Reservation

The best way to bring the the so-called socially-backward classes into the mainstream is to take education to their doorsteps.

The government ought to have established schools and colleges of all types; professional and others in areas where the OBCs are dominant. It should have given them sops for enrolling in them. This would have helped the sociallydeprived classes to be on par with the mainstream. The government and politicians have failed miserably in this regard.

In todays materialistic world, which is driven by consumerism and the easy life (the mainstream), poverty appears to be the worst crime. It is the economically-backward poor who are the really deprived lot. A poor man does not have access to anything let alone education.He knows that income certificates can be obtained without any difficulty for a consideration.

In India, where corruption is a way of life, why cannot the same logic also be applied for getting caste certificates? Rao talks of a “Brahminical order” being the deciding factor in the caste system.

This may have been so historically, but in today’s socio-political environment, being a Brahmin is a disadvantage. How many Brahmins are there in government service? How many Brahmin MPs/MLAs are there? A microscopic miniscule, I am sure.

So where does the “Brahminical order” come in? Reservation will only increase backwardness. At present, being backward has become a privilege. It is time, politicians realise that the best way forward is to jettison the word “caste” from one’s vocabulary.

This is evident from the fact that sons and daughters of so-called socially-backward politicians and bureaucrats continue to be backward yet occupy coveted government positions. To what extent these people are really backward is anybody’s guess!