It's been in the news since
last few days that people from a particular cast are demanding reservation for
them. They want to transfer their status from General cast to OBC. In normal
cases people get happy when they are promoted, but it’s the opposite here.
People want to degrade. Actually this is how the concept of the reservation was
introduced to me when I was a kid. My cast was promoted to OBC from SC/ST back
then, and people were protesting that No, we are still not that developed and
we should remain in the category of SC/ST. I asked my father why they were
doing that, because we should feel proud and happy that we have worked hard and
now we can say that we are developed. Then I got the knowledge of reservation
system.
Now, the issue is very sensitive
and complex. These people are claiming that they want to have the status of
OBC, not because they are not developed, but they want to benefit from the reservation
system. For me, this is wrong. I have partially supported the system, it was
actually introduced to develop the nation, but with time it has been an obstacle
in the development. The problem with such movements is that they are not in the
direction of making the system correct or to improve the flaws, but they are in
the way that how they can benefit from the flaws of the system. In addition to
that if you want to have the OBC status, be ready to have the same social
status like the other casts have in that section. In India rather than
considering the cast backwards and that is in the sense that these group of
people should develop, they should develop in the matter of opportunities.
Rather than that we consider their beings backwards. Like they are not people
and they have committed a crime by being born in some house. You don’t have to
choice to select the house or cast in which you want to born. It’s the deeds of
someone that makes them who they are, not their cast or the house they belong.
People will need drastic change in their mentality to accept these facts, and I
don’t see it happening any time soon. What this system has done is that they have
increased the social status gap between these casts. First of all I don’t
believe in such cast system, but let’s leave that for some other day. In the
name of culture and history we are still stubborn on some previous customs and
rituals. Even in this era if you believe that someone is bad, because they are
from some cast, then you have failed as a human.
Rather than changing the system,
we want to benefit from it selfishly. No, reservation is not needed. If you
want to really help the population, judge them on talent and help them nurture
it. If a kid is talented enough to go to a good college and he doesn’t have the
money to fund the fees, you can help him there. But he shouldn’t have the extra
privilege that he can score low and still get ahead of the queue which has more
potential than him, just because he was born in some cast. That’s wrong at the
fundamental level. And if the government say that those special people don’t
have all the facilities compared to the other people, it’s government’s fault.
It is government’s duty to make sure that everyone in the country gets the same
amount of opportunities as everyone. You can’t get away with giving privileges to
some people in the name of development and reservation.
I agree that the system is wrong.
Yes, it needs to change. And if you want to make it perfect, you have to change
it, not to be part of that system. I hope one day both the major parties of
India will put the vote bank politics aside and join hands to develop the
country in real sense (I don’t see that happening for years to come though). On
a rational level this movement is based on a selfish motto, may be many are
deprived of the opportunities they deserve, but rather than making things
right, you just want to take benefit of the faulty system. Then my friend, you
are doing it wrong.