To allow caste to overwrite merit is shameful
The caste system is dead. Long live the caste system. V P Singh might be smiling now, but the curses of thousands, nay millions, of Indians denied access to higher education because of this goddamn quota system are on his head.
Add to that the curses of all parents whose sons and daughters are once again fighting on either side of the divide that he, in his quest for political capital, formalised.
It is he who strengthened a system which the Indian Constitution has pledged to eradicate. It is he who ensured that people continued to be discriminated against on the basis of their caste.
And now this government, again for the lowest of reasons -- electoral profit -- has seen fit to revive the centuries old tradition of divide and rule.
Obviously, our entire education system sucks. When it comes to jobs, students from English medium schools tend be given preference over those from the government run institutions. We see it all the time, particularly in the booming services sector.
But will forcibly reserving jobs for them help? No.
What it will ensure is that people who get in due to their caste are further discriminated against, and marked out by their own colleagues.
What we need to ensure is that the entire educational system is revised dramatically at the primary and secondary levels to ensure a certain merit-based quality and consistency.
What we need to ensure is that schools and colleges do not have separate teachers associations based on caste.
What we need to ensure is that students, regardless of their caste, are given the means to compete fairly for higher education. By all means, let the government subsidise higher education for students who have the merit, but not the money. Again, regardless of their caste.
But when it comes to higher education, let it be done purely on merit. And when it comes to jobs, instead of reservations, let us instead codify and enforce a legal system of redressal, where anyone who feels that he or she or it has been unfairly denied a job or admission because of his caste, gender, or race can take the issue to a court or a special commission with the power to censure or punish those found guilty of such acts.
Let us truly abolish the caste system by striking at its roots, instead of trying to perpetuate it through reservations.
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