Affirmative Action

I feel like taking a long sojourn and travel India. In just more than a month and a half, I am going to join amongst the most coveted institutions of India, IIMs. With the reputation of going to the place comes the responsibility of what the education imparted there is going to teach us. That is exactly why I want to travel the length and the breadth of India; to spread a bit of awareness amongst people. I believe that it is a very small time to do that, specifically for the purpose I want to derive from it. And so I would start from my family and the peripheries of it.
It pains me to see that most of the candidates coming from the affirmative action of reservation constituted by the government of India into the hallowed portals of the elite IIMs are the ones who have done their under-graduation from another such national institution of repute. Since it has not been more than 3 years when reservation for OBCs was made they might be exempted from being in our sample set. But nonetheless, the government has invested us tax payer’s money in their under-graduation study.
The problem that I see in the implementation in the affirmative action and its rewards not being realized by the ones who really need is the lack of accounting in the same. It is understandable that when there is no record of a student, the accounting of whether the student is genuinely in need for reservation is extremely difficult. But cannot a centralized database of the students of national universities be made? I believe the system of book-keeping is there, my alma- mater had, what just is required is sharing of the data. And with the UID project going to realize itself in the next four years; we could have this accounting happening at the grass-roots level. At least a considerable amount of seats can then go to the ones who actually deserve it.
But I cannot see that happening. With the state of politics in our country, I have my doubts about any member of the parliament coming up with such a suggestion in the near future. Nor is altruism an inherent part of us. What then is required to at least let everyone know that there is something like a reservation for them. One of our chauffeurs and his family at my place come under the OBC category. Talking to him just a few days back after seeing in first person the fallacies in the implementation of the so called affirmative action I realized that he had no idea what reservation is. He knows that the Dalits have found their new found power and confidence due to their vote bank, but how?
Hope the government realizes the latent potential in spreading the news into the rightful candidate’s ears. Hope the rest of the General masses spread it through word and mouth rather than feeling sad for themselves. Hope the UID project realizes itself on schedule, a rarity in our nation. Hope education rises above being just a dog eats dog business for students. Hope.
The above would not mean benefits in the short run. The gap between the deserving and the benefiter is huge. But it would guarantee that the ones who have taken benefit once are again not standing in line once again for the benignity of the government. In two three generations down the lane, may be the lines would actually be made of people who actually need that benignity.
And I hope to see , and I know it is too distant to be seen , but even though the government has it lines, nobody actually wants to stand in them .