Can we render the Reservation Policy ‘useless’

The myth of Merit?

Many years ago, I used to find myself at a loss whenever I tried to dig a meaning out of the statement often offered by a certain set of people that 'merit' is a 'myth'. Those days this statement used to agitate me, as I always wanted to enjoy a sense of superiority that I logically associated with the marks that I used to score in the examinations. That my hard earned marks could worth less than its arithmetic value, usually drove me mad. When I would see that those who scored less than me; did not work as hard as me and were never as serious in studies as I used to be; are being preferred even after getting lesser marks, it used to push me into being engaged in extreme thoughts. I could never notice a reason worth any attention and was never able to appreciate any argument that wanted me to accept that whatever I scored in an examination was not because of the hard work only that I had painstakingly put in but the environment where I was born also had its contribution in it. I was convinced that these arguments were being manufactured by those who wanted a short cut to success and I used to feel as being cheated, being denied my due and always felt devastated at the feeling of being left out because of this ‘injustice’.

The reason in the arguments

To me, the only criteria that one could probably make some weird sense for justifying valuing a low score higher than its numeric worth was the factor attributing to 'the different financial background of the candidates'. This belief also stemmed from all the arguments that often people offer in support of the caste-based reservation system. All the arguments used to assume that the candidates associated with lower castes were necessarily of lower financial status too, despite several examples that existed before us in its contradiction. It was only when I encountered a pro-reservationist's remark that the 'policy of reservation' is not a 'poverty alleviation program' that made me analyze the issue from other aspects. By that time probably the maturity I had earned through my experiences made me ask myself what actually did that 'foolish' looking statement mean? I must admit that being brought up in a family influenced by RSS ideology I could never imbibe any attitude of hate towards others on the basis of caste. On some occasions, despite having knowledge about the caste of others I was unable to discriminate against them since I was taught to respect our elders and to extend love to youngsters irrespective of their origin. I feel it took some time for me to understand the thought behind the policy of reservation only because of my RSS influence that made me refuse to make use of anyone's origin to build up an impression about him/her. It is true that I believe that it was only the reservation policy that served the purpose for me to develop a 'caste vision' in my thoughts in order to understand the perspective behind the implementation of the reservation policy. In this limited sense the policy did attempt to serve the opposite of what it claims to aim for.

Worth of the Merit-lists

However now I am convinced that merit is indeed a semi-myth and it has a very weak correlation with someone’s performance in a career. With time and experience I have now witnessed that if given an opportunity many of us posses the ability to rise to an occasion. I have been teaching undergraduate students for more than two decades and I have noticed even those of my students making ultimately big in their life who were not as bright if they were measured only through their marks earned by them in their exams. I have seen an IAS who was 50 places below in the final 'merit list' doing a better job; an MBBS who was ranked 200 below finally excelling more; a teacher initially shaky becoming more popular teacher than those who showed initial confidence. Reason behind these facts is that the person possessed adequate urge to excel in the career. In view of the above it is clear that denial of opportunity to someone in our country has to do more with the lack of availability of the opportunities rather than the merit reflected by the marks scored in the examination conducted to select some among many of the interested candidates. The method adopted by us to select required number of candidates only reflects our collective helplessness in finding a process better than following a mechanically way of rejecting candidates using a merit list that is often prepared after an examination. These examinations are often conducted to judge a mixture of the memorizing power and understanding capabilities of the applying candidates. This process of examining candidates (excluding interaction with candidates) is generally completed in our country without revealing their identity. This is just to insulate the assessment from any possible influences and prejudices. It is only for this reason that when some candidates figuring lower in the merit list are preferred on the basis of their caste-identity, others rightly feel as cheated. Having said this however, to conclude that those who got the opportunity because of their caste can never prove themselves as better than those who were placed higher in the merit list will be yet another and a bigger blunder. It is so because who would prove their ultimate worth gets decided finally only by the urge within them to excel and has to do very little with their rank scored by them at the time of their selection. At the same time to ignore the hurt feelings of those who think that their hard work was being unjustifiably devalued for no fault of theirs would also be a mistake.

  

The vision

The only way to handle this scenario is to look for ways to expand the avenues and opportunities to include all. It seems to me that India has been ignoring an important aspect of this issue while looking to implement this policy. The policy unintentionally aims at maintaining the 'hierarchy' of the opportunities and careers and merely provides a way to replace beneficiaries of the system. Undeniably the 'reservation policy' is addressing one aspect of the problem of our society but don’t we need to ponder as to why the youth of India looks to get absorbed only in a countable few selected careers? Is it not because we ‘rate’, ‘respect’, are ‘ready to associate a handsome pay’ and accept the 'undue administrative power attached with careers that are primarily meant to serve people' only for some careers and have kept on ignoring several other avenues resulting in inspiring students to run after only those select few careers. As long as we as a country would keep on running after becoming Engineers, Doctors, IAS, Government services and for grabbing jobs in PSU, we would be trapped in the policy of reservation that merely achieves ‘replacement’ as against 'inclusion'. ‘Reservation policy’ is poised to create a fresh caste definition that would be basically classified by those who could get into these careers and those who were left out in the process. If India is looking for a satisfied youth generation then it needs to develop career options in many skills that are hitherto considered as untouchable and are disrespected probably because of the financial returns that those career can provide and more than that the social stigma that automatically gets associated with those careers. There lies a huge scope of improving the lifestyle quotient and social-acceptability factor that are usually attached with many careers that require great skills but are invariably considered worthless: such as career in different kinds of farming, career in manufacturing and productions, career in waste-management, career in cleaning and managing household activities, jobs in construction and labour oriented careers, career in repair oriented careers, career in small scale industries, career in designing and production of leather-product (shoes, bags and files), jobs as hair-stylists, career in jewellery designing, career in marketing and career in food products etc.

The challenge before us is to work towards making these careers financially attractive and socially at par with those that are being sought after by the youth today. We must simultaneously work towards balancing out the undue 'administrative power' that we improperly associate with the careers meant for serving people. Let us come out of the colonial mentality of accepting bureaucrats as our kings. It would be then that we will be able to inspire youth towards other career opportunities of comparable worth in areas such as mentioned above so that people will begin to take up careers not merely by the financial security or the administrative power that those careers can offer them but by the inherent interest and urge that they posses to make them excel in those careers.

Instead of myopically fighting for larger and fresh shares in the fixed or limited career options using the reservation policy on one ground or the other, we must work with an idea to expand the choice of careers so that we can render the reservation policy itself as useless.

Let the opportunities outnumber the takers.

A Case of Misplaced Autonomy

After the setback of the collective failure of teachers' movement in stopping the semesterisation process, some of us chose to become wiser and accepted the existence of a mutated definition of autonomy and freedom. The apparent freedom and an enviable royal power that the university authorities blatantly exhibited before the teaching community had by then left an everlasting impression on some minds that chose to welcome a twisted sense of autonomy. These people seem to have convinced themselves that the only set of people who can enjoy any kind of autonomy are the university authorities. They preferred to get associated with the University authorities and in the process willingly handed over the responsibility of carrying the flame lighted by 'Rathi' to the other sensible breakaway group. Any trace of doubt in their mind was entirely wiped out when Dr. Bhim Sen Singh, the Principal of Kirori Mal college was shown the door for his dare to impress the university with the autonomy of colleges and the academic freedom of individual teachers through the College Staff Council. A perfect stage was built up to blow another hammer on the real stakeholders of the University to implement FYUP after an illegal salary-cut order was forcibly implemented and an environment was created wherein a simple letter by a hitherto unnoticed post of Registrar could make University Professor shiver, could turn College Principals into mechanical implementer shunning all their urge to behave as advisers and transform other lesser mortals into entities that only waited to obey orders to please the University authorities.

Recent letters from UGC has only helped in showing these University authorities their true place. Suddenly the terror that was being continuously experienced by the teachers shifted on to new targets in the university system. The scare of getting the taste of their own medicine is staring in their faces when conspiratorial denial of retirement benefits by them to a retired teacher on a flimsy ground of misappropriation of funds seems to have been threatening them to choke their own necks. The system has only shifted the target from Bhim Singh/Rajesh Mohan to Dinesh Singh and his team members with UGC replacing the University authorities in the new scenario.

I pity those who are still in their deep sleep and are continuing with their misplaced understanding of the terms such as University autonomy and freedom. They have become so used to the blatant misuse of these terms to crush the popular concerns of teachers and students that they have gone blind and are refusing to see writing on the walls of the university. I wish they come up with some sense in their future pamphlets.

FYUP episode and its after-effects

First the haste with which FYUP was implemented and then the even hastier manner in which it was unceremoniously abandoned has made the teaching community and the students believe that probably this is also a way 'reforms' can be brought about in the University. I am witnessing that a group of well meaning teachers and sincere students have been fooling themselves with a hope that reforms can be rolled out with the 'rollback'. They seem to have got too much used to the bulldozing way of affecting reforms. We must understand that 'rollback' is only an effect of the 'FYUP attempt' that was made in the name of 'reforms'. It is high time we realize that 'reforms' can neither be a clandestine agenda designed by an elite group of individuals to bring about changes to suit their interests nor they are freebies that can be distributed to those who are asking for it. The dumped FYUP may have some features that can be recommended while asking for reforms in the Indian education sector but just for that it should never be mistaken by anything as 'reforms'. FYUP was a mercurial change that was destined only to experience such a reactionary response. The way it came into being, FYUP itself had asked for this end.
Let us not misread the 'rollback' as a reform. Rollback was at best only meant for a temporary relief and in no way can show a new strategy to be adopted for bringing about reforms. It seems we have spoiled our understanding of 'reforms' so much that we think that 'patience' is not required to be observed for affecting reforms. We must now realize that 'reforms in education' is a serious issue and requires some time to reach a stage at which a gradual attempt can be made to affect changes. A genuine feedback mechanism with a grievance redressing system need to be put in place to serve this cause that has awaited a meaningful attention for so long a period. Widespread consultations and a suggestions drawing exercise need to adopted to overhaul the Indian education beginning from primary education to the higher education for addressing the issue in a comprehensive manner. Let us not forget that 'steroids' (with unavoidable side effects) are used only as life saving drug and now since 'rollback' has been able to save the academic-life of this University, let us not get used to taking it. Let us work together to make meaningful changes in an acceptable way.

Thanks to FYUP – Left is growing in DU while it is way out from India

Let me hold nothing back and admit here that due to inept handling of the FYUP implementation, the congress have reasonably lost its ground to the Left in Delhi University. It only made it worse as they also showed signs of engaging themselves in narrow caste considerations to help their failed cause. I must not shy away from what has been in a visible public domain that the right wing teachers' and students' fronts NDTF and ABVP, who were earlier hoping the Center to corner Left with their hammer of FYUP could not remain mute spectator when they witnessed them hammering even common stakeholders hard. I have nothing to prove in this connection as the alarming rise in the share of votes in favor of the Left both in the students as well as teachers elections left little room for us to analyze. It was only in the nick of the time that right wing took up the cause of common stakeholders to keep their relevance alive in DU.

The major drawbacks of FYUP that those opposing FYUP utilizes are

1. the fact that the students were required to pay for an additional year and invest an additional one-third of their time for getting the same degree was enough to create repulsion among students
2. that the DU was complete unprepared to handle the task and the University along with the college administration kept on failing to preempt logistic problems that started coming up on each fresh day after the implementation. They were further exposed hollow in handling in these problems as they started building up an army of DU officials mainly on narrow considerations.
3. that while seniors were slow and sometimes afraid of adapting to modern teaching tools, they were expected not only to learn these but become a master of these in no time.
4. that Foundation Courses were introduced without enough study materials and helpless teachers were asked to engage 'classrooms' in a manner that they were never used to - only helped the discontentment to grow.
   Even though I would not shy away from admitting my admiration for some aspects of this exercise, I would sum this up as a clear case of giving an years' dose of drugs to a TB patient in a single day. And we are left with an impossible looking task of saving the patient. Believe me, we were never required to sow the seeds of dissatisfaction among the stakeholders, we had only a task left to show our concern to the cause. Without even discussing the merits of this arguably ill-conceived but surely ill-timed reform I can say for sure that the primary mistake that the authority made was that before they themselves analyzed and got prepared for the new challenges they decided to handle them as they would encounter them during the process of implementation. This overconfidence that later resulted in an ego problem made it worse as they were left with no option but to look for narrow identity considerations to somehow make this effort appear as success.
   I am at a loss of words as I am not sure now whether one should prescribe a rollback or just a sincere review of FYUP that would not only address all major concerns of common stakeholders as listed above by me but more importantly keep us open for any fresh and sensible reforms.