Here comes another Mandal commission!

The pyres of Mandal commission sufferers are yet to cool down and you fasten you belts to witness another such commission popping up this summer! Then the culprit was our beloved (then PM) Mr. V.P. Singh and now it will be our dear Human Resource Development Mr. Arjun Singh. The reservation in the prestigious institutes like IITs and IIMs is likely to increase from the present 22.5 % to a maximum of 49.5 %.

Arjun Singh has already written to the state governments to frame laws in the light of the 104^th Constitution Amendment which allows the state to enact laws to ensure the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes by making special provisions for their admission to educational institutions including private – aided and unaided – education institutes. States have been asked to pass these laws at the earliest, presumably ahead of the admission season for the 2006 academic year.

A quota of 22.5% does not seem to be enough that the government of planning to add more to it. Let us assume that the total population of India is 110 crore and the percentage of backward class must not be more than 10-15 %, so let us take 20 crore backward class citizens of India. Now we now that the seats in esteemed IITs is around 12000 and that of IIMs is around 1500. So by that we can conclude that out of 12000 seats 6000 shall be reserved for 20 crore and 6000 for the ‘remaining’ 90 crores. Is that justifiable?

And by looking at the present trend of the ministers to secure their ‘vote banks’ the days are not far when we shall be in need of reservation of ‘General’ category people. Also now there will be a student with 95% marks and another student with 65% marks sitting together on the same desk and studying in the same discipline!

Have we all elected these ‘worthy’ ministers to see these kinds of stupid acts to improve the society?

I am not against any of the quotas but do we really need them in the professional courses? I guess ‘NO’. If government really want to do something to uplift the backward class, it should provide free standardized education to these students upto Senior Secondary level and after that let them decide their own fortune. If that is not enough government can provide them fee subsidy, but that too shall be given when the candidate qualifies for the professional course not because of the QUOTA but because of his/ her caliber to do so!

So Mr. Arjun Singh, stop playing pranks with the sentiments of Indians and better concentrate how to improve the whole system and not some mere majority class. If you and your government can’t do that, you better leave the respectable position of HRD minister and let Indians decide the things in their own way. Or better be ready for another Mandal commission!

Do you really want that in IITs or IIMs a general category student scoring 90% can’t get admission because a student from reserved quota, who has scored 65%, by mere being a part of minority, ate his part of cake? Just think about it and re-look into your decisions.