You can't take this seat... It's Reserved..

The game has been played for centuries now… Time has changed, players have changed, and even the rules have changed. However the objective of the game still remains the same.The name of the game, is – “The Power Game”.

It was the kings in the medieval periods, the Cardinals in the dark ages and the Colonizers in the Industrial era. The common denominator was, they were all hungry for power. The modern variant of this power hungry species is the nation’s politician. And it’s latest trick to remain in power – “Reservations in higher educations”, an effective implementations of the age old “Divide and conquer” strategy.

The very phrase “Reservations in higher education” creates in my mind the image of thousands of meritorious students across the country, treading laboriously along the path of knowledge to reach the Temple of Higher education. And when they reach there what do they find? Our politicians guarding the gates and asking them to show their caste certificates... Is this justified??
While these people are walking the hard walk, you see some people being pushed in push carts all the way from the beginning to the gates of the temple and let inside; just because of they have a caste certificate saying they were born in a backward caste. Is this justified??

I have nothing against any category or caste. In fact I choose to ignore the very concept of castes and categories as it is redundant in the globalized world where we are heading. My angst is against the policy and not on the people.

Let us examine the rationale behind the Reservations.

Proponents say, “Equality of opportunity” is one. Doesn’t it mean equality of opportunity to walk the path? Isn’t it already there? Who has stopped anyone in this country from trying to achieve what they want to achieve? Has our society in the past 50 odd years imposed any sort of condition that people from certain caste and category have no right to study certain disciplines? No.

The next reason they say, “Certain castes have been oppressed for centuries”. Right, ok. So let’s solve the problem by trying to eliminate the cause for oppression. What is the cause? It’s not that difficult to answer. The cause has been the act of categorizations and alienation of certain group of people based on their castes. So by imposing reservations, where are we solving the problem? We are in fact implementing the same policy, only the beneficiaries would have changed. In a few years, you may find these other castes claiming that they’ve been oppressed. It’s a vicious cycle.

One more reason given is “Majority our country is made up of people from backward castes.” So you want more reservation because of that?? Isn’t it a shameful admission that for the past 50 odd years, you’ve been asking the “minority” for support in order to uplift the “majority” and yet haven’t been able to make much improvement? And now, you are asking for more. Why? Does any of this make sense? The policy makers are already indebted to the people who despite getting no help from anyone, manage to make their ends meet by sheer hard work. Why do you want to snatch away the reward that’s deserved by this section of the society, and give it to someone else just because he was born in a particular caste?

The policy makers have presented a solution where in the number of seats will be increased so that the general merit students won’t be affected. But more seats means better infrastructure. Who’s going to bear the burden of that??

The most efficient solution, as suggested by many rational citizens over the past few days, would be to invest in primary and secondary education and improve the quality in this sector. Thus, make it possible for everyone to get affordable quality education. But our politicians are not interested in this. Because it’s a hard process and will take a long time. They have to show their progress report every 5 years, and if they go for this kind of a policy, their progress card would have an ‘F’ on it. So instead, they resort to short-cut methods to provide a lift service to the backward classes, instead of enabling them to climb the ladder of progress. However they forget that, once you provide a lift service, you always got to be there to ensure these people manage to keep pace with the others. Once their tenure is done, who is going to take care of that?

Friends, our lethargic attitude towards politics and policy makers is long overdue. Our job doesn’t end once we elect the representatives. We have to ensure that they “represent” what we stand for. Today it is the reservations in the higher education they are trying to impose; tomorrow it might be reservations in the private job sector. And the list will go on.

Hats off to the Medical students of the country for standing up against such an irrational policy. But we have to remember that they are not the only ones who are being affected. We all are and will be, one way or the other, because the quality is going to suffer.

Democracy might be a self correcting system, but it’ll take its own sweet time. No one knows how much that time would be. Hence the important question would be, are you willing to sacrifice that much time of your life because of such irrational policies? Think about it. It’s time to take a stand . It's time to act. Before it’s too late.

In democracy, all fools are equal.
Some are more equal than the others.
It’s because of such a more equal fool,
That a power hungry politician rule…

Say NO to any form of reservation.