Wednesday, December 26, 2007
ARE WE REALLY INDEPENDENT?
I was thinking about myself as to who am I? When I self internalized I found that like every individual I am a person who loves independence. But when I actually looked outside I found that this independence is no where. The one question that came to my mind was even after 50 years of independence are we really Independent? When I was born that time I was under the guidance of parents and was totally dependent on them. They influenced me as to what I am today. When I grew up and went to school I was bounded by the rules and regulations. This was same even for the college. At every point of time I remember the quote “Man is born free but lives in chains”. That time people used to say all this would be helpful in me becoming a good person and once I become an adult I will be free and can live my life independently. On my 18th birthday I was very excited that now I will be independent and will make a new world of my own. I will be independent and can take my decisions independently. Was this really possible? Soon my dreams were dashed to the ground. I found the society was very conservative. In reality it was not at all independent. Whenever I wanted to do anything the fear as to how the society will perceive it came to my mind. Every action or decision was bounded by the perception of the society. It was surrounded by corruption and corrupt politicians. Bribery was the order of the day. People were killing each other for no reason. The crime rates had increased and people were no longer feeling safe. People were ready to sell their families for money. Where ever I looked I only saw blood and more blood. Though people used to say that the Country is free from slavery but still it existed in different forms. Out of which the problem of child labor was very severe. Children were abused and were forced to beg. The society was also facing the problem of unemployment. People were dying out of hunger as they were not able to earn themselves 2 meals per day. Women were not treated properly, they were not considered at par with men. A society cannot accept a working woman. The reason for all this was lack of proper education. The bribery was still in existence for which many lives were also lost. We all knew that dowry is bad but still people accepted and gave it. We call ourselves independent and educated, then why can’t we break this conservatism. Everyone was leaving 2 lives because of which they think something else but did the opposite. Seeing all this I asked myself a question was this independence that I was looking for? Was this the independence for which the freedom fighters gave their lives? Even after 50 years of independent are we really independent?
Reservation
This is very old article that i had written...but still posting on my blog
On 5th April 2006, the HRD minister Mr. ArjunS Singh, announced in the media, that the government proposes to implement 27% reservation for OBCs in educational institutions under Central Government including IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other Central Universities like University of Delhi. Earlier there was 15% reservation for the SCs and 7.5% for the STs. As soon as it was aanounced it caused a nation wide stir.
India is emerging as a serious player in the knowledge economy. The main cause of concern is that if the reservation system is implemented then it will affect the quality of education. The meritorious students will also be deprived of seats they deserve. Competency is not related to any caste or community, it is also not related with whether a person is rich or poor. In the present scenario when we see that there is a shortage of faculties in most of the institutes either due to the pay package or the lack of good faculties, so if the students are increased then the faculties also have to be increased which is a difficult job. In this scenario how can the government take such a step? The higher education system in India is now being recognized in the whole world which is clearly evident from the increasing number of foreign placements in the IIM’s and other b-schools. Taking such a drastic step may seriously affect the quality of education.
There is neither enough number of seats in the educational institutes nor the job sector then how can the government take such a drastic step against the meritorious students? How can it become so selfish? Is the government taking such a step for the development of the backward class or this is a step to increase it’s vote bank?
If the government wants to educate the backward classes then the work has to be done at the grass root level because if the base is not strong then they will not be able to cope up with the studies of higher level. Today also we see that among the students who dropout of IIMs, IITs most of them are those who got admitted in the reserved seats. It’s just because they are not able handle the pressure. How can we expect a person who didn’t have proper primary education to do well at this level?
Well if there is reservation in education then why we need the same in the job sector? If the candidates who are admitted to the educational institutes are competent enough then they should get a job on the basis of their performance and not under any reservation. A company’s objective is to earn profit and this is made possible by the employees. If the employees don’t work or are not competent enough then the objective of the company is affected. In a representation to the Government, the President of Assocham, Mahendra K. Sanghi, said, “Job reservation in industrial units of private sector should not be done by the Government. This will have a far reaching impact on the industry as it may completely destroy meritocracy in the industrial units of private sector and bring inefficiency”. Moreover why should the Government direct any private company about which person to recruit and which not to? This will seriously affect the growth of the Indian economy which is in the development stage. This is not a right decision at the right time. Moreover imagine the situations of the candidates who have slogged day in and day out to get a good job, and finally not getting the desired job just because the seats have been reserved.
This quota has been implemented from this year. Various institutes have increased the intake of the students. But the intake has been increased without any improvement in the infrastructure or the faculties. Infrastructure is also one of the constraints for implementation of the quota. The IIMs have increased the seats but are still facing the problem of quality faculties. Will this quota be successful under the constraint of infrastructure or lack of faculties, only time will say.
The process of empowering the backward class should start from primary level and not the higher levels. We must attack this problem at its grass root level. In bigger cities, with adequate education facilities, untouchability has been abandoned long back. It is very clear that education is the only way of uprooting this obnoxious practice. This is because, although reservation ensures that depressed class is represented in the parliament, it doesn’t remove the psychological blocks in the minds of the society as a whole. Therefore, good primary education facilities in remote villages, is the answer to this problem. The government should also focus on the infrastructure to make it strong to support the increased intake of students. Other focus area of the government should be to increase the number of quality faculties by increasing the pay package.
On 5th April 2006, the HRD minister Mr. ArjunS Singh, announced in the media, that the government proposes to implement 27% reservation for OBCs in educational institutions under Central Government including IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other Central Universities like University of Delhi. Earlier there was 15% reservation for the SCs and 7.5% for the STs. As soon as it was aanounced it caused a nation wide stir.
India is emerging as a serious player in the knowledge economy. The main cause of concern is that if the reservation system is implemented then it will affect the quality of education. The meritorious students will also be deprived of seats they deserve. Competency is not related to any caste or community, it is also not related with whether a person is rich or poor. In the present scenario when we see that there is a shortage of faculties in most of the institutes either due to the pay package or the lack of good faculties, so if the students are increased then the faculties also have to be increased which is a difficult job. In this scenario how can the government take such a step? The higher education system in India is now being recognized in the whole world which is clearly evident from the increasing number of foreign placements in the IIM’s and other b-schools. Taking such a drastic step may seriously affect the quality of education.
There is neither enough number of seats in the educational institutes nor the job sector then how can the government take such a drastic step against the meritorious students? How can it become so selfish? Is the government taking such a step for the development of the backward class or this is a step to increase it’s vote bank?
If the government wants to educate the backward classes then the work has to be done at the grass root level because if the base is not strong then they will not be able to cope up with the studies of higher level. Today also we see that among the students who dropout of IIMs, IITs most of them are those who got admitted in the reserved seats. It’s just because they are not able handle the pressure. How can we expect a person who didn’t have proper primary education to do well at this level?
Well if there is reservation in education then why we need the same in the job sector? If the candidates who are admitted to the educational institutes are competent enough then they should get a job on the basis of their performance and not under any reservation. A company’s objective is to earn profit and this is made possible by the employees. If the employees don’t work or are not competent enough then the objective of the company is affected. In a representation to the Government, the President of Assocham, Mahendra K. Sanghi, said, “Job reservation in industrial units of private sector should not be done by the Government. This will have a far reaching impact on the industry as it may completely destroy meritocracy in the industrial units of private sector and bring inefficiency”. Moreover why should the Government direct any private company about which person to recruit and which not to? This will seriously affect the growth of the Indian economy which is in the development stage. This is not a right decision at the right time. Moreover imagine the situations of the candidates who have slogged day in and day out to get a good job, and finally not getting the desired job just because the seats have been reserved.
This quota has been implemented from this year. Various institutes have increased the intake of the students. But the intake has been increased without any improvement in the infrastructure or the faculties. Infrastructure is also one of the constraints for implementation of the quota. The IIMs have increased the seats but are still facing the problem of quality faculties. Will this quota be successful under the constraint of infrastructure or lack of faculties, only time will say.
The process of empowering the backward class should start from primary level and not the higher levels. We must attack this problem at its grass root level. In bigger cities, with adequate education facilities, untouchability has been abandoned long back. It is very clear that education is the only way of uprooting this obnoxious practice. This is because, although reservation ensures that depressed class is represented in the parliament, it doesn’t remove the psychological blocks in the minds of the society as a whole. Therefore, good primary education facilities in remote villages, is the answer to this problem. The government should also focus on the infrastructure to make it strong to support the increased intake of students. Other focus area of the government should be to increase the number of quality faculties by increasing the pay package.
Opening Statement
So finally I could not resisit myself from entering the world of bloging....I dont know how far i will be able to absorb myself in this world.....Though i am not a good writer still I would give this a try
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