RESERVATION A HURDLE IN THE PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY

Reservation what is there in this 11 letter word that has rocked the nation ever since its outset? What is it that’s fueling the generally harmless students to come out on roads and face the atrocities of water cannons and tear gas? Where is the future of our great country heading? Such questions can only be answered if we abstain from biased opinions and rise above emotions to come to a logical and well thought out conclusion.

Quota system was introduced in order to uplift the oppressed societies of Pre-Independence India, the idea was to bring those who have been suffering for years at par with the society, a noble thought indeed.

But the underlying problem of this country is that though we plan well the executioners of those plans, our politicians, seldom follow it and what is left is a good plan gone wrong. Reservations have become a political agenda for parties to contest elections and the real motive is trampled underfoot.

Giving seats without merit promotes hatred amongst those who are more capable and it further increases the gap between societies, moreover, by admitting less competent people in educational institutes we are leading the country in a wrong direction. An incompetent doctor with a scalpel is no less than a butcher with a knife. India is growing fast and is being recognized world over for its talent and brain, continuing the existing quota system shall lead to an increase in brain drain and the world shall benefit from those who could have stayed on and made India a better place to live.

Another question that comes to mind is that why is the quota system not applied to every walk of life? why isn’t quota applied to the defense services? why isn’t quota applicable in private sectors? or better still, why not allocate quota to the Indian cricket team? The answer is once again not very intricate, govt understands that these positions are performance based and altering with them might seriously affect the outcome. But, what it doesn’t understand is that in a haste of increasing reservations it is pushing the future of the country in a grave situation. Killing merit and promoting quotas is defying the point which led to the proposal of inducing reservations, that was social equality.

Instead of blindly increasing the quota, the govt should try to bring the oppressed academically at par with the society by promoting and providing good quality education right from the starting. This way backward class people and merit based selection could go hand in hand without comprising with the quality. It is the youth of today that go on to become the future of the nation and if the gravity of the whole situation is not understood and acted upon with an immediate effect that day is not far when we might be living in a socially divided India, very unlike of what our forefathers dreamed of for an independent India.

-Faisal Abidi