Reservations - The BIG ISSUE
The Fact Sheet:
"A new policy, if implemented, will take the overall reservation in central government-funded higher education institutions to 49.5% from the current 22.5% for SC and ST students.
The government's move follows the passage of the 104th amendment to the constitution which enables the Centre to hike up to 27% reservation, and states according to their needs. The Centre has already directed state governments to increase reservation for backward categories at state-level institutions.
Mr. Arjun Singh had already written to states to frame laws in the light of the 104th Constitution Amendment, passed in the winter session of the Parliament, which gives them the right to take steps that would ensure advancement of socially and educationally-backward classes, SCs and STs in private educational institutions as well."
Economic Times: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1480802.cms
Premier Institutes that come under the new proposed Act.
All IIM's
All IIT's
JNU
Delhi Univ
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
PGI (Chandigarh)
Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (Pondicherry)
Christian Medical College (Vellore)
National Institute of Fashion Technology
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (Delhi)
National Law School (Bangalore)
All Institutes of Hotel Management
Any place worth its salt will be a victim of this new act.
Some background: 104th Amendment to the Constitution
An Act providing reservations for the socially and educationally backward classes, besides the Scheduled Classes and Scheduled Tribes, in all private aided and unaided educational institutions.
The amendment was the government's attempt to offset the effect of the recent Supreme Court judgment that categorically said that in an unaided (which runs without government funding) educational institution -- whether run by non-minorities or minorities -- the government cannot implement its policy of reservation
One of the few smart decisions by the Supreme court and the government had to make some unnecessary changes!!!
What I really feel:
India is a country with its own peculiar set of problems. We have people from different income groups and different sections of society wanting to be part of a better education system. Some of us have spent thousands of rupees on private tuitions in order to get into premier institutes while at the same time, some people find it difficult to buy just the basic books needed to study for these exams.
I'm not against any sort of protection or incentive being given to people who need support, but just like anything else in the world every incentive should be merit based or have a limited time frame.
Other options that could have been explored:
- Providing a concession to students from SC/ST/OBC - example - if for a normal student the cut off is 90% then the cutoff can be relaxed (just during the admission phase) by a 10% margin (thereby making the new cutoff 81%) for students who need this support. If even after this the seats cannot be filled up then the general category students should be allowed to fill up these seats.
- No incentive should be given to students from SC/ST/ OBC whose parents combined income is above 5 lakhs (the figure has just been used as an example). The concessions and incentives should be for people who really need this support and not for students who's parents have already become doctors, lawyers, etc.
- providing more need based scholarships for students from the SC/ST/OBC category, especially for students from lower income groups.
- Gradually reducing the level of reservation over a ten/fifteen year time frame. It's ridiculous to just give a concession for an unlimited period of time. With this we are actually moving backward and not forward.
- If this is a problem prevalent only in "certain states" where a greater incentive is needed why not establish some minority institutes.
The law of the land should be the same. No particular community should be better off while others are worse off.
The government would have been better off focusing on two other aspects of education
- Primary education: providing the right kind of infrastructure at the grass-root level. Government should assist in providing more teachers and increasing the salary for these teachers if they want to really make a change. This would go a long way in building a better tomorrow for everyone.
- Vocational Education: a large number of vocational training institutes should be setup to give people the right kind of skills, necessary for getting jobs in this country.
However, the government does not seem to focus on this large issue but works on the vote bank and prefers to take the easy path of increasing reservations. No wonder this announcement was made only a few days before the state elections. The EC should be taking the Congress government to task.
Implications of this New Bill:
There would definitely be a huge void created. The quality of students would be hit. There would be tremendous pressure on each student trying to get into any government funded university at an undergraduate or post graduate level. People with 80-85% marks would be denied admission for no fault theirs.
People would prefer to leave the country and study abroad. Out of the foreign students joining university in US and UK, more than 10% are Indians. At this rate this number will only go up in the future. Why are we sending our best to the rest of the world?
Other concerns:
- Why would people want to create more distinctions in our society? Aren't we already plagued by enough on the religious front that we need people to be split up based on castes? We are all Indians and all we really need is an equal opportunity.
- Universities like DU also have an ECA and Sports quota of nearly 5%. If we take this quota into account, then the seat for the general category students is reduced to just about 45%.
- Would you take your own child, mother or father to a doctor who has barely managed to pass a basic exam or has become a doctor even though there were thousands of people more qualified than him? There is a cost attached to this implication resulting from a greater demand on limited better resources.
- Don't know how many people already know this but there is already a law which provides for a concession to be given to SC/ST/OBCs during their promotions in government services. Thus our current law not only lets them get a concession to enter, but also gives them life long benefits and allows them to get promoted before others even if they are not as qualified as the other people. Isn't this a case of undue enrichment of one section of society?
Imagine a scenario where you are better at everything than another person. The other person has got the same job because he got through a quota. Now, based on the existing law (which completely took me by surprise when I started doing research on this!!!) the other person who is actually BAD at his work will get promoted over you, just because he is a SC/ST or an OBC. What kind of incentive system is this which provides for a lifetime benefit without asking for people to even work hard for the benefits?
Article 16(4) empowers the State to make any provision for the reservation in appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State
Article 16(4A) Nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State
Article 335 The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State.
The question is how many such provisions do we really need? In India, SC/ST and OBCs are not excluded from offices and positions in the government. The Indian Constitution provides for ample reservation for them in educational institutions and in public employment. There is no country in the world which has such extensive and positive affirmative action provisions as India. SC/ST and OBCs have been appointed as judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court. The President of India, the highest post under the Constitution, was graced by a dalit. Ministers in the central and state cabinets have been and are from SC/ST and OBCs. Why are these facts not highlighted?
Our options today as citizens:
- Stand up against this injustice. Let them not ruin the country for the sake of a few votes. Ensure that all of us discuss this issue at every given forum. Discuss this on every news channel, every radio station and every newspaper. Lets all campaign against increase in reservations. We all need to work towards making people understand that we are not against any concession but against the way it will be implemented. A law must be sensitive to the needs of all concerned and not unduly favour a few segments of society. Forward this and other such messages to everyone we know.
- File a petition against this Bill of it ever becomes an ACT. Ensure they understand that we strongly oppose this. I believe under the given Indian Laws we cannot do anything till it becomes an ACT.
Hoping for your support
Yash Sehgal
IIM Kozhikode
Citizen of India