As for the question of reservations the same people who are crying hoarse about the drop in "quality" and the waning of "merit" do not seem to pause to think that there have been "reservations" in India for thousands of years. All the positions of privilege - from educational, administrative, military, or (oohhh... ) priestly have been held by people claiming to be from "superior" castes - sanctified by the authority of religion and the religious heads, enforced by the force of kings and warriors. During all these centuries, the oppressed were not only subjected to wanton discriminatioon, atrocities, and alienation, but actively vilified as embodying all the wrong qualities, banished to separate dwellings, prevented from using common facilities etc..
Suddenly to claim that "upper castes" are suffering reverse discrimination due historical wrongs, is to totally ignore all the historical, and social, and economic deprivations the really "oppressed' have suffered. How many people do you think are writing on these forums who are from the dalit village outside your ancestral home?
