Mallika Writes: Just Speaking
Reserving Judgement
I have often found myself in an odd position on the issue of reservation or affirmative action. My stand is generally not endorsed by the people I happen to talk with. They are vehement in their opposition to any reservation at all. That is why I was so delighted when, a few days ago the newspapers reported that ALL the SC/ST students who had sat for their IIT entrance tests got in on the regular list – the only help a few of them took of their reserved status was in becoming eligible for the stream of their choice.
In complete contrast (doesn’t this always happen?) was a report from Delhi that IIT and IIM administrations had raised the hackles of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes by throwing out 25 odd students from these worthy institutions for under performing. Further, that even those who managed to complete their studies got a raw deal in their emoluments, once employed.
For me, in fact, the latter report is exactly why reservations are needed. Whether we like it or not, accept it or not, 99% of us have inbuilt caste biases. Even the very educated amongst us. Why else would employers pay less to SC/ST students? Did I hear you say, but if they are in a reserved list they must me less bright? Then what will happen to the students I mention in my first paragraph? Time, I suppose will tell whether it is their surnames or their grades which rule.
But two bits of information to justify my pro reservation stand. In a study conducted from Delhi some months ago, researchers called in for interviews in response to job applications. There were four possibilities with which they responded : they gave either an SC/ST name or an upper caste name, but both had the same qualifications; they gave an SC/ST name with higher qualifications than the upper caste name. They responded to companies nationally and found that given the same qualifications, the upper caste person always got called to interviews more frequently. Worse, given lower qualifications, the upper caste person still got called for interviews in significantly higher cases. Did someone say we are free of bias?
My favourite story is of Super Thirty, the Bihar initiative of a police officer and an IIT graduate. Many years ago they tried an experiment for themselves, that of offering a level plying field to children from deprived backgrounds who had passed their schools but invariably from bad schools. Picking 30 bright students from the Patna slums they coached them for a year to sit the IIT entrance exams. And lo and behold – all 30 got in to IITs. This went on for many years with a 100% score on entrance tests.
And that is my take on reservations. We need to give a level playing field to our deprived to seize opportunity. But an open ended reservation policy becomes merely another tool for yet more corruption. Affirmative action should mean examples of Super Thirty, till an entire generation can have that level playing field. Reservation can not mean encouraging sloth amongst the deprived to an extent when every upper caste wants to prove they are deprived. More than deprived this policy has made us the depraved. And it hasn’t helped the truly deprived in a way that they can help the nation and themselves.
Perfect proof has just come out from a village near Jamnagar where a Dalit woman, originally elected Sarpanch on a reserved quota, did such a brilliant job in easing the many problems of the village that today she or her equally efficient husband are the selected “elected”s of the entire village, upper class as well. For all our biases, somewhere pragmatism wins out. Or so I continue to hope.
July 13th, 2008
DNA
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