April 25, 2006

Letter from an OBC

Letter from an OBC
I was the topper of my batch and got through to medical college through all India entrance exam, till then I was known as a topper by my classmates but then came VP singh and mandal and since then I’m known as an OBC who also happens to be a topper.
I understand that every party wants to win election and hence would like to implement reservations everywhere possible so as to win election. Some want to implement reservation for muslims where as others want to reserve 50 % jobs in private sector. This has and will create great social disharmony which is detrimental to India. I have been on both sides of reservation debate and have some ideas which may be an answer to end the reservation game .

There are some fundamental flaws in reservations in it’s current form which if changed will /can lead to upliftment of real poor and simultaneously make the elite from reserved category think twice before they ask for more reservations-

1] There is no criteria for creamy layer for SC/ST hence
A]People like Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan fights from the same reserved constituency again and again and yet again but the really poor dalit cannot fight election from the same constituency as Mr. Paswan is fighting from the reserved category constituency.
B] A grandfather followed by a father followed by the son benefit from reservation but the real dalit remains dalit because as long as the elite dalits keep on hogging the reserved seats the poor will remain poor.
And what do these elite dalits do- ask for reservation in private so as to show the real dalits that they are doing something for them instead of asking for creamy layer in SC/STs. They teach the poor dalits that they’ve been denied rights but conveniently forget to tell that they have been shamelessly hogging the benefits meant for the real downtrodden.
2] A person can get reservation to get into engineering then again into MBA and then again into civil services so one person has benefited from reservation thrice when 2 other people could have benefited from these reservations making upliftment of 2 more families possible, but this greedy person(who is also a great proponent of reservation in it’s current form for obvious reasons, and strongly advocates reservation in private sector) denies them the opportunity hence actually oppressing them.
3] It should be a crime to fill in false creamy layer and if found out later the person’s degree/job should be cancelled.
4]Income tax returns of parents[both mother and father] should be essential along with a certificate of creamy layer.
5] Children of certain professionals should be made creamy layer without consideration of income as false certificates are quite easy to obtain [these professions could be IAS/IPS/Doctor/engineer/MLA/MP etc.]
6] There should be another commission to reclassify the castes-
In last 50 yrs. of independence Bihar itself has had an OBC chief minister for more than 15 years, so some castes are definitely not so oppressed any more.

I post these points in hope that some one somewhere will propagate these thoughts and hence one day the politicians will be forced to implement some of these ideas, if not all and hence begin the empowerment of real oppressed and end the demand of further reservations.Also there may be a day when the creamy layer OBCs/SC/STs themselves may ask to end reservation if they see that they are not getting benefit from reservations.

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