Hema Malini's large stocks of glycerine and Amitabh Bachchan's Tears Plus make us hate the guy for saying it. But come on, let's face it. We all think the same. At best, we pay a grudging acknowledgment to our parents, but any family occurring before their generation is considered as dispensable and fungible as a modern art splotchy painting. Takes up the wall, but frankly, who can tell the difference from one to the other?
But for a moment let us imagine. Let us consider what did not happen, what we are not.
My forefathers were traders. Not untouchables. They weren't forced to work in the most menial of jobs - so they could save money. They weren't stopped from owning land - so they were able to establish a shop. They weren't beaten to death for their prosperity or censured for sending their child to school - so their whole family was educated. They were qualified enough to migrate to the city and land good jobs - so I went to the school that I did and got tutors when that wasn't enough.
But what if I was living in the outskirts of a village or an urban slum? Scrounging for water from wells far away or lugging it in buckets from tankers. Staying in an educationally infertile house. Attending school for the attraction of a free mid-day meal which I would get to eat only far away from other students. No coaching classes for extra help I needed, no ready electricity to study at night. Would I be in the same position? What are the chances?*
Because of my social situation, automatically, the dice is loaded in my favor.
You don’t take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains, bring him to the starting line in a race and say ‘ you are free to compete with all others’, and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.”
That's a quote by an ex-US President, regarding affirmative action for blacks after their well-known ruthless opression as slaves under White rule, which starts an exceptional story in Outlook - Bite the Caste Bullet. Do read it.
Unfortunately, any talk of Dalits and SC/STs starts and ends up on reservation, a topic that has created more debate than solutions. Honestly, I don't think issue as as black and white as either side heatedly suggests.
The writers of our constitution did not envisage reservations to last sixty years when they wrote the constitution
... But they did not envisage untouchability to continue lasting sixty years after the constitution came into effect either.
Reservations are not the most efficient way of removing the disparity - instead, we must enforce anti-casteism laws strictly and widely, provide quality education free of cost to those who cannot afford it, and thus level the playing field
... But none of the other more efficient methods to remove disparity are being implemented, so why shut down the one thing - reservations - that is addressing the problem?
Reservations create an uneven competition. It is unfair that someone's lower caste - an acident of birth - should give him an advantage
... What about the other things that give an unfair advantage? How come there are no protests against sports quotas and management quotas in schools and colleges? What about seats that are given against donations - that's no different than having a quota for the rich. There are quotas even for children of widows and refugees. Why are all the protests centered only around caste-based reservation?
But reservations spoil the quality of the workforce, they bring down the standard of students and employees, because the bar of entry for reserved candidates is lower
... By that logic, all private schools should have a low standard of students. Their high fees means that a prospective student's IQ/grades are considered only after his ability to pay has been considered. And all convent schools and colleges should be second grade institutions because they give a preference to Christianity first, not ability. (An exact corollary to low-income/low-caste reservation)
If we are going to be anti-reservations, maybe we should think more about how to remove their need.
Notes:
* Not all Dalits stay like that. But a majority do. According to Navsarjan, Dalits make up 16.2% of the total Indian population. Close to half of them live under the Poverty Line, and even more (62%) are illiterate. Less than 10% can afford safe drinking water, electricity and toilets.
