Quota Sikka

"In Delhi, 94 medical students who were on a fast for 96 hours collapsed in the hunger strike. The media has been prohibited from covering this event, so he wanted me to forward it to as many people as possible."

"Subhash shrivastav (AIIMS Student ), has died b cos of hunger strike protesting against reservation & media is not covering it. Please pass to everyone you know. "

These are the SMSes that are doing the rounds from yesterday.

I believe that education and sports should be on the basis of merit, and merit alone. This lobbying, quotas...they have been used, misused and abused to such an extent that everything seems like a big farce. From the time I can remember, I can visualise my mom coaxing me to study well, for "we get only a meagre percentage of seats in good institutions, we are not eligible for any Quota. And we dont have that kind of money either. So if you don't study now, you CAN'T study later." I suppose it is the case with most of you guys of my generation, for whose parents, a program was a show on the television.

As a kid, I always wondered why anyone would need a quota, or any kind of reservation. Did it not make him start with a lacuna in his heart? Even if he did well, would he not feel the guilt that he did not run the whole race? And if he did not do well, did he not feel remorseful of denying a better person a chance to prove himself? My questions remain unanswered.

During my CET, I saw many of my friends who had a quota, but opted to take seats from the general category. They did not turn up on the dates scheduled for sports quota. Instead they came according to their ranks, on the day the general quota seat selection was on. Reason: They wanted to come up the stairs, and not make use of the lift.

And now this hullabaloo over the reservations in premier institutes of education. For "backward classes". Pray, someone please tell me who are these, and in what way they are backward. I can understand reservations for the physically handicapped, but branding a sizeable chunk of the nation's hale and hearty youth as 'backward', and giving them reservation teeters on the edge of absurdity.

If they are financially backward, by all means give them sops. Reduce their fees by 50%. In cases of exceptional performance, waive the whole fee amount, no issues. But why compromise on merit?

Reservation on basis of caste? Does birth determine performance? It only reeks of the rancid sectarian politics being played here. If you ask me, I would ask for removal of the caste field in every application there is, and have it introduced in the fee payment challan, so that the "backward classes" can avail financial benefit.

There was a protest march arranged in Pune yesterday, from University circle to Corporation circle. In case you missed it, you can sign an online petition here. And there is a blackout planned today from 2000 to 2015 hrs. All lights, TV, mobiles will be switched off, protesting Arjun Singh, and the Government of India, who failed to respond adequately to the youth of the nation, which is sitting hungry in the hot sun. A government which persists with its reservation policy, which has proved to be its "Quota Sikka".

PS: In the deepest of my heart, I wish this agitation will wake some sane mind in the government, and lead to abolition of quota, altogether making merit alone, the deciding factor.

Cross-posted in Pune Bloggers.