On the day I joined my new office my boss Madan Jha asked me my name. “Santosh” I told.

“Santosh! Full name”? He asked.

“Santosh Kumar” I replied.

“Santosh Kumar”? That’s it?

“Yes”, I told.

“Your father’s name”. He seemed too curious.

It was not hard to guess his real intentions as it had occurred many a times previously.

“Shri Rajesh Kumar Yadav”. I told.

His looks made me feel quite uncomfortable as if I had no right to be in the office.

This was not an unusual and unique case and I had somewhat got used to it. But I often questioned the rationale behind the caste system prevalent in the country. Was being a graduate from IIT not a proof of my capabilities. Why is that even after being superior then many of my high caste colleagues academically and professionally I am treated socially inferior. Why is that even though I have never opted for any of the reservation benefits I am often looked at as incompetent just because I am from the so called “OBC” group.

The sad part of the story is that even many of the educated and enlightened people advocate this practice. They will read the demerits of the caste system and advocate its removal in theory. But the same person will treat boastfully his fellow backward caste member as second-rate behind his back.

It was Pietermaritzburg where after being thrown out of the train Gandhi ji realized about racial discrimination by the Europeans. The racial arrogance of the British rulers was one of the factors which gave rise to Indian Nationalism. The upper castes especially the Brahmins were first time subjected to a kind of discrimination which treated them inferior. They argued that it was against the human values, the right to equality was felt for first time and they demanded to be treated at par with the Europeans.  In all this they never realized that it was a similar kind of discrimination which they had preached and practiced all over the centuries.

Whether one agrees or disagrees, the fact is that over the centuries the backward castes and SC/ST’s have been suppressed and have not been allowed to come up till date. Nepotism is still widely prevalent and given a chance it is practiced by most of the people.

The dream of Indian growth will be unrealized without a change in mindset of the people. India will not become a superpower leaving behind a majority in downtrodden state. Things have to change, the onus of changing the societal mindset lies on the educated youth and now it is up to you to introspect and decide whether you yourself really practice what you write in your theory exams.

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written by Pavalamani Pragasam, March 26, 2010

A sad and true state of affairs! Let us all make up our mind to try to change it!

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written by umbrella, March 27, 2010

Welcome Raja..[assuming u r new here ].

Well..social discrimination is everywhere, in every form irrespective of caste, creed and religion. By prolonged, unfair Reservation Policies based on caste and religion, Policy makers only widened the gap in the mindset of people! Now with the already existing discrimination against lower castes, the hatred against upper castes also is practiced! The fair and genuine equality will only come after we remove the caste from our society. For that , the column for caste should be removed from every Applications and Forms! But i dare say those who belong to OBC and SC, ST who enjoy the reservation in every thing from schools to Jobs and promotions will fight tooth and nail against it!! On one side, they cry discrimination..on other side, they dont want to let go of their concessions in the name of caste! Hypocrisy in it's true sense!

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written by Raja, March 27, 2010

Hi Umbrella

I agree and disagree with you views.

Agree Firstly in the sense, that reservation policies have now become a tool to gain immediate political leverage. With no concrete policies and vision in mind political parties use it a shortcut to the parliament. It is similar to the use of linguistic politics for creating artificial divisions in society and gaining immediate attention. It is the politicization of caste and communal identities which has proved divisive for heterogeneous society like ours. Secondly the benefits of reservation are not reaching the intended. The Pareto principle of 80-20 rule fits here. 20% among the backward castes enjoy 80% of the benefits. It is because of this that negativities of the policies are highlighted,and overshadow the spirit behind them.

Disagree because reservation is a must for Indian society, this is required to achieve the goal of inclusive growth. There is a history behind the backwardness of certain class of people. With centuries of oppression and discrimination the mental level of majority SC/ST's and OBCs has gone down. Mind undergoes the Darwin's evolutionary process and it takes around 2-3 generation for a totally neglected group, which was restricted educational benefits, to catch up with the mainstream. In many villages untouchability is still widely prevalent. People are still not allowed in the temples. Their children are still not allowed to attend the school with general masses. Economic prosperity cannot be directly mapped to social prosperity and cannot guarantee equality either, especially for a nouveau rich.

Thus in my personal opinion “Reservation is a necessary evil in Indian society. But to achieve it in both letter and spirit, what is required is, modifying the policies, by restricting those who have already benefitted from such policies for 1-2 generations. Failing which it will lead to more Gujjar like agitations wherein the people will demand downward mobility in the social ladder, and the divide will keep on expanding.

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written by Pavalamani Pragasam, March 27, 2010

I admire your claivoyance and lucid style of writing, Raja! Congrats!

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written by Raja, March 27, 2010

Thanks for your appreciation Pavalamani.

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written by Administrator, March 27, 2010

Yes, its sad story of our country but not only in India, even in other countries too there exist similar discrimination. But I strictly feel that a lot has changed in the last decade and still more to come.

When low caste people were vindicated/ignored/justice not met then new leaders took the cause, championed the reservation issue and played their caste/religion cards well. But still, the purpose and vision is good, promised equality and inclusive growth. For a society to be peaceful, prosperity should reach to all sections. The sad fact is that only the creamy layer is able to capitalize the benefits.

As the economist Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar says: "This reservation system has the trickle down effect for the lower sections of the society. At least it opened the access and contact points at various levels of service for the lower castes. He also complained that the effect is trickle down but never flood."

Its the result of this quota system where a mediocre boss to presides over a bunch of talented people, incompetent people gets promotion, ineligible candidate gets represented in government.

The quota system fueled the same bias in a reverse way which once gave rise to the quota system. Theres sufficient reason for the less opportunists to feel vindicated. This just adds fuel to the rage. We are still decades away before this fire dies out completely.

Its my idea that instead of reservations based on caste and religion, reservations can be applied according to the poverty status and income level.

A warm welcome to this platform. Nice blog. Keep them coming.

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written by Pavalamani Pragasam, March 27, 2010

But reservation on the basis of poverty status and income level does not redress the real harm done in the past to a section of our people. The mediocrity that is complained of can be considered temporary and only a little price for a long-suffered injustice.

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written by umbrella, March 27, 2010

Well..In Tamil Nadu, we've been practicing this Reservation Policy since Independence..ie. for almost 60 years!! In these long 6 decades, tho initially it was beneficial, now it has turned into a mockery ! It only helps in corrupting the society more ! Only the creamy layer is enjoying the benefits and when the court discussed the possibility of eliminating the creamy layer from the benefits, even the state govt didnt approve it..why u think? Vote bank politics! The concept of reservation policies maybe noble..but however noble the cause is, the success lies in executing it in the right way..especially in a corrupted society! Even after 60 years, if OBCs and SC and STs are still groping in the dark, obviously, we are doing it all wrong and high time we reevaluate the system! After all, the father of reservation policy Ambedkar said that any reservation policy should be practiced only for 15-20 years and if it takes more than that to achieve it's goal, then it's not worth pursuing!

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written by Santosh, April 01, 2010

Reservation is welcome if the beneficiaries are the economically weaker class. For inclusive growth the favors should percolate down to the targeted section. Incidentally it needs a more politically stable Govt to assert itself and attempt to meet the cause for which reservation was conceived. As long as the Govt of the day succumbs to a well orchestrated campaign from groups with ulterior motive every OBC will be looked down upon as a parasite.

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written by Raja, April 02, 2010

The point which I wanted to make was that discrimination in any form is detrimental to democracy and deterrent to development of human values. The pain of discrimination was never realized by the upper social strata till the time they were unharmed by it.
Although the manifest and direct function of reservation seems to be the upliftment of the backward classes, the more important and latent function of reservation has been in making the people of all other strata realize that inhuman behavior will not benefit anyone and will someday boomerang and might even create reverse scenario as is happening today.
So till the time a tolerable balance is achieved in the social sphere where the Indian society moves from hereditary identity to an achieved identity the indifference will continue, as a SC/ST however rich will continue to be looked down socially and a Brahmin however poor will never be restricted access to any temple in the country.And that is not economic inequality but social discrimination. And until that is not targeted more Sushma Tiwary's will keep on losing their dear ones for marrying in lower caste on the name of "honour killing".

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