Reservations:IV(Forwarded Article)

nice article...got a forward....


I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I completely
support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this. Let's start
the reservation with our cricket team. We should have 30 percent for
OBC, SC/ST like that. Cricket rules should be modified accordingly. The
boundary circle should be reduced for an SC/ST player. The four hit by
an OBC player should be considered as a six and a six hit by a OBC
player should be counted as 8 runs. An OBC player scoring 60 runs should be
declared as a century.

We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like
Shoaib Akhtar should not bowl fast balls to our OBC player. Bowlers
should bowl maximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an OBC player. Any
delivery above this speed should be made illegal.

Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an
OBC player should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters.

There can be reservation in Government jobs also. Let's recruit SC/ST
and OBC pilots for aircrafts which are carrying the ministers and
politicians (that can really help the country.. )

Ensure that only SC/ST and OBC doctors do the operations for the
ministers and other politicians. (Another way of saving the country..)

Let's be creative and think of ways and means to guide INDIA forward...
Let's show the world that INDIA is a GREAT country. Let's be proud of
being an INDIAN..

May the good breed of politicians like ARJUN SINGH long live...

Reservations:III

Read the News today of Mr. Arjun Singh planning to increase the SC quota beacuse of increase in their population from the last census. Just wondering from where does he get all these notorious ideas. If he is so brilliant why he doesn't use it in some constructive things for example improving the quality of education and institutes to make them world class, or taking some creative steps to decrease dropouts in Primary School.

There is a related amendment whereby the seats in the Parliament and Assembly have been freezed till 2020. This is done so that the states which have been effective in Family Planning are not punished. If this is not done Southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu would loose a number of seats in Parliament to laggards like UP and Bihar. This is a commendable move.

But why is this not extended to reservation policy. If high castes have been successful in limiting their population while lower castes haven't been why should high castes be punished for that? Shouldn't the principle that applies to Parliament be applied to common jobs and education.

I cann't understand why all this is happening? Ppl say that it is for political reasons. But as any meritorious(a fancy buzzword) MBA will tell you to increase your sales you have to differentiate yourself. You ought to have a target market in mind. And here with all parties supporting reservations tooth and nail, where is that political gain. It is unlikely that Congress would be able to gain any political mileage out of these stupid steps. Maybe its thinktank should think of a different target market to place its product. It should differentiate itself from Mulayam and Mayawati. But surprisingly it is following their steps.

And what about Arjun Singh. A neglected Congressman out to make his presence felt. The same motive that drove Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi to slash fees at IIMs. But these politicians should not harm the national intrests while pursuing their selfish policies.

Tag: Reservations||Arjun Singh

The Class of 2002

Yesterday I was talking to one of my friend here: a guy from IIT Kgp and currently studying in IIMK. There is one more thing common between us besides the IIT-IIM tag, ie. we both belonged to the class of 2002.

Yes the dreaded year of 2002. The economic repression. At IITs the placement at that time was around 80% and in many Engg colleges it was less than 20%. We still fear those days. Those jobless days. Companies after companies either not coming to the campus at all or after taking few ppl sending them regret letters. These include some big names in software field also.

But all that is past now. And surprisingly there are no scars or aftereffects left. If I now see my batchmates, almost all are going great in life. Infact they are much better off than probably even other batches above or below us. If we look at PhD, management, entrepreneurship etc our batch has performed much better than other batches. This is reflected in large number of 2002 batchers even today in almost any of the IIMs and other top B-Schools.

Probably this was because we saw through that period. And we have to work hard during that time to make ends meet. That spirit of fighting and non-complaecency has left a legacy in the Class of 2002.

But it also reflects on strong economic fundamentals of India. The depressions and slowdowns in other countries have large sideeffects, sometimes lingering on for yrs to come. But not in India. We recovered in just 2 yrs, and marched on the paths of progress like never before.

Hope no other batch get to see what we saw. But still it was a great experience to have, obviously thinking from hindsight.

Reservations:II

Well I thought about the resrvations policy yesterday. I guess I was wrong. Reservations should be there. Infact I would say that there should be 70% reservations in all govt. services, educational institutes and pvt sector jobs. But somehow ppl are not able to comprehend the vitality and benefits of reservations.

Well certainly the political class in India have such foresight to take this important decision. But I think they still need to do more to silence their critics. They must practise what they preach. And the oppurtunity is been given to BJP to hammer this point. Remember BJP was the supporting party of VP Singh that brought in the policy of OBC reservations.VP Singh the most erudite and socially just PM of India ever.

Now Pramod Mahajan is fighting with death after being shot at by his brother. BJP should express its solidarity with lower castes by asking a SC/ST category doctor to operate on Mahajan. Damn the critics who harp on meritocracy. Meritocracy is just a fancy buzzword for the high castes. A doctor is a doctor afterall. And there is no difference between a General Category and Reserved category doctor.

So I request the BJP party to please show its concern for the disadvantaged and its support to the reservation policy. Maybe the President should intervene in this regard and make it mandatory for MPs and MLAs to be operated only by SC/ST doctors. Now along with the reservation bill this bill should also be introduced in Parliament.

Tag: Reservations||Pramod Mahajan ||V P Singh

Thanatos and Reservations

According to the great psychologist Sigmund Freud, humans have two types of forces/energies/desires in them. One is Eros or life force. We preserve ourselves, take care of our childeren, take actions that are good for humanity in general. This is the force which sustains life on earth.

The second desire is Thanatos. This is the death force under which man undertake destructive activities. When it is directed towards oneself it leads to suicide and when it is directed towards others it leads to homicide.

Similarly it can be argued that nations have both Eros and Thanatos. Now Eros is obvious. Nations take care of their citizens, undertake welfare activities, defends itself when attacked by outsiders. But history has been replete with nations undertaking self-destructive steps. Maybe the genocide of Jews by Hitler immediately comes to mind.

And how else can we explain this policy of extending reservations? From 1991, with the liberalization, India has achieved tremoundous economic success. Indian companies are being recognized worldwide for their skilled manpower and state of the art technologies. We are getting foreign currency loans at a cheaper rate than what many American Corporations get. This shows the trust and faith that Western Banks have in India Inc. And govt has played an important part in this India shining, if not India glittering.

But alas with good comes evil. With Eros comes Thanatos. With economic progress comes reservation. It has come in 2 forms: OBC reservation in premier educational institutes and SC/ST reservation in private sector.

Lets talk about the OBC thing first. What are OBCs. Mind you it is just a synthetic division. ST are the tribals and SC are the untouchable castes. They can be easily identified. But OBC is not a social class. It is just a political terminology. I do agree that there have been in past certain castes(I mean jatis) up the hierarchy and certain jatis below it. But this happens in every society. There always are certain ppl below and certain above. But you don't find this reservation policy in any other part of the world.

That OBC is a sythetic classification can be seen with the help of an example. Jats have been declared OBC in Rajasthan and not in UP. Now UP and Raj are just political divisions. There is not much to differentiate socially between the two. Then why are Jats OBC in Rajasthan. Because here they are powerful and have successfully lobbied for their inclusion in the coveted list(Yes backwardness is a virtue in India).

Now at my IIT level, there have been number of Jats fronm Rajasthan. They have entered IIT without reservation. But now with the coming of the law they would be offered reservation in CAT. Isn't it unfair for their friends with whom they have competed at IITs. The recieved similar education at IIT and are roughly at similar level. But the Brahmin would have to compete in General category while Jats in Reserved category. So osn't reservations creating rift where there was none. Isn't it dividing society into divisions which just are not real.

And thats why I have referred it as death energy. It would just take the spirit of achievement out of so called OBC people. And it would lead to frustration among the non-OBCs. Many of us were not at all aware of which castes we belonged to. But now everyone is suddenly aware wether he is a Jaat or Brahmin or Baniya.

The intitutions of excellence that is IITs and IIMs, that have carved a reputation for themselves at global level risks of loosing out the most. Because OBC candidates would have it easy, the desire to learn among them would definitely be on decline. And hence their performance would very closely match what it is of SC/ST candidates in IIT/IIM. Hence the quality of the students coming ouut of these premier institutions would definitelty deteriorate. So where they stand a chance in global competition.

Tired as of now. Would comment on the SC/ST reservation in pvt sector in my next post.


Tag: Reservations||OBC ||Sigmund Freud||IIT

NBA and RDB: A comparision

So Aamir has come in defence of NBA and currently opposing the move of raising the dam height. But surely the government is not going to listen to him. Mr. Modi would go on with his work with the support of even opposition Congress and the Police. So what would Aamir do. Would he go on and commit the murder like RDB. No he is much more sensible. So he would just leave the stage and go back to his Fanaa. And that precisely is the problem of RDB.

RDB tilts us towards fatalism. We see a murder of Defence Minister by having nothing better to do college students. And then they go on to repent there decision. So where does it leave audience. We just come out of the theater and go on criticizing the Police Force and politicians. the same thing as we were previously doing without watching the movie.

I seriously believe that coming of Aamir has taken the NBA movement backward. No not because he is in Coke ad, as Arundhati Roy suggest. But because he has kind of build a certain image with RDB. And I again believe that RDB has harmed the MiG pilot cause. Somehow we don't even talk about MiG issue anymore because it has been internalized by us that all state, govt, politicians, Police, Bureaucracy are evil. Thank God for a movie.

Well I am not against or in favor of big Dams. Frankly I don't haveemuch of a knowledge or data to comment on it. But as a tecnocrat I would definitely like the Project to go forward. Provided offcourse that all ppl get a fair deal.

Don't know but after reading Hind Swaraj by Mahatma Gandhi, I have a certain feeling that it was good that Bhagat Singh failed in liberating India. If he would have succeeded, they would have turned India into a Communist Dictatorship. We have free, democratic and peaceful India just because of the success of Gandhiji's movement. And the proof of that is NBA. The tribals who would be displaced are raising a peaceful movement and are not out in arms against the state.

Surprising that uneducated tribals understand it but Aamir doesn't.


Tag: NBA||Medha Patkar ||RDB||Aamir Khan

Life Sucks, Airtel sucks more

Another incident happened today. My cellphone stopped recieving and sending messages. I went to the shop from where I had taken the Airtel connection. The retailer told me that there are new guidelines at Airtel where you have to furnish a proof of local address. My passport had Jaipur address and College I-Card had that of Calcutta. So my application was rejected and connection cut. Then the person talked to someone on phone and told me that even if I get local residence proof of some friend I would get the connection. Then I remembered my driver. Luckily he had license with him. We xeroxed it and gave it to the shopkeeper. Then the person said that I would get back connection in 48 hours!!! So no incoming and outgoing calls for next 2 days.

Airtel Sucks Big Time, its employees suck.....and in more than 1 way :-)

Catching Up

Currently in Jamshedpur for 2 months training in Tata Steel. Sure to post my comments on the Steel City soon.

With the grades pouring in I have one more sem of dismal performance. But alas one feather in my Freeriding cap. My highest grade is in a non-credit subject, one which is not counted while calculating CGPA!! Expected....

Meanwhile read One Night@Call Centre in the train. Frankly I am disappointed. After "Five Point someone", I expected a more interesting piece from the author. But ON@CC fails to fulfill the expectations. The biggest flaw is that all miseries in everyone's life coming at the same time. It is dark, but thye darkness seem very artificial.

The style is somewhat same as in FPS. But in FPS author gives a chapter to other characters also, so that reader can get their viewpoint, this is missing in ON@CC. The 4-5 characters in the story are depicted moral and right while everyone sorrounding them including boss, mother-in-laws, husbands are depicted evil. Very much Rang De Basantish...

The novel do have some funny moments. Infact I like the starting part most in the author's interaction with the girl. The author looking at the reservation chart for someone b/w F15-F25 is close to what I also normally do. But never in my life has there been a girl in my compartment. I dont even remember any girl ever in the same coach as I am. I do need a stroke of luck now.

More to follow.

Tag: Five Point Someone||Chetan Bhagat ||FPS||One Night At Call Centre