Letter to the Media

13th April 2006

Respected Sir

SUB: The recently proposed reservations in the IIT’s and IIM’s

This memorandum is from more than 1 lakh people in Bangalore whose views we have collected from all over the city about the recently proposed reservation for Other Backward Classes in the IIT’s and IIM’s. On analysing these views we find that the proposition of Mandal II to provide for 49.5% reservations in the IIT’s and IIM’s will have innumerable un-rectifiable repercussions oh the country as a whole, especially in Educational, Social and Political fields.

The following are the disastrous consequences of this decision.

1) For decades, the IIT’s and the IIM’s have been considered as one of the top institutions world over, but with these reservations the high quality output of the IIT’s and IIM’s will drastically reduce.
This will also bring back the caste system, since the first question an interviewer will ask is whether the candidate got into the institution through reservation or merit.
Moreover the cream of meritorious students will be driven abroad of the country due to the lack of good education resulting in a brain drain, something that is already plaguing our country.

2) Today, India finds itself in a race for development, and has dreams of becoming a superpower. China also finds itself in a similar situation but the manner in which it tackles this is such that the scope for reservation is reduced and a uniform platform is created where merit is the deciding criteria. India is going down a path that will result in reservation in every sphere of life, and when caste and creed are the basis for everything from getting into college, to getting a job as opposed to merit, the entire countries productivity will be adversely affected

3) Reservation is like a slow poison for the OBC’s, as it makes them complacent, and also confident of the fact that they don’t need to work very hard to get into a premier institution. This creates a situation where the OBC’s are paralysed without reservations and the scope for removal of reservations is completely, thus making the quota system a self-perpetuating one that hurts everyone.

For the genuine improvement of the OBC’s setting up of required infrastructure is of key importance. If they are given the same quality of primary education as those of the general category, at government expense, they will be able to compete on an equal footing. The government should start giving scholarships, and funding the education of bright students. This way, those who do get into institutions like IIT and IIM will not have to great a problem dealing with the curriculum. When OBC's are thrust into these premier institutions, it is a well-documented fact that they find it hard to cope. The government should be focussing on providing a good base to students so that they can compete on the same level, rather than displacing able, meritorious students who have the required skill sets, with those that don’t.

It is also imperative to note that those people who are of a "backward" class, are not always backward. It is no longer a strict fact that everyone of lower class is economically backward as well. The government should realize that its duty is to uplift the economically backward, irrespective of caste or religion. Not doing so is in fact, discrimination against those who need this help. The worst affected by this are those general category students who are not financially well off, because they get absolutely no help from the government. And moreover, as mentioned before, this upliftment should not be done by implementing a quota, but should instead be improved educational infrastructure at every level.



Yesterday 22.5% Today 49.5% Tomorrow 99.5%
And today’s majority becomes a minority.

The following questions still remain:

1) Was the increase in reservations included in the election manifesto
for the last general elections?
The truth is that it wasn’t. Aren’t millions of people being cheated in this process?

2) The IIT’s and IIM’s were started soon after India became a republic
with aid from countries like USA, Germany, Russia etc. Since then
population of the country has increased dramatically but the country has
not catered to the increased requirements and the number of IIT’s or
IIM’s or institutions of similar calibre has been very limited in comparison with the population. How then can the government fiddle with the education in these premier institutions?

3) How does a country progress when only 50% of the students in its top institutions have the requisite criteria of being the best? Is it possible to win an Olympics gold medal in 100 meters race by running only 50 meters just because he/she is not fit to go all the way? Or will the government ask for reservations even there??

From this analysis, the conclusion drawn is that the government has been extremely thoughtless and unjust in its decision.
The youth of Bangalore will express their voice through a demonstration in front of Raj Bhavan on 17th April. We hope to correct this injustice with the help of the media, and anyone who agrees that this proposal goes against the basic concept of justice.

Thanking you.
Yours truly