OBC Reservations

Written below is the opinion of a IIT prof. Who has been working in the elite institution for long.

Nearly six decades after independence, this country is planning toannounce that majority of its population is backward and does nothave equal opportunity to pursue education and employment. Alongwith this, it is going to open up a Pandora's Box by various castegroups to be classified as "backward". What an interesting way tobegin the 21st century when finally India was beginning to emerge asa serious player in the new knowledge economy! The major carrot thatis being doled out is the seats in the elite medical, engineeringand management Institutes. What bothers me is no one is interested in even consulting the people who have built these Institutions andbrought them to this stature. I have strong views on efficacy of reservations in general but here I would confine myself to theissues concerning IITs. At least here with my three decade long association, I can claim to know something. Many of these argumentsmay be applicable to the other elite Institutions in medical andmanagement disciplines as well.

Today IITs are considered excellent educational institutions. Thereis a countrywide scramble to get into these with many studentsspending the best part of their teen years in preparing for itsentrance examinations. This should not be confused with ranking ofuniversities where just a couple of IITs make it in the top 500.These rankings deal primarily with the research output and not with the quality of undergraduate education. I can confidently say that any ranking of quality of undergraduate engineers produced would put IITs in the top 20 worldwide if not in the top 10. And it is thisachievement that is going to be hard to maintain with the proposedreservations policy.

IITs have had reservations for SC/STs for decades. Why would this be different? Aren't these students likely to be better prepared than the students admitted under the existing reserved category? Here Iwould like to share some of the facts with the readers. IITs have been admitting SC/ST students for years under two modes. From the general category, a significantly lower JEE cutoff is decided and reserved category students scoring above this cutoff are admitted directly to the UG programmes. Another still lower cutoff is decidedand reserved category students from this set are admitted to a one year preparatory course conducted by IITs themselves. After passingthis course, they can join the programmes without having to appearin JEE again. Even this exercise collectively yields less than 15%in IIT Delhi though the quota amounts to nearly 22.5%. Half of the reserved category students manage to clear courses comfortably while the other half struggle on the margins. What would be called a good performance (cumulative grade point average or CGPA of 8 and above)and is achieved by nearly forty percent of general category students, is rare and occurs once in many years among the reserved category students. It is not that all general category students do well. It is the hypocrisy ofthe highest order that on one hand the reservation for SC/STs isconsidered a success and quoted for extension to OBCs, and on theother hand, no hard data on the performance of these students is available in the public domain.

Normally this choice of careers by IIT graduates shouldbe a matter of satisfaction except that both these entries are againusing the reservation quota. Is it empowerment or crutches for life?In this whole episode, the most stunning news for me was when theHon'ble minister announced increase in intake to compensate for the reservations. This would amount to nearly 56% overall increase inundergraduate intake in the IITs. This showed complete ignorance ofwhat makes IIT undergraduate education tick.

For past few days I have been following the reservation discussion on internet, newspapers and television. Have been listening to the pro-reservation lobby remarks; politicans are just making mockery of whatever good exists in this country. This Sometimes makes me doubt about my indianness. Is this the country I feel so proud of? I want to see my country being one of the best nations in the world - and will this caste politics lead us anywhere?

I am not against reservations, India needs to bring economically weaker societies back into mainstream in order to seriously progress, but the way government is implementing the reservation policy is fundamentally wrong. Supreme court have gave a supporting hand to the agitating medicos in the begining thats was gud, But why is it not saying anything when the government is introducing that bill in the government.

Height of honesty and its rewards

This story I read on the internet and felt that I would like to share something like this with everyone. This doesn’t talk about something that has complicated rationality and deep analysis involved. However this talks of how unforeseen events take place when we are really sincere. It is for sure that nature will always test our sincerity, and this test is not easy. However, if we can stand this test with all our conviction and sincere effort then the forces of Nature surely comes together to help us in attaining our goal.

Tess was a precocious eight year old when she heard her Mom and Dad talking about her little brother, Andrew. All she knew was that he was very sick and they were completely out of money. They were moving to an apartment complex next month because Daddy didn't have the money for the doctor bills and our house. Only a very costly surgery could save him now and it was looking like there was no-one to loan them the money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother with whispered desperation, "Only a miracle can save him now."
Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big Red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good.
Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!
"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. "I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question.
"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick... and I want to buy a miracle."
"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.
"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"
"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little. "Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."
The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does you brother need?"
"I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. "I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."
"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago. "One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly. "And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.
"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents - the exact price of a miracle for little brothers." He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."
That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specialising in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.
"That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"
Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost... one dollar and eleven cents ...... plus the faith of a little child. A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law......

Can we be as sincere as this young child and the world will be a better place than it has ever been!