Quota Ghotala | Why do the Yadavas oppose the Women’s Reservation Bill?

Genuinely tried to find the answer to why would a substantial chunk of the representatives of people (read parliamentarians) oppose the bill in its purest form – 33% quota for women. Most of the said opposition comes from the Yadavas who are supposed to be from the family of Sri Krishna, who is well-known to empower women. Empowering someone doesn’t necessarily have to mean making them the President, but empowering really means listening to them, letting them be part of the decision making, making sure all basic necessities are met and they get equal position in society i.e. make them ready to battle for merit on equal terms. You make me more vulnerable if you give me a position for which I am not yet ready. This has happened very evidently in the IT industry where a 5 yr experience loyal candidate is promoted to a Managerial position just because we don’t have a better experienced candidate in the vicinity. Look at the downfall of the Indian IT Industry in terms of Project Managerial capabilities. Of-course here there is no Quota but ruthless opportunity as the culprit. Some argue that age/experience doesn’t always matter; True; but how many of us are of the caliber of Shivaji or Akbar to take on at the tender age and experience the onslaught of the most out-going and open young generation of workers. <side note : the Microsoft dictionary had Akbar but missed Shivaji – dictionary team are you locale sensitive?>

Coming back to the main topic, it’s very evident (couldn’t pull out the numbers) that the Quota system in the form it is used, has failed to empower the so-called minorities to it’s fullest extent. It has helped the college kids to identify and discriminate among peer group on basis of races. Haven’t you heard of the bright kid who scored 98.5 percentile and missed the seat in the General category while his friend got through with 97.5 percentile in the same institute which favored him through Quota. Both are at the same financial level, eat the same quality of healthy food and have access to the same facilities.

Take an example in the scientific world. We keep harping that we have the best minds on Earth. If this is true then why we as a country win a Noble price in the various science categories once in 50 years. The answer is no surprise that we hardly have the numbers in terms of state-of-art CEO (centre of excellence) in the scientific field. The very few that are present will rightly be engaged in solving pressing scientific applications rather than breaking the boundaries of known science and technology. Aren’t we neglecting the scientific community to get what it wants and in the time-frame it needs it. Why should procuring a nitrogen cylinder be month long bureaucratic procedure in one of our frontline institutes by the end of which the young scientist loses his fervor to continue on the research. We are not aggressively making sure the basic necessities of various groups are met. Instead of Quota in engg or medical colleges, make sure all the necessities of the deprived community are met; build libraries, create free lunch homes, build state-of-art laboratories freely available for the students and then see the josh to excel. Let the young fellow prove his mettle and thus boost his morale.

Think Hard !!!

Agreed strongly with the Mr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, in his article “One-third done” on yahoo news. Here he nicely points out that a non-existence of Quota didn’t ever stop women from rising to the status of a Sonia Gandhi, a Sushma Swaraj, a Mayawati, a Mamata Banerjee or a Brinda Karat.  While we unconsciously want to agree to the un-analyzed(read unpublished) benefits of the Womens Reservation Bill we would also what to see that the after effects aren’t even close to what journalist Kanchan Gupta’s analysis tells us in his blog ‘An assault on freedom of choice’.

Needless to say, passing of the Womens Reservation Bill today, in the largest democracy of the world will be noted as a turning point in History of Mankind. Good or Bad, in the next few assembly elections to come, it’s going to change a lot of political faces we see now. The Yadavas are going to pay a nasty price in the hands of the educated women in the years to come. Wait and watch the fun !!!