Prof. Pradeep's ideas are relevant and logical. I have some more suggestions or comments. We should also pay attention to change the paradigm that governs the Indian education system itself. The merit that we are all talking about is just an assessment of a student's ability to memorize. The best are those who can vomit exactly what has been fed. Yet, there are some others who perform badly, but succeed to get admissions in professional colleges as their parents have money. These people are also equally bad! Why none of us react to this? Then teachers also should free their minds of casteism while assessing the students. The so called under-privileged do not have the chance to go for private tuitions. So this fact should be taken into consideration when they judge or compare these students with those who are privileged. Their poor performance in exams does not mean that they are intellectually poor. Has there been any attempt from their side or from the teachers' side to nourish their intellects? Just compare the present generations of those who could benefit from reservation 30 years before with the children of the privileged. Aren't they good enough?
dear sir when the seats resrved for dalits hardly get filled up in iits,iims,aiims etc where is the question of the creamy layer eating into the seats for the poorest dalits. the reserved communities are never against reservation for the poor among forward castes but it is only the upper caste jati panchayat{called as supreme court-it will try all under its power and even which is not under it too ,to maintain the supremacy of the upper castes}which has put a artificial ceiling of 50%.the state of tamilnadu where u r currently serving has 69% reservation and just go and have alook at the us embassy where u will find thousands of dalits going abroad for jobs/post graduation etc.there is no rservation for them in usa.the number of dalits,obcs who work in usa/uk/mnc\"s in india etc from tamilnadu and kerala will be far more than all the dalits/obcs from all other states put together.the number of intercaste marriages between dalits-upper castes,dalits obcs,obcs upper castes will be 1000 times more than what is happening in the ?progressive(no resrvation}bimaru and northjern states.an easy solution is \"LET ALL UPPER CASTE PEOPLE DECIDE TO MARRY PEOPLE BELONGING TO DALITS,OBCS ETC.IN 2
dear sir ur article and solutions were interesting.firstly name me one seat,post which is not reserved in this country on the basis of nationality,domicile etc.u joined iit because it was reserved only for people born in india. if it was by merit than it would have been dominated by jews and scots and would have produced several noble laurates and not the current mediocre lot.the insurgency/naxal movement in india can be solved only by representation to all in all walks.in india if there r 100 doctors/judges/engrs/ias officers etc 50 should be women and more than 70% must be from the dalits and obc"s.kindly design a model without reservation to acheive this purpose.reservation is not a poverty eradication scheme.women need resrvation not because they r poor.the name of mayawathi brings hope/smile in the face of a dalit in deep south.he will always prefer her inspite of her properties in crores to a poor brahmin/bania.the cry against creamy layer should come from within like the the madigas demanding in andhra and compartmentalisation of most backward within backward in tamil nadu and karnataka.when the seats resrved for dalits hardly get filled up in iits,iims,aiims etc where is
Although, the altruistic aims are commendable, I think the ideas are somewhat idealistic. The author aims to separate education from other social, political and economic spheres of life. I don\'t see how we can get beyond the first point, and provide free and compulsory education to children, when we know there are families are living in absolute poverty. Poor send their children to work not for anything else but merely to exist in this world. I don't see how education can be isolated without addressing these issues.
A very thought provoking analysis.If doing away with reservation will help remove the caste system of the Hindu society,it is a most welcome suggestion. After 25 years as projected in the article, we should make it punishable under law if any one uses any caste indicating suffixes to one's name. Even in US, the second generation Mallus have started having separate Onam celebrations under NSS and SNDP banners, two caste based organisations. No, prof Pradeep,it is worse than what Swami Vivekanada's perception of mad society. Indian society will be divided, reservation or no reservation.Either it is majority-minority divide or uppercaste-lower caste divide and there will be always political parties who will nurture such divides as it means votes and vote banks for them. Now with terrorists invading all walks of Indian society, it is important that the Hindu Indian society forget the caste divides and stand united to fight the common enemy namely the terrorists LeT/AlQuaida etc. Or there will not be any India/Indian/Hindu left to fight over reservation. And we don't have 25 years to solve these problems.They have already arrived in our living rooms,laughing at our stupidity
Professor Pradeep's idea is largely tweaking the existing system of reservations, whereas the article on Suniti tries to look the problem afresh, from a new perspective. We may have to go through many intermediate alternatives to go to something that is more secular (in the sense of being universal).
As a nation on the brink of being a leader in the area of knowledge power we must behave and act like one. Education has to be taken out of the clutches of decadent systems... The babu is supposed to spend time planning how to deliver these to his masters (the public, not politicians) rather than the day to day adminisitration of schools. They should build schools, pay the salaries and inspect them, but let the institutions be run independently.
Government needs to govern more than anything... The idea is in the right direction, I believe, that we can do more than just that...
Prof. Pradeep deserves congratulations for speaking up. Its only when the intelligentsia speaks up, that we can force the politicians and policy makers (who are they? do they read such stuff published in various media?) to see different options to solve a social maladies affecting our country.
I do agree with the suggestions made in the article. Here are some more points to the list.
1. Once a generation avails of reservations to get a job, their successors should not be provided such a facility for job. But the education facilities could continue. And, promotions must be on merit only.
2. In politics too, we should ensure that no person becomes an MP / MLA / Zilla Parishat / Panchayat member or chief for more than two terms at the max. Also their immediate family members should not be allowed to contest the next election on reservation quota.
3. There should be a rotation of the reserved constituency so that people from different places get to contest. Otherwise, we see the same face for 6-8 terms with hardly any development reaching their constituency. Thus, we can hope to see some developmental or some equitable distribution of wealth.
