G&D ASSIGNMENT – 2 by Shubham Barik (P41048)

Hi,

I COME FROM A WELL TO DO FAMILY. I ALSO BELONG TO OBC CATEGORY. I USE MY QUOTA TO GET INTO GOVT. COLLEGES
& JOBS. AND I FLAUNT MY SUCCESS AS IF IT WERE A RESULT OF MY HARDWORK.

Have I caught your attention yet? Good. Now please proceed.

I have come across a plethora of memes, posts, witty comments etc. about the reservation system. You might have seen them too.
Some of them were so funny, even I couldn’t help but, forward them. It was all good and breezy until something really weird happened
recently (Which I am NOT going to discuss). You see, the problem with this popular meme-culture, or humor in general, is that it
normalizes a wrong idea to a certain extent after which it just starts to feel right.

So, basically there are 4-5 reservations or quotas as we know them. NC-OBC, ST, SC, Ex-Servicemen, Women, PwD & the latest
addition EWS (This is all I know. Might be missing a few). Majority of the population thinks there should not be any reservation
whatsoever and slightly intellectual fraction of this population thinks only reservation based on physical disabilities and economic status
(irrespective of caste) are justified because it sounds logical. Right? Well, not really.

Did you know,

 India’s rank in Gender Inequality Index (2017) is 127 out of 160. Percentage of females over the age of 25 with secondary
education is just 39% as compared to 63.5% in case of males. Besides crime against women is on rise.
 Untouchability, in its literal sense, is the practice of ostracizing a minority group by segregating them from the mainstream by
social custom and sadly it still exists in parts of India. Even today, people don’t drink water offered by a person of lower caste.
You can easily relate to this if you have seen “Article 15”. Although there is no legal mandate, but since time immemorial, menial
jobs like cleaning of sewers and disposing of dead remains of animals have been carried out by people of lower castes
exclusively.

I know, I know. “What has this to do anything with us? Nothing. Right?” WRONG: If you consider yourself as an Indian then it has
everything to do with you.

Martin Luther king Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

Truth is,

 Representation of women in Lok Sabha is merely 14%. As of 2014, women accounted for 3% in Indian Army, 2.8% in Navy & 8.5%
in Air force. Overall women make 27.2% of the labor force but women hold only 15% of the board seats and 6% of board chairs.
 According to the UNDP and the OPHI’s global multidimensional poverty index 2018, every second person belonging to the
Scheduled Tribe and every third person belonging to the Scheduled Castes remain poor. The report covered 640 districts
across the country and compared data over a 10-year period between 2005-06 to 2015-16. The report also found that 50% of all
tribals in the country are poor and as are 33% of Dalits and 33% of Muslims.

And guess what, Martin Luther king also said, “In the end, we will not remember the word of our enemies but the silence of our friends”

Still think this has nothing to do with you???

“Ok, fine. Reservation is necessary to alleviate the sufferings of the oppressed. But why should a rich ST/SC/OBC/Woman enjoy the same
privileges?”

Embrace yourselves, here comes the tricky part.

Did you know that even today:

 Women are constantly being undermined and not given enough credit for their hard work. In 2017, a study by Monster Salary
Index showed the overall gender pay gap in India was 20%.
 Students belonging to minorities still have to deal with inferiority complex as the society keeps on reminding them how they got
this opportunity because of their birth and not their merit.
On May 22, 2019, Dr. Payal Tadvi, a 26-year-old Schedule Tribe gynecologist, committed suicide in Mumbai. She told her family
that she was subjected to ragging by three “upper” caste women doctors who allegedly called her casteist slurs, made fun of her
for being a tribal on WhatsApp groups and threatened to not allow her to enter operation theatres.

Now be honest, and ask yourself:

 Do you really consider your female colleagues/peers as equals even when they are not around?
  Deep down can you stop attributing the success of your friend, who belongs to a minority, to the fact that he/she has
reservation?

If yes, then you are a super cool person and India needs more people like you.

If no, then you, my friend, are the reason why rich ST/SC/OBC/Women also need to have reservations.

To all the “General Males” present out there, when you complain that you did not get a seat in a govt. institution or job despite all your
hard work, you have my empathy and utmost respect. And yes, it’s totally unfair to you. But you have to understand that your female
peers or those friends from a minority, who were awarded the seat/job instead of you, are not your enemies. They are victims of the
same system that discriminates with both of you but in different social circles. You are denied admission to colleges and they are
denied entry to the temples. You have to pay more fees in college for the same course and they get less salary for the same job.

Only the unfairness is fairly distributed.

But why am I saying all this? Aren’t these things well known to each and everyone of us? Yes, we all know this stuff. We have read
about it, talked about it, even participated in GDs about it but only failed to actually think about it. So here is an appeal to each and
everyone of you. Please do not fall prey to this system which is fueled by communal hatred, casteism and sexism. I know its difficult to
not resent someone who seems to get more opportunities than us but this vicious cycle of abhorrence has to stop. Let’s not hate or
undermine our peers or think less of them just because of their reservations. The only way we can get rid of caste and gender-based
reservation is by working towards creating a gender-neutral society where everyone is actually seen as equals and not just in the books.
And the first step in this process is to accept that there is a need of reservation system in this country at present.

In conclusion,

I COME FROM A WELL TO DO FAMILY. I ALSO BELONG TO OBC CATEGORY. I USE MY QUOTA TO GET INTO GOVT. COLLEGES
& JOBS. AND I FLAUNT MY SUCCESS BECAUSE IT IS A RESULT OF MY HARDWORK. AND SO SHOULD YOU. 

#PRORESERVATION