Reservation, right or rong ?

The crux of the matter ...
The Honble Minister Arjun Singh and The Govt of India is of the opininion that the Backward Castes and OBC's must be given special quota reservations in Educational Institutions and not having to compete on merit with the other students applying for admissions
This is justified to bring about their uplift for years of neglect in the past.

The normally silent Middle Class majority took to the streets to protest against this reservation policy

Read on ...

Police not protecting them... only reason.. they asked for a life with Equality
They can remember those books which said "Right to Speech"..
They can remember those books which said "Right of Equality"..
Some of the most intelligent students in India...
On an HUNGER STRIKE for 96 hours.... 125 collapsed

Lets give a hand to all, we can make a revolution

Begging for their right to talk..
Class rooms sold for the votes..
Media prohibited from covering..
No Political Parties are on a verge of speech
Lets give a hand to all the students, we can make a revolution
DETERMINE TO GO TO ELECTION BOOTH AND CAST YOUR VOTE
EITHER AGAINST THE PERSON OR PARTY WHO IS IN FAVOURS THE CASTE BASE RESERVATION
OR IN FAVOUR OF THE PERSON OR PARTY WHO IS AGAINST THE CASTE BASE RESERVATION
LET US VOW WITH OUR FRIENDS AND\nFAMILY FOR ABOVE.

Dear friends please spend some time to read this. U can make a difference. \n\nAs u all guys know that there have beeen lot of protests going on against the\nraise in reservations. All of us stuggle for months and years to make our\ndreams come true; No body in the government is bothered about that. This new\npolicy of govt ll be a major road block in the development of our nation and\ncreation of a caste free society. I want to share some developments occurring\nhere with respect to this issue. \n\nAbt 2 weeks back the Students Union ( SU ) of AIIMS ( UGs and Interns ) started\nthe protests. they held peaceful march. Their main demand was to meet Honbl.\nArjun Singh and to express their concern regarding the hike in reservations.\nWhat they got in return. Water canons, tear gas shells and Lathis. Some of the\ninterns who were beaten were my friends and i could see their injury marks.\nWorse, some were girls. Sad isnt it ? Well next few days due to their constant\nstruggle they could get to meet Dr Arjun Singh. No positive response was\nobtained. He however promised that before sending the bill to cabinet, he would\ninform the SU. The students continued to boycott their classes. Other medical\ncolleges of ",1]
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LET US VOW WITH OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR ABOVE.
Pass it on to as many people u know..
Please give a drop of sweat to your Country..
Its we who live here in the future.
A letter from a Doctor ------------------------------------------- Friends, Dear friends please spend some time to read this. U can make a difference. As u all guys know that there have beeen lot of protests going on against the raise in reservations. All of us stuggle for months and years to make our dreams come true; No body in the government is bothered about that. This new policy of govt ll be a major road block in the development of our nation and creation of a caste free society. I want to share some developments occurring here with respect to this issue. Abt 2 weeks back the Students Union ( SU ) of AIIMS ( UGs and Interns ) started the protests. they held peaceful march. Their main demand was to meet Honbl. Arjun Singh and to express their concern regarding the hike in reservations. What they got in return. Water canons, tear gas shells and Lathis. Some of the interns who were beaten were my friends and i could see their injury marks. Worse, some were girls. Sad isnt it ? Well next few days due to their constant struggle they could get to meet Dr Arjun Singh. No positive response was obtained. He however promised that before sending the bill to cabinet, he would inform the SU. The students continued to boycott their classes. Other medical colleges of
delhi also\njoined. We Resident Doctors of AIIMS however were not actively participating.\nWe wore black badges and attended few rallies. \n\n12 th May saw a new beginning. Our medical students were brutally assaulted by Delhi police.\nInjured were brought to AIIMS. Fracture hand bone, head injury, blunt trauma\nabdomen with intra-abdominal bleed; > 300 students were manhandled including\ngirls, stuffed in buses and taken to police station. I remember the dialogue\nfrom RDB. This incident will prove to be a final nail in coffin for our\nCongress Govt. At around 3 pm the\nResident Doctors Association ( RDA ) of AIIMS announced an indefinite strike.\nAll Junior Residents ( Acad or Non-acad ) & Senior Residents boycotted.\nProtest rally was organized that day. \n\n13 th may was the worst day in the history of our Indian Independence and so\ncalled Democracy. Medical Students of Mumbai were beaten like animals. Infact\nanimals also are never treated like this. Every body would have witness the\nbrutality of the Mumbai Police.17 - 18 year old medical students were beaten\nup. Future of our country treated like this? And these are the same Police Men\nwho come to our OPD and ask for peferential treatment. Shame on them. And\nlisten to what Bhujbal said on TV. I thought we need a real RDB now. This\nincident triggered the suppressed fire in each and every individual. We at\nAIIMS went on INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE from 14 th morning joined by medical\nstudents from MAMC Delhi, Lady Harding, RML Hosp, Rohtak Medical College .\nSlowly the fire spread to diferent states of our country. You know what\nhappened in Blore. Calcutta, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Gujrat, Himachal Pradesh,\nKerala boiled in protests. Students of Delhi University ( BSc BCom...) also\njoined the strike ",1]
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delhi also joined. We Resident Doctors of AIIMS however were not actively participating. We wore black badges and attended few rallies. 12 th May saw a new beginning. Our medical students were brutally assaulted by Delhi police. Injured were brought to AIIMS. Fracture hand bone, head injury, blunt trauma abdomen with intra-abdominal bleed; > 300 students were manhandled including girls, stuffed in buses and taken to police station. I remember the dialogue from RDB. This incident will prove to be a final nail in coffin for our Congress Govt. At around 3 pm the Resident Doctors Association ( RDA ) of AIIMS announced an indefinite strike. All Junior Residents ( Acad or Non-acad ) & Senior Residents boycotted. Protest rally was organized that day. 13 th may was the worst day in the history of our Indian Independence and so called Democracy. Medical Students of Mumbai were beaten like animals. Infact animals also are never treated like this. Every body would have witness the brutality of the Mumbai Police.17 - 18 year old medical students were beaten up. Future of our country treated like this? And these are the same Police Men who come to our OPD and ask for peferential treatment. Shame on them. And listen to what Bhujbal said on TV. I thought we need a real RDB now. This incident triggered the suppressed fire in each and every individual. We at AIIMS went on INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE from 14 th morning joined by medical students from MAMC Delhi, Lady Harding, RML Hosp, Rohtak Medical College . Slowly the fire spread to diferent states of our country. You know what happened in Blore. Calcutta, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Gujrat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala boiled in protests. Students of Delhi University ( BSc BCom...) also joined the strike
\n\nThe hunger strike in AIIMS continues. More than 100 students and residents are\nsitting in the heat since 14 th morning just on plain water. Believe me we\nslept in the open last night empty stomach. Its only when rain started pouring\nwe had go inside the audi and slept there. \n\nThe IMA has announced comlete medical bandh today ( 15 th may ). Doctors from\nall over delhi have come to AIIMS and are holding protests. IITs and IIMs have\njoined the strike. Even patients and their attenders were of full support\ntowards this cause. One man said," My father is admitted in NS department\nand is fighting for his life and death, but i declare that i have no objection\nwith ur strike. I support ur movement and the cause for which u re fighting.\nOur country needed this." \n\nAll of us know what is right and what is wrong. Having said that i feel that\neach one of us should follow our conscience. I ve written this message because\ni felt there are many of who might not be aware of the exact situation. I\nrequest each one of u to please forward this to all ur friends, Medicos or\nNon-medicos. Every common man needs to be aware of the injustice and should be\ninvolved in this effort. \n\nThis Movement will be a revolution in our independent country and will be the\nmost significant event after the British Rule. It ll be the cause for the\nrewriting of Indian Constitution where just and meritorious people are not\nsingled out and put to taste the adversities and someone else enjoys the\nbenefit. \n\nThe government cannot hide its inadequacies in providing equal opportunities to\nthe under priviliged in rural areas by increasing the reservations. They have\nruled the country for so many decades and if in this time they are not able to\nprovide equalilty in primary and secondary education for in dian citizens they\ncannot mask their failure by providing reservations at each and every level.\nIts ridiculous. The whole issue of reservations was a political gimmic of the\npresent govt to garner votes. ",1]
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The hunger strike in AIIMS continues. More than 100 students and residents are sitting in the heat since 14 th morning just on plain water. Believe me we slept in the open last night empty stomach. Its only when rain started pouring we had go inside the audi and slept there. The IMA has announced comlete medical bandh today ( 15 th may ). Doctors from all over delhi have come to AIIMS and are holding protests. IITs and IIMs have joined the strike. Even patients and their attenders were of full support towards this cause. One man said," My father is admitted in NS department and is fighting for his life and death, but i declare that i have no objection with ur strike. I support ur movement and the cause for which u re fighting. Our country needed this." All of us know what is right and what is wrong. Having said that i feel that each one of us should follow our conscience. I ve written this message because i felt there are many of who might not be aware of the exact situation. I request each one of u to please forward this to all ur friends, Medicos or Non-medicos. Every common man needs to be aware of the injustice and should be involved in this effort. This Movement will be a revolution in our independent country and will be the most significant event after the British Rule. It ll be the cause for the rewriting of Indian Constitution where just and meritorious people are not singled out and put to taste the adversities and someone else enjoys the benefit. The government cannot hide its inadequacies in providing equal opportunities to the under priviliged in rural areas by increasing the reservations. They have ruled the country for so many decades and if in this time they are not able to provide equalilty in primary and secondary education for in dian citizens they cannot mask their failure by providing reservations at each and every level. Its ridiculous. The whole issue of reservations was a political gimmic of the present govt to garner votes.
\n\nIts time that things are not taken for granted by any one. Let it be a senior minister\npolice or anyone else. Whole of our nation needs to get aware of the amount of\nhardwork and sacrifice we put to achieve our dreams. We should not allow anyone\nto make a mockery of our struggle in future. \n\nThank U Friends. \n\nDr Kiran, \n\nJunior Resident, \n\nInternal Medicine, \n\nAll India Institute Of Medical Sciences, \nNew Delhi \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n",0]
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Its time that things are not taken for granted by any one. Let it be a senior minister police or anyone else. Whole of our nation needs to get aware of the amount of hardwork and sacrifice we put to achieve our dreams. We should not allow anyone to make a mockery of our struggle in future.
Thank U Friends.
Dr Kiran, Junior Resident, Internal Medicine, All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

a forward from Umesh Mehta


another view point from Nagesh Vishnumurthy"


War of independence

There is a second war of independence being fought by the students of this country. The reservation agitation has divided the country and exposed the countries incompetent parliamentarians who choose the irresponsible approach of creating reservation in order to bring social justice in society clearly ignoring the "creamy layer" effect and the ineffectiveness of such schemes in the past.

"Upper castes have been able to buy their way" vs. "Merit should be the only consideration for allotment of seats". The argument assumes that all upper castes are rich which is incorrect. Also it must be brought to light that the institutions in which the admission is sought the admission is provided strictly based on merit and hence, the argument that upper castes can "buy their way" is also factually incorrect.

Some more ridiculous reservation statements

Reservation of 50% of seats in government buses to OBC, SC and STs.
Reservation of 50% of seats in parliament to OBC, SC and STs.
Reservation of 50% of posts in army, navy and air force to OBC, SC and STs.
Reservation of 50% of Indian Cricket team for OBC, SC and STs.
Reservation of 50% of characters in movies to OBC, SC and STs.
Reservation of 50% in all media, TV and news channels.
Reservation of 50% roads, railways and airlines of the country.

It does not make sense to reserve seats in the name of social justice. Let's divide the country into two parts and let all the OBC, SC and ST stay in one part of the country and the rest stay in the other part, much like the India-Pakistan divide in 1947, so that the problem is once for all solved.

The fact that these institutions are subsidized by the government does not give it right to allot seats to anybody as per its whims and fancies. The fact is that government runs on tax payer's money and it is obliged to show some respect to these tax payers in terms of honest utilization of public resources to productive purposes. Allotting seats arbitrarily is against efficient utilization of resource principle.

Instead of basing the scheme based on economic status, which also buy the way can be forged and faked in this country, the government uses a simple barometer called "caste" to discriminate amongst its own people, clearly going against the principles of the constitution. A more prudent step would be to find out if the person of such a caste is really economically backward and provide him with the benefit. But the problem in this country is that there ninety percent of the population, ie ninety crore people are poor and need help. Government does not have funds nor guts to go in this direction. However, it doesn't make sense to allot a seat to a person who has not studied hard and does not deserve it and also simultaneously deprive the much deserving candidate of the seat.

The problem lies in the fact that in the country with its meager resources there are not enough seats to satisfy all. Each year thousands of lives are destroyed because they have not been able score a few marks in these highly competitive exams. This hyper competition creates tremendous amount of pressure among these young students who dream and aspire for better life. The fact is that the country is a poor country and the poorest are looking at the less poor and feeling jealous.

Just because a person belong to an upper caste does not give the government the right to deprive him of a future. The only thing government knows to do is mediocritize the competent institutions which have brought fame and repute to the country in the international arena.

Government must find means to privatize education and try to increase the pool of available seats so that there are seats available for all. With the high demand low supply scenario and government intention of tilting the scale in favor of its own vote bank creates an increased demand and reduced supply scenario adversely impacting certain sections of society. This creates an even more hyper competitive scenario and kills the futures of hundreds of bright people of this country and wastage of raw talent of this country which would go waste.

In a country like us, were we require every available talent for the growth and development of the country we cannot allow the merit resources of the country go waste. There needs to be methodologies develop to ensure that higher education is made available to all and the needy. The government must open up higher education to foreign investment and private sector investment. If these students cannot get the much deserving meritocratic seat at least let them take loans and study in private institutions.

Some genuine Pro-reservation arguments:
1. Suppressed since centuries and thus need a 'reservation lever' to help to come to general categories.
2. All resources were controlled by so-called 'upper castes'.
3. Upper castes do not allow inter-caste marriages with lower castes.
Some Valid Anti-Reservation arguments:
Reservation was legally meant for initial 10 years, if it failed then how will it succeed now when caste scenarios are much different. There are only two major castes - poor and rich!! Rest all is immaterial.
Equal opportunities should be provided at lower level (primary schooling), Looking at competition to get a job in India (and also considering NO financial support from government to unemployed), starting the reservation from Job level and down to education leaving behind primary education in unjustified.
Some elitist opinion:
Pro-reservation 1: Often century old suppression is given as an excuse to ask for reservation. This is not valid. Because if we start correcting history and past. Then lots of other issues will creep in. What will be the counter argument to Ram-Mandir in Ayodhya. Should not we correct history doings there? Who should be held responsible for acknowledging British Raj, Should not the today's "Raj Gharane" like Sindhiyas etc. be punished for their deeds at that time. Bottom line is we have to draw a baseline somewhere. And keep updating that baseline after regular periods.
2. In past all resources were controlled by "whoever has muscle power". That time society had worked that way, do we want to create a partial system targeting them now. Indian politicians are running after number game in vote bank politics. At the time when they should prompt people to control families they are asking otherwise. Won't this lead us to another population explosion?
3. This is just one criterion. There are 1000s of other criteria's. And this will further spilt that instead of joining.
What should the government do?
1. They be given equal opportunities in terms of primary education.
2. % of reservation get reduced every year.
Loans should be provided.
Financial conditions should be a weight age for govt jobs.
The fact is that political parties failed to create infrastructure and opportunities for its citizens, now to divert the attention from their failure they are asking people to fight themselves and get benefit from it.
Was not it govt responsibility to create schools and other education opportunities? Was it not govt who should think of providing employment opportunities for ALL?
Was not each politician responsible for collecting money for self use under the various fraud schemes? And now when Indian civilians are waking up they want to again create acrimonies to benefit again.

Imagine that there are hundred seats for a college and you got the fifty first rank in the entrance exam for the college then the recent government extension of the quota would mean that you would not get the seat. This literally means halving the available seats in all major educational institutions with the remaining half reserved for the government vote banks. This move of the government would double the level of competition in the already competitive general category with currently 63 candidates competing for 1 IIT seat, which would get double to a 126 candidates competing for the seat.

While the government owns and funds these institutions and it's can literally provide these seats to any sections of the society it wishes to, the policies of the government should reflect the future direction in which the government wants to drive the country towards. It naturally means that government in democracies at least should not be insensitive to the moans of the indignant population, but then our democracy has traditionally been a skewed sycophantic one with favors to community or caste in return for votes being accepted norm. Hence, political parties do not hesitate to stoop to ever increasing levels of indecency in order to gain the patronage of few communities.

The whole process is branded under Social engineering without understanding the complete implications of such act on the society. Social engineering of any sorts creates tension on those benefited by the process and creates mistrust among those who lost out. The trick in the process is to create patterns of change without effecting adversely large amounts of masses. However, the blatant actions of the government literally throw the process of consultation and consensus out of kilter. While on one hand it has created unnecessary confusion on the exam going students creating caution and worry over their future on the other hand it has stirred up emotional discussion in the media on the effect of such unthought-of moves on the fabric of society.

Government, barring few dictatorial countries or in communist countries, does not act unilaterally, but provides a framework for consultative discussions on a given controversial issue and strives to resolve issues amicably. It needs to be sensitive to the concerns of people and not create and enlarge the 50/50 divide in the entire spectrum of progressive growth in society, which effectively implies the rest 50 percent have to pay for the social engineering experiment of the successive governments.

The experiment is a great failure so far and not backed by economic theories of any kind to support it. While the competitive edge of nation lies in its ability to grow its human capital the deliberate attempts to undermine merit with the pretext of enlarging the education base is baseless. Populist governments continue to seek pervert pleasure in pursuing appeasing policies ignorant of the negative impact of such policies on the spectrum of economic activities and deterioration of competitive edge of the nation.

'Trickle theory' suggests economic benefits trickle down to the weaker sections of the society. The job of the government is to ensure that economic benefits reach the weaker sections of society irrespective of their caste. The government should provide schemes of providing free education, hostel and health benefits to the weaker sections of the society instead of subverting the system to pass on the benefits to the weaker sections. The net result is that necessary momentum needed to transform the society into a elite egalitarian one would be lost and country would continue to hurdle around problems of past.

A 50% reservation in Indian Cricket team would ensure that we would not win any match in the future. A 50% reservation in the Bollywood or other film industry would be catastrophic on their profits. Similarly, Consistent favoritism and subjugation of merit results in pathetic performance in successive Olympic games for the country.

The whole process of social re-engineering is a activity which would takes millenniums to be over completely and in providing patch up solutions and looking at the problems with jaundiced eyes will give a solution which would create large set of problems and abnormalities for the country to be difficult to sustain. An economic inferiority cannot be resolved by subjugating the educational system, but economically poorer sections of population needs to be provided with funds and free and high quality education without showing favoritism by reducing the bar of entry for these students which is criminal injustice to the other students. It is similar to copying in the exams where one set of students are allowed to copy for 30% of the marks even without attempting these exams.

Why should the government take away seats from merit and give it to the non-merit community based system? All it needs to do is institute policies of growth for these educational institutions where by the merit based seats would increase at 5% per year every year, while the non-merit based seats increase at 10% per year. In this way, government has regularly increased the non-merit based seats at increasing levels and accelerated the process of social engineering without impacting the regular merit based students.

While the government has every right to allot any seats in the educational system to anybody its wants, for an efficient democracy to work, it is necessary that the government actions are perceived to be just and fair, lest the perception of unfairness would result in distress and disillusionment among large number of young minds resulting in creating a more sociological taboos and stigmas in the society.

Every problem facing society gets a political and social angle to it. In solving the problem of one kind the government must ensure that they do not create mammoth problems for the future of the country. Indiscriminate policies by ignorant politicians will act as slow poison which will kill the nation a slow but sure death.


Wipro chairman Mr. Ajim prem ji's comment on reservation:

I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I completely support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this. Let's start the reservation with our cricket team. We should have 10 percent reservation for muslims. 30 percent for OBC, SC/ST like that. Cricket rules should be modified accordingly. The boundary circle should be reduced for an SC/STplayer. The four hit by an OBC player should be considered as a six and asix hit by a OBC player should be counted as 8 runs. An OBC player scoring 60 runs should be declared as a century.We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like should not bowl fast balls to our OBC player. Bowlers should bowlmaximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an OBC player. Any delivery above this speed should be made illegal.Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an OBCplayer should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters.There can be reservation in Government jobs also. Let's recruit SC/ST and OBC pilots for aircrafts which are carrying the ministers and politicians (that can really help the country.. )Ensure that only SC/ST and OBC doctors do the operations for the ministersand other politicians. (Another way of saving the country..)

Let's be creative and think of ways and means to guide INDIA forward...Let's show the world that INDIA is a GREAT country. Let's be proud of being an INDIAN..May the good breed of politicans like ARJUN SINGH long live...

a forward from Priti

_________________________________________________________________One a pro-reservation kitty speaks out ...


As kids grow up thier parents tell them of thier caste, eg. "our whole family are doctors, it is in our blood - those scheduled castes are born to clean toilets etc. How can we let them come up to our 'Aukaad'?" It is basically statements like these ingrained since childhood in the subconcious of students that has lead them to protest to such an extent.Here are some of the arguments given by the students and why it is total shit.1. Meritless students entering will lead to inefficiency - We all know in India that many folks get into these so called prestigious institutes like AIIMS, IIT's and IIM's by paying touts lakhs to cheat in the exams. Even the marking system in exams is faulty. Ever wondered why those super intelligent classmates of yours never got into AIIMS/ IIT ? Those who get into these institutes maybe 90 percenters just coz they answered certain questions right on a certain lucky day - this should not mean that those who get 70 -80 percent have no merit -are useless - will be bad doctors. A Doctor should be a caring, compassionate person, genuinely interested in the welfare of patients - not a person who holds the entire country to ransom with threats to kill sick and defenceless patients by not attending to them, just because 'life' is a non-negotiable commodity.2. I would not want to go to a doctor who got through on quota - What guarantee do we have that so called general candidates will make good doctors ? Many of these folks have radical ideas like Euthanasia. Those coming from doctor families learn tricks of the trade like not fully treating a patient so that he keeps coming back to you again and again for medicines. Anyway, all AIIMS interns don't become practising doctors - some do MBA and join the private sector, some go abroad, most women get married and become housewives, some like Palaash Sen become indi-flop stars. What about that weird naked AIIMS doctor - Sandhu with the guitar - forget about brain surgery I would'nt even let him check my pulse !!3. Quotas have been there for the past 58 years, why still have it - that's coz over the past years the upper castes in power at the centre, state and local levels have never allowed the lower castes to make use of the quota system. Money sanctioned in the budget for thier development was siphoned off into the pockets of the powerful, leaving the SC/ST as poor and helpless as before. 4. Primary Education in the solution - when every Indian Citizen is provided equal quality education, then only we can talk about removing quotas. As of today, education in unequal and hence quotas are neccessary.6. People are making fake SC/ST certificates - is a police problem. Just coz some subvert the law does'nt mean you repeal the law. eg. Just coz some women file fake rape cases should not mean that there should be no law against rape.7. Only Creamy layer SC/ST's are benefiting - that's thier good fortune coz changing the law to exclude them would be difficult to legislate.8. Police are using undue violence on the protesters - students all through history are known for getting over emotional on various causes - shout abuses, yell insulting slogans, make threats, form a pushing shoving crowd etc. Just coz the media censored thier bad behaviour does'nt mean it did not happen, as everyone who was ever a student knows. I still recall kids from DPS, Modern etc. holding a Dharna and threatening to break computers, when we were told that classes were cancelled due to a power cut at NIIT CP during a summer course. Cops are provided with lathis/batons and water cannons in all countries, in case the protesters 'Josh' increases and is used to disperse the crowd so public property is not destroyed. It also does not help, when publicity seekers like Navjot Singh Sidhu start 'Bhadka-ing' the students with his 'Krantikaari' quotes learnt from old hindi publications.9. The congress will lose the next election - No Way !! coz we all know that students never vote. Most of themeither don't have ID cards or are never in thier constituency on voting day. The main vote bank of the Congress are the Scheduled Castes and other minorities that were ignored by the pro-rich BJP. As the Congress is now in power, they have a duty to fulfill thier pre election promises to thier voters so that they get elected next time also. Why should they bother about hot-headed upper caste Anti-Reservation students that would never vote for them even if thier demands were fulfilled ?
posted by Cyberkitty @ 10:03 PM 4 Comments links to this post

More News from Vivek

Sunday, April 09, 2006

After IITs and IIMs,Arjun Singh Demands Reservation for OBCs in H1-B Visas
New DelhiMr. Arjun Singh, Union Minister for Human Resources Development, today demanded a 49.5% quota for Other Backward Classes in the visas issued by the US Government to workers seeking to enter the United States.This comes in the wake of his decision to extend quotas in India's famed IITs and IIMs to this same percentage.Mr. Singh has justified his demand by saying that with the opposition of Corporate India to the reservations, it was clear that they would be staying away from recruiting from these institutes. Hence there was a need to 'absorb' their graduates and who better to do so than the Immigration Department of the United States of America.The United States Government has reacted sharply to the proposal and has refused to bow down to the demands of the Indian Government. It has threatened to derail the Indo-US Nuclear agreement, if the Indian Government pushed the Reservation demand too hard.
posted by vivek_2502 at 12:40 AM