The ABC of reservation for OBCs

By John Cheeran
Indian media, by and large, are against reservation for backward classes in higher educational institutes (read central institutes such as IITs and IIMs) in the country.
Let me say in the beginning that I'm a Christian (though Christianity does not recognize caste, those lower caste Hindus who converted are in line for the reservation cake) and in league with Brahmins and other assorted upper class Hindus in India on the reservation subject.
Though I don't read Indian newspapers exhaustively I came across a comment in The Times of India by Amrith Lal, defending the reservation policy.
I don't know whether Mr Lal belongs to a scheduled caste or tribe or the OBCs. Who knows he may even be a Brahmin. But he must be a brave man to go against the grain in New Delhi.
It is always good to have a different opinion on any issue. And it takes a certain amount of courage to root for SCs and STs in Delhi's media scene. To the credit of the nation, we have established a consensus that SCs and STs should be given the benefit of reservation precisely because the community is not savvy enough to exploit the legal provisions. But to root for the OBCs in the media, especially now, does not take much courage.
Because some of the top notch editors in Delhi and Mumbai in fact belong to the OBC. I know a few of them, but it is not my intention to reveal their names andexpose them for not standing up to the rights of OBCs. And the sundry soldiers as editors and reporters there are many, many OBCs out there. But in the newsroom they prefer to pretend as Brahmins!
I'm against the reservation policy (50 per cent reserved for SCs, STs andOBCs) which is already in practice in Southern India. But I'm saddened by thefact that the top notch OBC editors in New Delhi and Mumbai are pretending to be themselves Brahmins.
Being a Brahmin is not bad thing. In fact it is the thing all of us should aspire to be, thus wrote the great OBC intellectual O.V. Vijayan in 1994 in the then undivided Indian Express.
But let's come to the central point.
Mr Lal says in his comment that the South of India is living with the 50 per cent reservation policy already, so why should anyone in North should have trouble in accepting the same?
This, indeed, is a wonderful argument. Any mistake, if enough people makes it, soon ceases to be mistake, becomes a BIG RIGHT.
So since South India has accepted the mistakes, North can make it a right thing by embracing it. And Mr Lal has no qualms in opening the doors of IITS and IIMs, considered to be higher temples of learning, to OBCs, on the basis of reservation. He argues "this should be an opportunity to for IITs and IIMs to increase their student intake."
If IITs and IIMs want to increase their intake why cannot the same thing be done from the open category, where even OBCs, SCs and STs are welcome to excel on a level playing field?
Why the increased intake has to be from the OBCs only? What about those who are 'born high'?
Mr Lal makes an interesting point later.
"Quotas in institutions have to be understood as an instrument to create opportunities for those who have been denied access to knowledge for social reasons. Quotas aren't ani-merit."
Wow! Does Mr Lal believe that they (OBCs are thriving communities all over India. For example Ezhavas and Muslims in Kerala are OBCs, both communities are the richest in Kerala) have been denied access to knowledge?
If that is the case, how did they come till the gates of IITs and IIMs?
None has denied the OBCs access to school and colleges. If they hadn't gone to school and colleges, they could not have come for JEE.
So there is no case of expiating the guilt, by Brahmins and upper castes, in this reservation issue.
It is quite simple. If you have a yardstick in education and employment apply it fairly. There is nothing called positive discrimination in life. If you are a student, you are judged by the marks you score. If you are an employee you are judged by the quality of work you do.
There are no birthrights to be distributed in the world.
I would like to quote P.V. Indiresan, former Director of IIT Madras, on the subject. "Do you want to select Indian cricket team on the basis of caste?"
There are enough OBCs in the Indian team too, without resorting to reservation.
I don't know whether Mr Lal is a journalist.
What if Times of India starts recruiting journalists on the basis of their caste? How much reservation Mr Lal suggests in journalism?
As they say charity can begin at home.