[Reader-list] plight of the muslim women and appeasement

Rakesh Iyer rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com
Wed May 20 10:30:53 IST 2009


Dear Malik jee

If you wish to say that benefits like reservation must be based on economic
criteria, to quite a substantial extent (leaving aside SC and ST), I would
agree, as it is not going to help if only the affluent among the upper
castes, the backward castes or the Muslims or other minorities are getting
admissions and posts based on reservations. It's the poor and the
downtrodden among these communities which require reservation.

However, when we do provide such reservation, then we have to ensure that
these people have the capacity to get absorbed through such reservations,
otherwise it's going to be of no use. For example, if the poor can't avail
of education even upto 10th std, then what is the use of providing them
reservation in IIT's and IIM's ? Therefore, it's time we debate upon the
idea of reservation to bring about benefits to different communities. The
same argument also extends for SC's and ST's.

At the same time, one must not forget that one of the benefits of
introducing reservation was to increase national unity, and whether one
likes it or not, this is something which can't be debated. If there would
have been no reservation for SC's and ST's too, these would also have felt
useless and would have joined themselves to causes which indulge in violence
(at least a part have done so through Naxalism), and I feel the Naxalite
problem may have been greater, along with violence due to caste
discrimination and casteism.

I have no problems with reservation as a move, it's just that I accept your
point that reservation for any caste or religion or community must be
debated, and the previous effects of reservation must be studied while
undertaking any new reservations to ensure that these actually turn
effective. And if that means reservation for poor across all castes and
communities has to be provided, so be it.

Regards

Rakesh


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