Ant and grasshopper Revisited

I suppose everyone might have heard of the "Ant and Grasshopper" story as a child.
If u havent, this is the original story;

"The ant worked hard all summer, building his house and stocking up supplies for the harsh winter. The grasshopper thinks ant is a fool and laughs and dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper neither has food nor shelter, so he dies out in the cold."

The Story has changed.

The Modern Version:

"When winter arrives,
The grasshopper calls a press conference & demands to know why ant should be allowed to be warm & well fed while others are cold and shivering.
Media shows up to provide pics of Shivering grasshopper next to video of an ant in his confortable home with a table filled with food.
The world is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor fellow is allowed to suffer so?

Activists stage a demonstartion in front of Ant's House.
They go on fast along with other grasshoppers demanding their relocation to warmer climates during winter.
International Charity Org. and World body criticizes the Indian govt for not upholding the fundamental rights of grasshopper.
Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper.
(many promising heaven and peace for support else Wrath of God)

Opposition in Indian Parliament stage a walk-out.
Left calls for "India Bandh" (ie. strike) in W.Bengal n Kerala
In Kerala, law is passed preventing Ants from working hard in heat to bring about Equality of Poverty
Rail Ministry allocates one free coach to grasshoppers on all Indian railway trains, called 'Grasshopper Rath'
POTAGA (Prevention Of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act) is passed.
Education Ministry, makes special reservations for them in edu. institutes and Govt services.

Ant is fined under POTAGA, house confiscated and handed over to Grasshopper in a cermony covered by Media.
Grasshopper is invited to address UN General Assembly.

Many years later.... Ant has migrated to US.
He sets up a multi-million $ company in Silicon Valley.
Hundreds of grasshoppers still die of stravation despite reservation somewhere in India.

As a result, we are loosing a lot of hard working ants and feeding the grasshopper, India is still a developing Country...."

This is a story i came across as a forwarded email, a few days back. The message it carries cannot be ignored. Even though it is written with an Indian Backdrop, it is valid for many other countries.
This point of view towards Social Justice cannot be ignored when implementing it.

OBC reservations - A political agenda or Need for Social Justice ?

Recently, the Hon. Supreme Court stayed the 27% quota for OBC's reigniting the quota debate : Is Reservations the only way ahead for the upliftment of underprivileged ?

The questions that haunt me are :

1. First of all, what is the basis for education; merit or is it for implementing Social justice ?
2. What is the criteria for eligibility of quotas?
3. Will reservations result in fall of standard of the education and work atmosphere?
4. Will the really underprivileged really benefit from quotas?
5. How long will the certain class of people enjoy the benefit?

The government aims and wants (atleast in the papers) to uplift the underprivileged and bring them at par with others by giving them the power of Quota. My question is how does the govt come to the conclusion that so and so people are backward? The government is dependant on the data and stats of pre-independance period (1930's) and of the time of Mandal Commission. It is totally unacceptable, to depend on aeons back data.

First, The government must increase the no of seats, improve the infrastructure reqd for basic education and provide fundings for the same before raking up the quota issue. The government is trying to provide social justice at upper levels of education when its base, the basic primary education policy is itself in tatters. The no of drop outs in schools per year is humungous and should put the govt to shame.
A recent report in a leading newspaper showed how a school in a remote village functioned. The so called school had just one single room for all standard and divisions, where sudents of every class sat in their respective groups. The single teacher attended to each class turn by turn. The corner of the room was leased to a caterer. The school depends on them for money to run the school. It is really a paradox, that the Govt. is aiming for higher level educational reforms when its primary education policy itself is a complete joke!

What about the people who have been enjoying the creamy layer till now ? The Court had asked it to be reviewed. But the political parties, fearing this would hurt their vote bank, simply rejected this. Also why call the Open seats as Open or for the majority if the %seats avilabe to them is less than 50%. Well, how can majority seats be reserved ?

According to me,

• If quotas are the need of the hour then only go for it and also the max should not exceed 50%.
• If quotas are introduced, equivalent no of seats in the open must be increased. this will prevent fall in the standards of education.
• Quotas must be time bound and dynamic and flexible. If there is just one or two seats for the subject, merit must be given upper hand over social justice.
• Public and Private Funding for primary and public education must be made mandatory.
• Industries and Companies must fund and take care of schools in their vicinity. this will help them in the long run.
• Governments which dont seriously allot funds or mismanage them must be removed! ( I wish!)
• Underprivilged people must be identified and must be economically, socially helped. In the education front, create separate institutes for them. It is seen that many of them drop out of the colleges without completing the course. This sudden vacancy created is then exploited by the management and sold to rich students or else the seat gets wasted. This must be taken to consideration.
  

Also, i personally feel the govt had tried to pass the bill in a hurry, without taking the public into confidence. I seriously feel that the entire class of politicians are not serious about social justice. For them, it is all about vote banks and dividing people among communal, social lines. Finally, It is the student who suffers from both ends.
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Please comment and pen ur views !!!
U can also mail me at mailto://prashant_maxsteel@hotmail.com
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