Yes Minister

The Indian media is abuzz with stories on the reservation decision taken by the government today. For a long time now, this debate has been raging on between people who favour reservations and those who do not. A bit of comic relief is always welcome when there has been so much tension and heat in the air. And trust the politicians to volunteer and provide this comic relief.

The following is an excerpt from CNN-IBN’s programme Devil’s Advocate hosted by Karan Thapar and the guest is The Hon’ble Minister of Industry and Commerce, Kamal Nath

Karan Thapar: The NSSO 1999 [...] conclusively shows that the share of SCs, STs and OBCs in employment is exactly proportional to their share of the population.
Kamal Nath: […] You take one district and you say this is happening. Is it happening everywhere?
Karan Thapar: Yes these NSSO figures are nationwide.
Kamal Nath: Your figures are inaccurate.
Karan Thapar: They are not my figures, they are your figures.
Kamal Nath:That’s what you are saying.
Karan Thapar: They are the national sample survey figures 1999. They are available from the government. They are authenticated by the government. They are disseminated by the government.
Kamal Nath:That's what you are saying.
Karan Thapar: That's not what I am saying, that's what the government is saying.
Kamal Nath: That's what you are saying what the government is saying. That's not what I am saying and that's not what NSSO saying.
Karan Thapar: It seems that you don't know the NSSO figures.
Kamal Nath: It seems to me that what you read, you do not reflect in the context in which it is.
Karan Thapar: When you distrust the NSSO figures ....
Kamal Nath: I am not distrusting NSSO figures. Do you think the government is off its head? We have been winning elections.

I guess in the wake of the doctors' strike, the ministers have taken on the mantle with a sincere belief in the saying "Laughter is the best medicine". You can see the entire transcript here, and if this is not enough amusement for a day, you can catch Arjun Singh's interview here. If someone can understand our honourable minister's arguments in favour of reservations, and can enlighten me on the same, then he is an ideal Lok Sabha candidate for the UPA

Well, I am quite tempted to offer my opinion (which could run into pages and pages) on the reservation debate too. But there is no point because what needs to be said has already been said by someone or the other in the zillions of blog-posts on reservations written by thousands of bloggers in the blogosphere. Will just say that like every modern, educated, rational, progressive Indian, I am not in favour of reservations at a higher education level, simply because they do not address the root-cause of social/economic injustice and do not achieve the objectives for which they are being set. Period.

However, as a silent spectator, I have had some interesting observiations on the entire debate

1. Over the last few weeks I have received at least 3 different online petitions and I believe there are hundreds more floating around. Has the ease of electronic media actually diluted and diverged the efforts of the anti-reservation population? What purpose do these online petitions serve anyway?
   
2. If the OBCs form only 32% of the population, then this supposed 'vote-bank' politics seems to be a fallible strategy. Can the people who are against reservations (who seem to be much higher in number than their counterparts) make the government pay at the next election? Wishful thinking... it would be good if they just vote!
   
3. Should the basis of the legislation be a 75-year old report based on ancient data? But then, it's actually better than having no tangible basis
4. The most frequently used counter is that the government should first deal with primary education. Is it fair to assume then, that those very people who presented this argument will have no issues if their kids cannot get admission to a primary school of their choice because the seat needs to go to an OBC child? My guess is no
5. Has there ever been any sanity check done by the government on the benefits derived from SC/ST reservations which exist for around 50 years. If so, and if reservations were found to have actually uplifted the SC/ST population, then why has the percentage of reservations not been reduced accordingly? If they were found to have done nothing for SC/ST upliftment, then why are they still in place?

Anyways, somehow this post got diverted from where it started. So will leave you with another bit of profound humour... the subtle comic timing of this one had me applauding!

Karan Thapar: Many people say that if reservations for OBCs in higher education happen, then the children of beneficiaries should not be entitled to claim the same benefit.

Arjun Singh: Why?