I have some good news and some bad news for my readers…………..for first time readers follow this link to get to know the background of this post…..
The good news first: I have been elected to the managing committee of the society in which I reside. Yes, it does feel good, a sense of responsibility has suddenly crept in but the bad news has dampened the enthusiasm a bit…
Now the bad news: I was the only woman who stood for the election. Efforts to mobilize more women failed and I was the lone crusader there!! More bad news: more politics by the men ensured that they got one man to withdraw from the election thus making it only five members: thus making it a case of all nominated (me included in that) as elected unopposed!!!
Shucks! I was looking forward to an election process and was gearing up to meet different individuals………..
Anyway, all that is history now……the road ahead is full of challenges, obstacles and I am for sure looking forward to tread this path……
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Islands of Excellence?
I am back again!
I am finding myself at a very confusing position in life at the moment……..the burning topic of discussion these days in India is the reservation issue: yes! Its come to haunt us again after almost 15 years……….
Initially when Mandal 1 happened I reacted against the whole thing – I didn’t have all my facts right and probably I was too naïve then and was carried away with what near and dear ones told me……… as I started working in the development sector I began to understand the merits and demerits of reservation……… I realized that not everyone has had the opportunity to enter the corridors of a school……..i realized that several of them had been ostracized for no fault of theirs and I realized very painfully that I belonged a class that was once considered an oppressor. I felt history had to be undone and people from the backward classes needed to be given a platform or an opportunity to get into school. I developed this opinion despite knowing that I had lost several of my cousins to foreign universities…….never to return again to their motherland…….
Over years, I also saw how this reservation was misused and politically motivated…..have seen people converting to some backward class or the other to take advantage of the benefits……..have seen several people who are truly backward (in every sense – socially, economically, culturally – with no access to anything in life) who have been denied the benefits of these reservations. As most Indians, I guess I came to terms with the fact that as in most other things……there are loopholes in this policy as well….
Now, its mandal 2 time. Now it’s the turn of higher education institutions who have to reserve seats for the backward classes. If mandal 1 was launched with the purpose of giving everyone a platform at the elementary level then does this mean that we have failed miserably at that and so mandal 2 is also being introduced? I am of the firm belief that higher education has to be purely on merit and nothing else…….. The IITs and the IIMs certainly belong to only merit category and the larger public interest dictates that they take in the very best and train them to standards that are second to none internationally.
(p.s - thanks Gugu for pushing me to get back!!)
I am finding myself at a very confusing position in life at the moment……..the burning topic of discussion these days in India is the reservation issue: yes! Its come to haunt us again after almost 15 years……….
Initially when Mandal 1 happened I reacted against the whole thing – I didn’t have all my facts right and probably I was too naïve then and was carried away with what near and dear ones told me……… as I started working in the development sector I began to understand the merits and demerits of reservation……… I realized that not everyone has had the opportunity to enter the corridors of a school……..i realized that several of them had been ostracized for no fault of theirs and I realized very painfully that I belonged a class that was once considered an oppressor. I felt history had to be undone and people from the backward classes needed to be given a platform or an opportunity to get into school. I developed this opinion despite knowing that I had lost several of my cousins to foreign universities…….never to return again to their motherland…….
Over years, I also saw how this reservation was misused and politically motivated…..have seen people converting to some backward class or the other to take advantage of the benefits……..have seen several people who are truly backward (in every sense – socially, economically, culturally – with no access to anything in life) who have been denied the benefits of these reservations. As most Indians, I guess I came to terms with the fact that as in most other things……there are loopholes in this policy as well….
Now, its mandal 2 time. Now it’s the turn of higher education institutions who have to reserve seats for the backward classes. If mandal 1 was launched with the purpose of giving everyone a platform at the elementary level then does this mean that we have failed miserably at that and so mandal 2 is also being introduced? I am of the firm belief that higher education has to be purely on merit and nothing else…….. The IITs and the IIMs certainly belong to only merit category and the larger public interest dictates that they take in the very best and train them to standards that are second to none internationally.
(p.s - thanks Gugu for pushing me to get back!!)
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