Just Sarin

guess i have already posted my comments on reservations before and
will do so many more times. my basic stand is in opposition of
reservations - being a general category student.

as per the below author, most people who enter IIT are coached through
institutes that train students to crack the JEE exam. i don't deny
this, however, one must remember that this is purely human nature - to
adapt to the environment (in this case JEE) and take advantage of what
ever possible support (coaching institutes) is available.

at the end of the day, evolution is the final meritocracy, and it
truly is the survival of the fittest. i'm sure all the animals out
there must be cribbing their ass off that humans have weapons and so
are keeping them subjugated etc. not sure if the author would like us
to fight a tiger for our food on even terms with him.

of course, contrasting with the evolution picture is that of us being
a society - and most importantly having to keep the under privileged
just about happy enough so that they don't resort to crime. thus
people are fine with giving some amounts of reservations and also to
help the "back ward" people out of fear that in case these people
decide to resort to outright lawlessness, we wouldn't be able to step
out of our houses at all. this can be pretty much equated with the
scenario in any corporate where people are paid just enough to keep
them in the job, and prevent them from moving on to a "better"
opportunity.

unfortunately, at this juncture step in the politicians, who disrupt
"normal" society as well, and go for vote bank politics.
unfortunately, while the bulk of this country remains in the
"backward" bracket (with a huge number of people below the poverty
line and the general standard of living low), the politicians can
always hope to get votes through such policies. though i'm not very
well read about US politics, i do believe that there are similar
instances in terms of a tax rebate (or something like retaining jobs
in the US by preventing outsourcing), which aim at populistic vote
bank politics there too.

finally, everyone is selfish - hence "backward" people will always
want more reservations while "forward" people will always prefer
"meritocracies" which give them an advantage.

i think the most relevant argument that i've heard opposing
reservations is the fact that it does not actually benefit the
economically "backward", since people who take advantage of these are
actually on an even footing with the general category students as far
as economic strength is concerned. i base my opposition to
reservations on this point - especially since it is very simple for
anyone to get a SC/ST certificate (i believe in UP this can be
achieved at as little as Rs. 500).

thats a lot of quotes. enjoy the reading. :-)
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Eviscerating a holy cow

NISHEETH SRIVASTAVA

LET US NOT DELUDE OURSELVES. IIT IS A VERY EFFICIENT AND CONSISTENT
BREEDING GROUND FOR PRODUCTIVE MEDIOCRITY

IT IS very fashionable for the young upper middle class `global'
Indian citizen to inveigh against the `sectarian', `populist' and
`parochial' policies of the government. The article `Reservation saga'
(Open Page, April 23) denouncing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in
the IITs and IIMs falls under this category. It seeks to question the
validity of the anti-reservation lobby. As a specific case, we will
examine their claims with regard to IIT.

The most feasible approach towards analysing the argument against
reservation in IIT is to view the underlying axioms that its
proponents cheerfully assume to be unquestionably true. The most banal
of them all is the presumption that the IITs are merit-based
`prestigious' `temples of education' that command international
respect.

Centres of excellence?

Merit-based? As of JEE 2004, more than 25 per cent entrants to IIT had
been enrolled in a coaching institute named FIIT-JEE. The curriculum
is based on analysing trends in JEE papers and focusing students'
preparation on mindless precision in solving problems to clear the
JEE. The fee for the two-year course is upwards of Rs. 40,000. And
FIIT-JEE is but one of myriads of coaching institutes that populate
the high-school education system in our cities. Vidyamandir in Delhi,
Ramaiah in Hyderabad and Bansal in Kota are household names in the
society of JEE aspirants. All these institutes, with perhaps the
honourable exception of Vidyamandir, concentrate on rote-repetition
and practice to prepare candidates for the JEE.

Prestigious? Infosys recruits upwards of 50 B. Tech students, from a
batch of about 500, to work as software-writing minions at a salary of
Rs. 11,000 a month. The IIT system has acquired a reputation for
producing `techno-clerks' to create wealth for the burgeoning Indian
economy. That's not prestige; it's pragmatism.

Temples of education? Of the 180 credits that a B. Tech student is
required to accumulate towards completing his degree, how many do not
relate to science and technology? A grand total of twelve — including
an instructional course in English. How much flexibility does a B.
Tech student possess in deciding his course work? None.

Let us not delude ourselves. IIT is a very efficient and consistent
breeding ground for productive mediocrity. It generates graduates with
a one-dimensional view of the world and with an intellectual horizon
stunted to perform in a particular field of economic activity, viz.
technology.

This leads us to the crux of the argument against reservation — there
should be no regulations upon excellence. "Why not have reservation in
the army? Is education not as important as defence?" goes the
plaintive cry. Such an argument would have much merit if we were
speaking of actual centres of research that do indeed strive for
creative and disciplined endeavour — TIFR, BARC and IISc are the first
examples that spring to mind. But to raise such an argument in favour
of the IITs evinces an almost criminal disregard for the ground
reality.

Even a cursory perusal of campus culture in the IITs — their cultural
hierarchy, their social interactions, their means of recreation, etc.,
paints a definitive picture of IIT students as self-aggrandising
delusional brats living off the fat of the land in the form of
subsidies that an indulgent government continues to ritually bestow
upon a system that has deviated so far from its founding principles
that it betokens those who feel responsible for it to look the other
way.

It is instructive to note that the only opposition to the reservation
proposal arises from the sections of society that will `suffer' as a
consequence — the self-labelled `Forward Class.' Both the faculty and
the administration of these markedly autonomous institutes have
expressed no views publicly on the matter. Does this not imply that a
concern regarding the dilution of merit as a consequence of the
reservation is groundless? Either that or, as is more likely, the
faculty at these institutes is too blasé to view any change as making
a difference to the commercially guided ethos that prevails.

Suggestion

Thus, the argument against reservation ought to be viewed for what it
is — a self-serving, pompous plaint. A parallel could be drawn,
without much exaggeration, with the righteous indignation of the
French aristocracy at the time of the Revolution. While a caste-based
reservation system may be opposed on other principles, the argument
that it would dilute the quality of the intellectual product it offers
India is flawed because it presupposes that such quality actually
exists. This is an extremely narcissistic claim.

(The writer is a student at IIT Madras)