‘Reserve’ for those
who ‘Deserve’!
One with x number of marks gets into a good college, and one
with x+ doesn't! To any logical mind, this is injustice! Why does our education
system not understand this? A piece of an article written by a student today arose
the many suppressed but rebellious feelings that I too faced sometime back,
just like many unfortunate others. For those who fall on either side, it may
not make a difference. But for a student who dreams to pursue an MBBS doesn't get through a college
and his/her counterpart does that with even lesser marks, it isn't a pleasant
feeling, friends! Reservations! For those underprivileged- agreed! But for how
long, now the sides are getting reversed. It isn't great to be born in the ‘open’
category, or if your family annual earnings come into the ‘creamy layer’ (applicable
for some castes), it just means you need to work harder than your ‘reserved
category’ counterparts to seek a seat in an educational institute. It’s a
mockery when you hear someone saying, ‘I will get through, as I have the caste
certificate’!- especially when we talk that religion, caste, creed and sex should
in no way influence rights of an individual, as per our ‘secular’ constitution.
Even Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted the practice to be in effect only for 10
years. When you want to abide by the laws of the constitution, why not fully?
Are reservations a foolproof solution for the betterment of
the underprivileged- the poor? Today, anyone from the upper castes can be poor and
those from ‘so called’ categorized lower castes can be richer. Then how do you
allot seats? A poor meritorious student may not be able to take up Engineering
or any course, considered by society to be ‘opulent’, just because he doesn't
fall into one of those categories. How fair is it to waive off lakhs to a
student coming from a rich background, just because he/she was born with a ‘reserved
caste’ tag. And with jobs it’s another horizon! It’s not just giving
opportunities or a seat, it is a question of the career prospects, dreams,
aspirations and the most formative and decisive years of an individual!
A solution could be to just provide scholarships or excuse
fees for meritorious, deserving students. Then our country will have managers,
doctors and officers who actually deserve to be there. When ‘equality’ is a
trending word today, isn't it time to re-consider the basics where the future
of the country takes its shape?
