I recently read a forward mail about the story of a Mumbai based boy and his travails in study life inspite of him being excellent in studies. What was most striking to me was the early part of the story which I would repeat in my own words along with some of my own inputs.
One of the most striking things which came to my mind was his talking about the unrelization during the early school life about any sort of caste discrimination. I was too startled and one thing which came to my mind was the truth about it. In our school probably we never realized that some people were in some way different, because we were totally unaware about any such difference. The only memory which I have of coming to know about some difference, not that it made any difference, was during filling one form in school, which had different colors for the different caste categories. Thats the only time in school we ever would know of such a difference. At that time it was a kind of silly fascination, like he got a red form and he got a green form and I got a white form etc.
I can proudly say that my class in school was such a big cosmopolitan class, but then also we were such a united class. There was absolutely no sort of discrimination or anything. We had people from so many castes and religions. We had Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Jain etc.. amongst us, but I dont think it ever came in our way of friendship.
When I went to college, 2 of my best friends, who still are my best friends from college (and hoping that they would be for life), were from some reservation class which I realized much much later. But I dont think it would ever come in our way of friendship. As they were my friends I somehow came to know that they fell into some class, other than that I hardly know who was in general class or reserved class or anything. Even in my post graduation, in the all of 3 years I dont know who was from reserved class amongst us because I have never seen any sort of discrimination.
What I want to stress is that, its not with me but its with everybody. Anyone hardly knows about such a discrimination amongst friends and colleagues. The thing is that someone belonging to some class cannot be inherently intelligent or otherwise. It all depends on the individual.Reservation upto one level is good and we have to bring up all levels of people, agreed, but not by giving them any pseudo support. Even if you push some "Undeserving" (sorry if it is a strong word) people in positions where they would be more lost then its not helping them, its more like hampering them. What I feel is the person who is capable would surely come up in life.According to me reservations in post gradute programs and professional courses is asking for too much. Because the person who is capable enough to go there and do well, would reach there anyhow and wouldnt need any kind of pseudo support of reservation to help him/her in doing better.
Reservation based on economic levels is such an essential concept which does not come into consideration ever. I have seen people struggle with studies due to economic limitations and lack of basic facilities. These are the people in real need of some help. Why not support them instead of supporting some person who is super rich but still calls himself/herself disadvantaged.
The economic based criteria also helps in reaching to the real needy. There would be some persons who could not come up due to some economic considerations although they may belong to some so called "Higher caste".
Another startling factor which I realized recently was that, more and more castes and communities are being still added in this ever growing list of so called "under priviledged category". Even if there is a need to add a new community then, those who are getting these benefits for the past almost 50 years should be removed as they would have come up by now or else they would not be fit enough to come up.
I am just hoping something better is in store for this great country of ours. I believe the people who are in support for this movement and are lending support are great people and I respect them a whole lot. Hope we may see the best in the near future.
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