We are chaining ourselves again, after 60 years of freedom. When the entire world is looking up to India for its brains and its “Highly Skilled and Educated” professionals, it is pathetic that we in India still have issues like the caste system. On Wednesday this week, this news article caught my eye. And my disgust as well.

Increase SC/ST reservations: Arjun
NDTV Correspondent
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 (New Delhi):
Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh has written a letter to all states asking them to pass a legislation to increase reservation for SC and STs and other backward classes from 22.5 per cent to 49 per cent. [more]

The youth of the country are actually contributing the maximum to the growth of the country. IITs and IIMs are the few remaining institutes in the nation which still attach importance to merit more than anything else. Now the government is trying to take away that too.
My disappointment is not just due to this. Dear reader, please do not misinterpret this as something against SC/ST and OBC groups. I am against the OFFICIAL existance of such diversity!
My proposal is that the people in the country will see the light of equality when the government removes the

from its official fill-out forms! Increasing quota of one kind neither ensures equality nor does it bring us any closer to it. When the offices take in people based on fulfillment of requirements alone, where is the question of inequality?
I have had this discussion with a few friends while taking the complete idealist side, i.e. Eradicate official existance of such diversities. These are some of the responses I got:

D (Junior from IITM, 2nd year Civil): What the hell! Giving a quota of 49.5% is pointless – it in turn makes the general category the oppressed ones! But one can never settle on an optimum number which makes all parties happy!

A (Old classmate, currently a Law student): How do you expect to do something like that? You can’t suddenly remove the entire system offiicially. There are many people from backward villages who benefit a lot from such quota systems.

R (Classmate, IITM, 5th year Chemical): Government does it or not, people are never going to treat each other on an equal note. A good percentage of Indians (of many age groups) still know what caste (lower or upper) a person belongs to from just the name. The prejudice of inequality lies in the eyes of the people and hence it’s in the system.

I agree with both A and R. My response to A was that we can atleast phase the quota and reservation records out of the administration. The success of establishing equality does NOT lie in giving chance to a citizen whilst tagging him as a lower caste one. It lies in removing these caste systems entirely. The caste of a person should not even feature in application forms etc.
My response to R was somewhat on a parallel note. The administration systems are what run the country. Personal prejudices of people are not going to affect the country’s policies that much, if the government maintains a firm ground in establishing equality. Whether or not a lower caste person is allowed to set foot in a house belonging to an upper caste person, his chance to participate in competition should be just the same as anyone else. And not by being in a quota for reservation, instead all should start on the same platform, and fight for the same goal.

India has to stop living in a box.