The agitation in Gujarat brings the thorny issue of having a reservation policy back to square one (“Get rid of quota or make all its slave, says leader of Patel group”, Aug.28). A question that baffles is this: if reservations in employment, education, elections have not resulted in the upliftment of the backward communities for such a long time, what else will work? Instead, are we promoting inefficiency and mediocrity at the expense of merit? I feel that reservations and corruption are why we have bad governance in India. Our leaders should instead focus more on the development of human resources.
Ramakrishna Thakur,Chirala, Andhra Pradesh
It is sad that the land of Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi is now acting irrationally and making an absurd demand — for reservation; and it is strange that it involves a prosperous business community. Facilitating reservations goes against the welfare of the country. Reservations remind people that they are weak and cannot come up in life without support.
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Most of us prefer to tread the path of least resistance. Reservations for the backward classes were introduced for the genuine upliftment of the economically very weak and deprived classes of society, decades ago. India has made remarkable progress since then and reservations have degenerated into a political tool by which crafty politicians serve their own selfish interests and nurture vote banks. Reservations have only reinforced the caste discrimination and divide.
It is significant that this has happened in Gujarat. The Patels’ demands and protests clearly pertain to the political economy aimed at gaining a greater share of the economic and political pie. This agitation appears to be a demand in group interest. Therein lies the danger of the perpetration of another caste war in our caste-politics-ridden country. Casteism along with poverty and secularism is the most exploited expression in India. Isn’t it time that we take a serious relook at job reservations?
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C.V. Venugopalan,Palakkad