Its been 16 years since Mandal happened and a person named Rajeev Goswami set himself on fire. For a long time, people forgot about all of that. It was a thing of the past. No more…. Looks like the ghost of the Mandal commission is back to haunt us again. The media is all over the place. They’ve got enough to fill their prime time slots and weekend specials. But hey…. Some things have changed… This time the protests are very much toned down and seem to be happening mainly among the doctors and mainly in the north. So, what’s happening? Are people not bothered anymore? Have people just lost hope in protests? Decided to accept what life, or rather the government gives them? Well, I don’t have answers to these questions. But I do have answers to a few others.
Along with this debate on the quota issue, there’s this parallel debate going on whether doctors should go on a strike at all, since in this profession absence means a matter of life and death. It’s okay if the postal dept strikes, its okay for the bus drivers to strike, its okay for the bankers to strike, its even okay for the municipal workers to strike, but doctors? It’s a strict no no. So, how does one show dissent? Wear black bands to hospitals? Oh yeah, like the government really cares about the band that you’ve worn on your arm.
So, on one side we accept that their reason for striking is justified but on the other hand we also say that they dare not strike. Aren’t we contradicting ourselves? So, what is the solution to this? Well, you know what!! For all those of you who support their cause, but feel the doctors should not protest, must protest on their behalf. Why is that only a doctor must protest. It could be anyone. If you believe in the cause, you should take it up on their behalf. More so, because it’s a profession which we feel must not protest. And later when u have a dozen kids, lets not complain about reservation and quotas. This is the time to act, make yourself heard – for the past and for the future.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Look at the root of this issue, why is there all the fuss with the reservations? Agreed that its unethical for someone to belie someone else's good work and occupy a place thats not rightfully his/hers by merit, but look at the this from a macro level. Even after those 58 glorious years of independence, this issue plagues us simple because (barring a few handpicked institutions) there is a complete lack of 'quality' infrastructure in place. Until and unless the people in power do something about it, this issue is going to plague us further. And again, why is the infrastructure so inadequate? Its due to the fact that the people who use it far outweigh the number that was originally in mind. So, there we go, right to the root - POPULATION. Until and unless, there's something done about this throughout the country on a war footing, I just see us making these protests and debating whats right and whats wrong. Just some more additional (to what you've already mentioned) food for thought...
Population is the main cause. 6 IIM's and a couple of IIT's are not going to be enough. But more importantly we need more primary schools imparting quality education. As the argument goes, if any kind of reservation is there, it should be based on the economic status and at the primary level, not at this level. What about a poor student from the forward class? Also, this should apply only to the first generation. Once someone has got the benefits, noone else from his family should be extended the benefit of reservation. The scenario is esp bad in Chennai, where there is a 69% reservation.
Post a Comment