Posts on India
May 15, 2006
Rambling to avoid math... reservation and quotas in India
Quietly at first, but now fast reaching nation-wide proportions, a massive movement is taking shape against what could well be India's worst blunder since 1990, when VP Singh decided to implement the recommendations of the BP Mandal Commission on Backward Classes.
The Mandal Commission as it is (not so) fondly referred to, was instituted in 1978 by the Moraji Desai government to look into the issue of the caste discrimination of ``backward classes''. Completed in 1980, BP Mandal submitted his recommendation that what would later become the infamous reservation rule -- 27 percent of all government (and public sector) jobs and all admission decisions in institutions of higher education would be made to people from Other Backward Classes (OBC). This percentage was over and above the existing 22.5 percent reservation for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities.
VP Singh, the first rate buffoon who introduced this policy in 1990, was promptly forced to resign in the madness that ensued (including the famous self-immolation of Rajiv Goswami, a student at Delhi University). An equally idiotic decision of the Supreme Court upheld the reservation rule, though some semblance of cogency prevailed in the judgement, requiring "Socially Advanced" people to be excluded from such reservation -- i.e. an attempt at exclusion on economic grounds. A wiser court tried in 2005 to abolish all caste reservation, only to have the parliament amend the constitution to reverse the court's verdict. To add insult, the numbnuts decided to extend such reservation into private educaitonal institutions that recieved no governement funding.
The Human Resources Development minister Arjun Singh, already in trouble with his interventionist attitude to the management practices of the Indian Institutes of Management, decided that the 27 percent rule should be applied to the IIMs, institutes of technology (IITs), and medical schools, leaving only 50 percent of admissions for everyone else in the ``general category''.
This week saw large protests by doctors and medical students, one of which was quashed by Bombay policemen in what appears to be a blatant violation of basic constitutional and human rights. This has caused a chain reaction of protests across the country, all thankfully peaceful for the time being.
Here's a question: Would you want to undergo Open Heart surgery from someone you knew did not go to medical school because they deserved to be there on their merit? Would you want your civic administration managed by someone who got in undeservedly? Quotas just aren't the solution to the social problems that we face as a country.
It's not just community quotas: ``Management quota'' seats, which are reserved admissions for students who can pay a much higher unsubsidised tuition just make life even more swell for a middle class nerd who just happened to be born on the wrong family tree. The rich get a red carpet, the poor don't if they belong to the wrong community, while the poor that do probably still languish because someone else paid the civic registrar to fudge their community certificate and change their status to ``backward''.
I remember from my days in school, there were people in my class who just didn't make the effort to study as hard as the rest of the class did. Some of them openly admitted that they faced a lower admission cutoff grade under reservation criteria, so why should they? Their utility (like any rational agent's) was strictly decreasing in hours of study. I have friends from undergrad who were admitted under reservation and drove Mercedes Benz S Class cars into the car park, breezing into class wearing Armani sunglasses. I also had friends who didn't make it to my school because the ``general category'' cutoff for admissions to their degree was something absurd like a 99% average.
Quotas aren't a guarantee of a degree, they're only a guarantee to be admitted. While I don't remember exact numbers now, the first pass rates between quota and general exam takers in Loyola was starkly different. Something like 50% of quota students ended up failing their exam on the first sit, against 10-12% of non-quota students. I also remember reading that the percentage of vacant seats increased with levels of education -- while almost all quotas are filled at the primary school level, this tapers down to around 16-18% at the graduate level; there are seats going vacant.
I'm not against social upliftment at all, but it cannot be at the cost of merit. Quotas in their current avatar are wrong. They are inefficient and maligning: they cause rampant corruption, they (ironically) create huge social divides that will be irreparable for generations (where have we seen that before... hint: castes), and they force an unhealthy brain drain.
Okay, I'm done venting. I just felt like a break from all the math... it's nice to think about other things sometimes!
Posted by vinayak at 5:10 PM
| Comments (4)
| Permalink
Technorati tags:
July 1, 2005
high on life
I've always wondered what it must feel like to write a post when you're down two tequillas and a beer. It feels quite interesting! I cannot believe I'm done with my course! I'm finally back in India, catching up with old friends that I haven't had a proper conversation with in over six years at pubs that make London look boring! I know I've been away for just one year, but it feels so much different. For starters, I finally got to go see Zara, the Tapas bar that opened up almost two years ago above one of my all time favourite restaurants, Copper Chimney. It was a really awesome time... except I wish they had put the retro DJ on a few hours earlier (there were some boring women trying to sing in Spanish to supplement the kickass Tapas). The usual extremely drunk, almost gay guy dancing around the joint like it was nuclear holocaust day... the bartender trying to hit on every woman, acquaintences I vaguely remember from my undergrad days... it was a really fun night.
I only wish I had photos!
What is everyone else upto? Leave me a comment with an update! Chris, Kerry, Govind, Kevin, Nikki, Janak, Ohood, Monica, Jacqueline, Florian, Em Ess, Masa, Sam, Benny, Ian, Adora, Domo... give me the dope!
Excuse me... I'm just high.
Posted by vinayak at 8:10 PM
| Comments (6)
| Permalink
Technorati tags: ,
June 24, 2005
Chennai chillin!
I'm back on the home beat! Life is looking up for sure! It feels great to be back in Madras... not much has changed since I left a year ago. The only crib I've had all week is that its crap expensive to eat out, and it never used to be that way. I wrote a quick Truck and Barter post on this, so I won't really be all econ about it.
I'm definitely missing the gang back in London, who must be having a whale of a time now that everyone is done with their exams. Don't wear yourselves out guys... save some fun for me!
The flight in was great - they forgot my meal preference and starved me for about 20 hours. To compensate though, a really really cute airhostess kept talking to me to make sure I was still alive. Err... for a short, mildly rotund balding 22 year old like me, thats pretty much the best that you'd ever hope for.
More later!
Posted by vinayak at 2:18 PM
| Comments (2)
| Permalink
Technorati tags: ,
June 17, 2005
Freeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I repeat:
I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Wohooooo! I'm done! I'm done! India, here I come!
I will be away in India for the next three weeks... though I'm sure I'll keep writing.
But... the important piece of information to take from this mostly useless piece of writing is:
I'm FREEEEEEEEE!
Posted by vinayak at 8:20 PM
| Comments (2)
| Permalink
Technorati tags: ,
Subscribe to updates on this category
Recent Photos
