The other side of merit & Mandal II- The Times of India

The other side of merit & Mandal II- The Times of India

Amazing. The byline of this article in indiatimes says "(Vivek Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University)". This is one confused prof, I think!

He doesn't like the fact that "Whenever the issue of reservation comes up for public debate, the entire Dalit and backward community is painted as devoid of any merit without caring about the fact that a majority of them survive without reservation". Not true, my dear prof. It's the people who get into schools and colleges and then into jobs without having gone through the same rigorous selection process as the other "normal" candidates, whose merit is being questioned. And again, it is relative to the people who have gone through the selection process, they may very well be better than the "normal" candidates at the very bottom of the heap.

I would have imagined it was a very simple situation, which even a professor of sociology should find possible to understand. However, he then goes on to crib about the state of the country and how it has been a garbage dump since the beginning of time - and tries to pin the blame on what he calls the "meritorious upper-class". Gimme a break! Quite apart from the fact that India was a large economy and a wealthy nation in historical times, I think that the historical failure (or otherwise) of the people in power has nothing to do with the issue at hand. (Actually, in the same vein that he writes, I could easily say that the situation would have been much, much worse if the "meritorious upper-class" has not been in power.)

He makes one point which makes it difficult to believe that he has any touch with reality. That of IIT/IIM graduates wanting to leave the country even before they... er, "pass out" is the phrase he uses, "graduate" is what I prefer. He says "Why is that career becomes more important than service to nation to many IITians and IIMians, who wait to go abroad even before they pass out?" Service to nation? In the tradition of "ask not what the nation does for you, ask what you do for it?"

Does he find it difficult to think of these people making contributions to humanity as a whole? Going to places where it is possible to conduct research in ways that this country refuses to enable? Or simply to a better life, the chance to earn some money so that their families back home can live a bit better? Why is he under the impression that everyone in the elite institutes of India are filthy rich brats? Or does he really think that all the so-called backward castes are philanthropists and given a chance to "pass out" of IITs would then proceed to make this country Utopia?

On the second page, he blasts doctors. Why do politicians go abroad for treatment if the "upper-class" doctors are so good? Does that reflect badly on the doctors or on the politicians, I wonder. Of course, all the "videshis" coming to India for medical tourism are idiots.

Similarly, sports, filmdom, exports, he bashes them all. To hear him say it, you'd think that all people belonging to upper-castes are somehow dysfunctional, that they've made a mess of society and the economy and sports.

Sports... no gold medal in the Olympics despite having no reservations. Hello? Sports is more or less controlled by the government, which does have reservations. The real reason, of course, is that we do not take sports seriously, it's not considered a viable career option by many; and quite frankly I think we have bigger problems to solve than getting a medal in the Olympics.

Films? Yes, it's a closed ecosystem. But, it's closed for EVERYONE, even the so-called upper castes. As I understand it, you need a sponsor, even if you are an "elite Brahman".

"None of the top industrialists is a first generation industrialist." So? What do you expect them to do about it? Throw away everything that their fathers built so that some prof somewhere can feel good about it? I guess a certain Mr. Murthy is not an industrialist, so he probably doesn't qualify for being first-generation?

Simple question? Even assuming that all his upper-class bashing is justified, how will reserving jobs help to change the situation?

Finally, he says: "That is why a number of social scientists have argued that the rewards in the educational and economic system are not based on merit. The educational and occupational attainments are related to family background and a number of circumstantial parameters rather than talent and ability. That is why people with the same educational qualification do not get the same type of jobs and those in the same jobs do not get equal remuneration."

Dude, NOTHING in this universe is fair. Certainly family background and "pedigree" matter. (If you want to have a level playing field, see my earlier post about the child pool.) Luck matters. Being in the right place at the right time. Taking the right risks, utilizing the correct opportunities, knowing when to say no, when to say yes. If you don't like the fact that a person's family background should matter, how can you ever be a proponent of reservation policies, that effectively say that since I belong to a certain community I deserve something that another person belonging to a different community does not?

If you insist on having some form of "social justice" then make all education completely free, in all institutes. Make all textbooks, equipment, tution, food, accommodation free, so that anyone can access education. That's probably an acceptable playing field. But don't chop off a person's legs because he is taller than you are and you want a level playing field.