Reservations and Mandal II
Politicians across the board in India are endorsing 27% reservations for Other Backward Castes in Central educational institutions (IITs, AIIMS etc). This is apart from the 22% reserved for SC/ST already reserved. Once the state assembly elections are done (within another ten days, I think), this issue will be brought to the parliament, Constitution of India will be amended to allow this change.
(Lalu Yadav is "not opposed" to reserving 5-10% for "upper" castes)
In my opinion, the whole rationale for this is backward-looking. And, a number of students across IITs and AIIMS have joined in peaceful protests against this divisive strategy. But, all around, there is a sense of futility in light of the political consensus on the issue.
If you guys think of some way of participating in this process, please let others know. I think as alumni of the institutions that will be affected, we do understand the issues better and have a moral responsibility in the issue.
(Lalu Yadav is "not opposed" to reserving 5-10% for "upper" castes)
In my opinion, the whole rationale for this is backward-looking. And, a number of students across IITs and AIIMS have joined in peaceful protests against this divisive strategy. But, all around, there is a sense of futility in light of the political consensus on the issue.
If you guys think of some way of participating in this process, please let others know. I think as alumni of the institutions that will be affected, we do understand the issues better and have a moral responsibility in the issue.
posted by Anand at 10:30 AM
2 Comments:
I was looking into this too (not too deeply, i must confess) and have been trying to find out what we could do. There seems to be a petition (or two) that is floating around (i can dig that up) that one could sign opposing the motion -- but personaly i have no faith this. If i remember right it was written very poorly too and not in the right spirit.
In short, I dont know but i want to do something about it. It would be nice if we could draft up something that goes directly to parliament or something (wishful thinking ...)
What are the diros of iitms/aiims saying about this? They are knowledgeable and would know the pros and cons of this move, right? Do they have a say in it ?
Well, I think we should try and do something and I agree with 1D that the petitions are a bad idea (and they are very very badly written- I happened to read one of them). LP and I may get more first hand information in India. If you guys think of anything we can do while we're there, maybe you can let us know. I mean we're there on vacation but we can definitely look into the matter, right? What say LP?
Also, everybody- BYE! We're leaving in a couple of hours for Jersey. :0)
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