Quota Row

( If you have not read my mail )

As you all already know, the Indian central government has , in its usual unending wisdom, begun yet another crusade into the vast reaches of stupidity ( Quote : I believe that the Universe and human stupidity are infinite. I am not sure about the former. - Einstein ) . The politicians have decided ( although the heads of the institutions concerned have said, and I quote the eloquent words of the one heads of the IITs - " What ?!!! " ) to increase the already high quotas given to SCs &STs. Now, I have no objection to the idea of helping people out, but,

1. Institutions like the IITs take only the best. That is the purpose of "Selection" examinations. By doing this, the government is basically ensuring the people get in, not by merit, but through their heritage. What this leads to is even worse - people get into these institutions, are unable to cope, and drop out later. Just to give you an idea of the extent of this, in the last 2 years, in K'pur alone, five times the students that dropped out from the general category dropped out from the "quota" seats.

2. This entire quota hullabaloo is obviously nothing more than a political move - if someone really wanted to help the BCs and BTs, then they should, and would have tried to get the number of more primary and secondary level institutions increased, which would really help a lot of people - with this quota thing, how many are getting helped ?

3. The worst part : medical students. Firstly, the number of seats is very small. Secondly, and more importantly, what most people seem to be overlooking is the fact that education has a purpose - these students are learning to become doctors; these people are going to go out into the world, and people's lives, maybe even yours or mine are going to be on the line. I, for one, will not trust my life to any but the best. I will not trust my life to somebody who became a doctor, not by merit, but because of his or her origins.

The politicians of India today ( curiously, this title has become synonymous with .. .well to find out what it has become synonymous with, just go to your local Cha and Paan shop, and kick the tablle over. What you will hear is what I cannot type .) have begun this henious act. Unfortunately, as Carl Parker once said - If you take all the fools out of the Legislature, it will no longer be a representative body. Well, since they started it, let us be the ones to end it.

P.S. : "Henious", eh ? Guess why ...