THE CLERGIES AND monarchies which changed with time and space survived longer, while the adamancy and perpetual exploitative tendency in some of them doomed them. The monarchy in Britain survived because it gradually acceded to the aspirations of the masses. On the contrary, the emperor in France was beheaded. The czar of Russia met the same fate. After the independence of India the most of states and the center were ruled by the upper castes, but soon the majority reacted against them, and it resulted in a change in the character of governance in India: the most of the states are now ruled by the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The agitation to oppose reservations for the OBCs may lead to the same situation in education as has happened in politics.

Blaming reservations for the dilution of efficiency and merit has no force. In fact, it is entirely selfish not to share the fruits of development and state resources with the deprived. The grounds of opposition of the protesting students are merit and economic criterion. So far, more than 80 per cent of seats in medical, engineering and management courses are available on merit, then why have these students not distinguished themselves in a single ‘invention’, ‘research’ or ‘technology’. There is no reservation in sports, yet the country of a population of one hundred crore has not secured a single gold medal in Olympics!

It is noteworthy that doctors employed in rural areas hardly serve there and prefer to stay in cities. Isn’t it degrading the profession? Nursing homes charge high fee and do not spare even the poor. As for engineering students, they first use IITs, where the government of India spends an average of two lakhs rupees per student per year, then they condemn the facilities available in India and take up jobs in the Silicon Valley for earning in dollars. The argument of merit in this case, then, is only a pretext.

The doctors revealed their mindset when they protested with brooms in their hands, as if carrying brooms is a Dalit’s job. Thus, they showed no respect for physical labour. The lack of dignity of labour has failed India in every field. We cite the examples of Europe and the USA for work culture, discipline, technology, financing management, etc. but avoid social obligations borne by industries and educational institutions in those societies. In fact, affirmative action is needed more in India than in the USA, because caste is worse than apartheid. There are 75 chief executive officers from among the people of colour in the USA. On the contrary, there is no Dalit CEO in India.

The scene in educational institutes there also has some encouraging examples. Harvard University is considered to be the Mecca of learning. It has the affirmative action in medicine faculty in favour of the people of colour, women and the people of Asian ethnicities up to 50 per cent, yet it enjoys the highest standards of knowledge sharing and has given the maximum number of Nobel laureates to the world. The white population is satisfied with the remaining seats there. This is the sprit needed in India as well, which unfortunately is missing.