of tolerance which has never been experienced anywhere else (this holds for the common citizens of India but unfortunately not for the practitioners of divisive vote-bank politics which they don’t find anti-national). Every powerful nation that exists today has gone through some sort of civil war which led to enormous violence and bloodshed. We too have our share of challenges; be it the Kashmir issue, Nagaland or Naxalism; but we have the opportunity to show the world that we can do it in a better way without any bloodshed. It is that unity in diversity that is the soul of

Many Shades Of Board Exams

After an exhilarating Holi, comes the boring and haunting board exam, the exam for which no amount of preparation gives an impression of sufficiency. Students across the nation get excited as well as depressed. They are ‘excitingly depressed’. Excited to give the final exam of their school life, to enter into a new world, and depressed thinking what society would say if their marks won't be that good. Sharma Ji’s meritorious child is making things worse. While the level of questions asked in the exams has become easy these days, the quality of students being produced is decreasing, WhatsApp, Social Media and expansion of internet are to blame. The internet and smartphones may help students in their higher studies, but it misfires in case of younger kids. It only serves as a distraction, the biggest of modern times. Earlier, when kids go out to play some sports, it was treated as a distraction from studies. But now, it has been understood clearly that it wasn't seeing the

The Story Of Ramesh And Suresh - Part 2

Both Ramesh and Suresh decided to go to a postpaid sweets & snacks shop which is running well so that they can eat and escape from there without paying for it. Part 1: The Story of Ramesh and Suresh [ Suresh still looking nervous but Ramesh is very confident ] "Are you sure, we won't get caught?" asked Suresh "Oh! Absolutely not, you just relax" said Ramesh locking his bicycle. [ Both entered the shop ] "Look at the facial expression of that man, if we get caught he will beat our bum till it becomes red-hot," said Suresh in a faint voice. "He is the staff, not the owner...It seems that last night his wife had beaten him too much" Ramesh jeered at him. "Give us four samosas in two different plates...and don't forget the chutney " Ramesh said to that staff. The staff gave him a weird look but then gave him his order. * Both Ramesh and Suresh decided to eat that outside the shop, not too far, the shopkeepe

The Sunshine Within You

Search This Blog