Egalitarianism..

I was in search of a textbook and was goosing around the library for about half an hour and at last i found a fresh copy of the stuff.."A thing of beauty is a joy forever",Keats,..i apologise for the flaws in recalling his words.. Still,beauty of the books is always my weakness..i love books that are neat and fresh,..less tampered.. So obviously i went to pick the book,..gosh!the cupboard was locked..I was confused,for thats not the usual practice in the library.. On enquiry,i understood that it was the book bank or in other words,the bunch of fresh,important and 'rarely available' ones,reserved for the reserved category or the so called people who needs a plethora of upliftment to get into the main stream!..And hence they are locked to keep 'em away from the vulturous seizure by the unreserved guys who dodged the occupancy of the mainstream..!I was naturally frustrated..rather petulant,.for that was not something which i could change.. I, like many others, am bound to adapt to the situation and be at the compromising end till i'm buried.. God knows if my burial  ground will also be subject to reservation!

In the present state of affairs,i loathe Mr.B.R.Ambedkar,coz but for him,there wouldn't have been a room for reservation in the Indian constitution..I should be a bit more sensible right?I apologise again.!

Well,1950=!2008..and everyone do know that.. India has striven hard to attain this global status of an upcoming world power..and it did cost a lot of painstaking efforts by the umpteen no: of valuable Indian Brains..1946-47 is the most unforgettable period in Indian History.. Firstly becoz,it was a period when we realised the long awaited poorna swaraj.. Secondly becoz,we witnessed the worst of all communal riots that the country has ever had,and which resulted in utter chaos,bedlam and obliteration everywhere.. Partition did solve the problems for a while and there was peace and tranquility.. and we were set to become a Republic.. 

To develop into a self reliant nation from the ruins of a 200year old foreign occupation was never a task to be belittled..The vast majority of the population was utterly illiterate..and caste system prevailed in every nook and corners of the society..Thus to educate and yank to the mainstream the people who were subjugated by the upper class who were then powerful financially as well as schooling,reservation was inevitable.. When the trampled lower castes were unaware of the importance of education,they had to be dragged forcibly by reserving a fixed no: of seats.. Past is past,and we have labored a long way to success..

We are about to celeberate our 58th anniversary of being a republic in less than 2 months,and what exactly have we achieved?Democracy is a system where people are all treated equally irrespective of caste creed sex and race..Secularism is a set up where people are all given equal regard and respect irrescpective of the faith they practice.. How long have we achieved these goals on which our very constitution is framed?

India developed a lot in the 58yrs..and so did the then under developed scheduled castes and tribes..None of us would ever forget our ex-President,Late Sri.K.R.Narayanan,who belongs to a scheduled caste..We find them in the zenith of every stream in our day to day life.. We see them in the form of doctors,engineers,bureaucrats,politicians,bankers,enterpreneurs,and what not..In these 58yrs,although there were a lot of amendments in the constitution,all that was done about the reservation was an aggravation but not an alleviation of the already profuse one.. We still come across discussions to increase the reservation level and introduce them in the paramount institutions like AIIMS,IIT,IIM,...It is true that there is still a section of the society that is left untouched in this development spree.. But we've crossed the stage where reservation would do any good to them.. There are a lot of tribal people in the suburbs of various states who are aware of neither their right to the reserved seats,nor the importance of being enlightened..The tribal communities in the north eastern provinces are still totally neglected.. All that reservation does is to transform these guys from being backward illiterates to backward literates.. Their morale and calibre(if at all they have) is hence totally destroyed.. Who would prefer to go to a doctor,to risk one's life, who's educated and employed out of reservation?

Reservation is no more a stuff to be introduced in higher education or employment strata,but as a means to provide access to better schooling and hence a strong foundation to literacy.. Entry to colleges must be strictly based on merit,compromising which would imply compromising the quality of indian education.. and if at all promotion of education among the SCs is intended,it has to be through providing financial aids to the poor but merited students.. Now you may ask how does a child of assam or mizoram get access to international schooling and compete with the affluent lot..That's not a snag solvable in a short term.. We need to enhance the education program,introduce new schools at the backward 'areas'.. We can't show our backs to one section of the society and abandon them in our journey.. When we develop,we've the moral responsibility to see that our fellow men develop too..We can never develop as a whole without checking every section of the society take part in it..

We had a time when the harijans were not even allowed to face a brahmin.. Then we had a time,when they were just not allowed into temples.. Then we had a time when they were not granted rights to own a property.. Again,change is the only thing that doesnt change and hence all these changed.. We have arrived at a stage when no one asks you what caste you belong to.. Life is moving at an ever fast pace now and anyone has hardly anytime or concern to stop to ask what was the occupation of one's ancestors..When society comes forward to accept a progressive change,it is the moral responsibility of the state to ensure that there is no more any sorts of discrimination(positive or negative) based on caste or creed.. Faith must be a personal affair and not a yardstick for political mileage..

Recently we witnessed a phenomenal event in the History of America,and that was nothing but the spectacular victory of Barrack Obama,who thereon becomes the first afro-american president of the US.. It depicted the changing perspective of the young generation of not just the US but the globe as a whole.. When a community which was once the slave of the white men,finds their sport fit enough to rule the world,why not we accept a similar change here as well and consider everyone as equals.. Afterall,the goal of complete secularism can be achieved only if there's equality without minority appeasement in a society..

Wishing desperately for a 'reservationless' nation..

Khuda Hafiz

~Gayathri~