I've been spending a lot of time in the Indian blogosphere lately and if there's one thing I've learned about Indian bloggers it's that they really, really don't like reservations.
My intention is not to belittle the arguments of those who oppose reservations or to weigh in on the complicated calculus of aggrievement so as to offer an opinion on whether any historically oppressed group really deserves reservations. I just wanted to pose a couple of questions that I find particularly puzzling about this whole debate.
Q1: Why is there so much outrage against reservations in India but almost none in China? In China, even the number of children a family can have is in part determined by a household's group identity yet there is little resentment against this pervasive system of reservations. Is this because in China the government imposed the system of reservations on its own whereas in India the establishment of reservations were, in part, a response to the demands of voters?
Q2: Where is the outrage over the abysmal state of education in general? The entire debate over reservations for university applications for IITs and IIMs seems somewhat academic when the vast majority of Indian lack access to anywhere near the quality of schooling necessary to have a sporting chance on the exams for these institutions.
2 comments:
Why is there no outrage against reservations in China against anything? In India, protesting a government decision/policy is a done thing. There were quite a few protests even from within the political establishment when there were talks of even bidding for the Olympics some time next decade. Even the decision to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010 has been criticised in many quarters. I wonder if the Chinese raised a murmur against the Olympics this year. Issues like caste-based reservations or SEZs are much bigger issues - and naturally, there is plenty of public outrage. Is primary education an issue of concern? And from whom?
I still suspect some of the dislike for reservations comes from a mindset which places merit above all - in a sort of "survival of the fittest" spirit, while missing the point that in a country like India with groups that have been socially disadvantaged since thousands of years, opportunities need to be created through a certain amount of positive discrimination. And of course, for the politician, it is an irresistible chance to grab vote-share, given that its still the poor in India who vote.
I do acknowledge there are flaws in the implementation of certain government policies (the creamy layer argument seems valid); there is also scope for corruption where quotas are involved - but the economic efficiency logic still beats me. The most competitive corporates and conglomerates still need enormous sops to establish nearly ANYTHING - sometimes, job creation and public infrastructure creation are bandied about as justifications, all of which quite evidently will only follow humungous profits. As soon as profits dip, the same companies will think nothing of laying off en-masse and shutting shop.
The general state of education, especially primary education in the country is abysmal – no questions about that. How many private groups have we heard of, willing to set up schools in remote sparsely populated pockets, of the kind that exist in plenty, in the country. Except for welfare minded NGOs and missionaries, I have not heard of too many private ventures into this area. Of course there is the quality issue, as a result of a robust monitoring mechanism not being in place and the lack of incentives and motivation for teachers. And that is not a problem that a voucher will solve.
It is true that without setting these issues to rest, the state of education for the unprivileged will not improve. But in some ways, there is another factor I have seen work – when small remote illiterate communities see an odd success, of someone who has managed to make it through to a good job – it serves as a fillip to the entire community to aspire and then, demand. The power of a community that aspires and focuses their energies then, on demanding better services cannot be discounted – something that can make the government sit up and act – arrange for better teachers, better infrastructure etc.
Finally, why would the bloggers really be up in arms about the state of primary education? That’s something that affects them very little. But reservation in institutions that they aspire to be in or send their children to is understandably a BIG DEAL! And imagine if we suddenly had excellent primary and secondary schools all over the country – the “competition” that the middle-class regularly cribs about will go through the roof…
Reservations is something I am sure every Indian has an opinion on! Though I broadly agree with the concerns you have raised, I would just like to say a couple of things.
One, while protests against reservations is one issue, the argument should not be extended to judge the appropriateness of public response to Government policies and to this extent it may not be fair to compare countries; especially a communist country to a democratic one. India and China differ greatly in matters of polity and culture and I may be biased but I would certainly appreciate a society that gives space for debate.
But yes what kind of debates occupy public space is surely disturbing and media has to take part of the blame for that. That media has a very middle class bias is a fact not unknown (unless it is a crime that involves the rich and the famous- but then again the audience of such news once again is a very middle class section of the population). Everything that affects the middle class makes news and thus plays a pivotal role in shaping public opinion. And that is one reason why the quality of education delivered by government schools despite being a pertinent issue never has and still doesnt occupy the centrestage!
This I guess is the irony of the situation. If we as a society had debated the latter and ensured that the education system in India delivered better we would not have landed ourselves up in a situation where we would have had to reserve seats all the way upto graduate and even post graduate courses to establish, atleast in the political rhetoric of it, equity in the society.
But at the same time I would view reservations through the same lens as waiver of farmers’ loan. It is not a remedy but only an appeal to populist sentiments and therefore have enough reason to doubt the concern the torchbearers of this agenda have towards those who are at the receiving end of the iniquitous social system; something that their non performance in the past has only perpetuated. Government I think should take the credit for fanning in urban India a movement (atleast in thinking) back to caste based society.
While I would still rate the public debate in India higher than what it is China or even America (where it is largely confined to the academia); but there is yes no denying the fact that as a society our attention has been extremely skewed towards appeasing the middle class and that determined what issues we prioritized. IITs and Medical Colleges hugely subsidized education while the schools were starving of funds. And we have the consequence before us-these institutions today are far more elitist, in the sense of the section of population from which they draw students, than they were say 20 years ago.
And to this end, reservations may be are the only way the society can pay for not demanding enough; howsoever insincere an attempt it may seem from a political standpoint.
Post a Comment