Anti Reservation Movement

Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Anti-reservation movement Aman Jagannathan, 18, had never been arrested before. Neither had he ever publicly protested against the government. Last year, the police picked him up twice -- while protesting at India Gate and outside the Supreme Court -- in New Delhi. He and his friends were in custody for 6 to 7 hours. A friendly and eloquent medical student at India's best medical college, Aman is unsure if he wants his identity revealed as he looks back at the past year. "I know I am not saying anything illegal but I just want to be careful," says the second year MBBS student at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, sitting on the steps of the Institute's playground. "I don't want to be known on campus as being against OBCs because I am not. I am just against the idea of reservation. I don't want to be misunderstood." Last year, the government decided to increase the number of reserved seats in central government-run elite educational institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and AIIMS by 27 per cent for the Other Backward Classes, taking reservations up to 50 per cent. Students on the campus were upset and agitated. Aman knew he could not just sit back. He wanted to do something. He wanted to be heard. "I am not against social justice but I feel merit should be appreciated. Reserve seats for those who don't have the economic means. Reserve seats for the children of those in the armed forces. Nobody will protest if you reserve seats for those who earn less than a lakh every year. Why should caste be the overarching factor? It's not my fault I was born a Brahmin." In December, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill, 2006 was passed in Parliament. But for the students, their fight was far from over. 1 comments: Fonceur said... Nice post. But when i see the whole Anti-reservation movement. I feel very pissed off. The whole anti reservation movement is just a toy which government gives us to play. we play with it for sometime. while we are playing with we forget all the other important things and the government successfully hides all their faults. Whenever there is an election they come up with these kind of issues because they might have not done anything solid to highlight. They just increase the percentage 2%-5%. What is the difference it is going to make it will be just 10 or 15 or maximum 30 people getting a seat in the premier institutes of the country. If the government wanted to really uplift the minority then they should have tried and improved the quality of education given to the minority communities and make them eligible for the super competitive exams. If they really are genuine with the claim of bieng the aam aadmi party or the india shining party then they should make sure that each and every child of the country gets atleast the primary education. I am not interested in the Anti Reservation movement as the whole movement is baseless and self centered. Commenting for and against the movement is the same. we are just falling for the greatest trick of the government. April 17, 2007 9:03 AM