Quotas / reservations in education & jobs

I'm reproducing/quoting the comments made by a 14-year girl called Divya who is one of the signatories to the petition titled:

An appeal to stop usage of politics to divide India on the basis of caste / creed / community, gender, language, quotas / reservations, region / state & religion.

This 627th signature can be viewed by logging on to

https://www.petitiononline.com/ourindia/

Divya: "I am a 14 year old student who will directly be affected by the quota and many others like me will be harmed. I had always thought my country is no more a wretched country ruled by selfish politicians and always had this in me that I will work for my country.

But 2day if we are ignored and if the youth is divided me and many more young enthusiastic Indians will leave be disappointed and have no faith that India can be improved. So it is my request just to please sum don't break hearts of millions.

If this bill is approved India will loose millions and billions of capable youth as nobody would prefer to study and work at a place where there is no equality."

Her comments made me cry as students or youth belonging to the unreserved category have nowhere to go unless and until they consistently score very high percentage of marks. In case they're unable to do so it leads to stress, demoralisation, frustration and depression and suicidal tendencies/thoughts.

Unfortunately Indian politicians wanted to be treated by the best Doctors in the world. That's why they either go to foreign countries or have the best doctors in the world flown in from the foreign countries (sometimes Indians settled abroad) to get themselves treated at the cost of Indian tax payers' money.

Why can't they get themselves treated by the persons (half baked quota doctors or quacks) who've got a medical seat and a government jobs just because of their caste?

Isn't this hypocrisy and double standards?

The CET (Common Entrance Test) was conducted for Engineering and Medical seats were conducted for the first time in Karnataka in the mid '80s. Around a total of 16,500 candidates had appeared for it.

The cut-off rank number in the final list for the general merit candidate for an Engineering seat was around 2,200 whereas the cut-off rank number for a SC (Schedule Caste) candidate was around 14,000.

If a GM candidate got less than 200th rank he couldn't get any seat in Medical whereas a SC candidate could get a seat even if he could just score around 1,600th rank.

A GM candidate doesn't get an accommodation or a room in a Hostel unless and until he has influence in a private college whereas a SC candidate gets it without any problem. I have suffered it in person.

My roommates were reserved candidates SC and ST who used to come drunk at night. They used to play cards by bringing in students from other rooms and keep smoking till 2:00 a.m. under the tube light. They made my life miserable and hardly allowed me to breathe fresh air or to sleep or to study.

They along with some other hostel students used to watch unwanted films in the hostel's TV room or auditorium by bringing in banned cassettes without the knowledge of the strict college warden. No one had the guts to complain. They used to bunk the class the very next day, as they couldn't wake up after watching these films till 4:00 a.m.

They even used to persuade others to do whatever they did including watching of such films but were not successful.

They even offered me cigarettes and encouraged me to consume beer, as they firmly believed that the consumption of beer improves one's health. I'd to change the room as this daily nuisance had become unbearable.

The GM candidates or unreserved categories in India have become like Jews or untouchables of the post-Independent India of the 21st century.

I'd like to clarify that contrary to the general perception, the minorities are not being given any caste based reservation unless and until they genuinely belong to some tribe and low-income group. Most of the times a police complaint is lodged if a minority candidate falsely claims a set under a reserved category and his family history and income are thoroughly checked.

Being a GM candidate when I'd joined an Engineering college in Bangalore that particular vice-president of the management told my father that he'd lodged police complaint against 10 minority candidates for claiming seats under the reserved category belonging to the general low-income group. Since I was a GM candidate he admitted me without any harassment.

There's reservation even for upper caste non-minority candidates under the category called Backward Special Group or BSG based on the economic criterion since 1983 in Karnataka State.

Unfortunately there's no such proper and thorough verification of records when it comes to non-minority candidates.

May I ask why or why's this discrimination?

Why can't the seat claimants' claims of all the candidates be checked without any discrimination or bias or prejudice?

Why/Why's this selective application of rules and regulations?

My mother retired from service as District Education Officer as she was a GM candidate. Some of her colleagues became her superiors and state heads, as they were SC candidates.

One of them used to create unnecessary hurdles/obstacles in efficient discharging of her government duty and he made my mother a scapegoat in some court case even after her retirement, as he wanted money to be paid to him as bribe. He'd sent an agent to our place which is 142 Kms away from Bangalore.

She was not allowed to live in peace even after her retirement as she was forced to travel once in a week about 141 Kms to Bangalore because of this harassment on the pretext of enquiry.

I'd to seek the intervention of the Chief Minister. He intervened and ordered an enquiry against this particular officer.

My mother is now under depression and is suffering from a neurological disorder because of this. There should be someone to look after her for 24 hours.

Even in promotion the efficiency, honesty and integrity of the candidate or a government servant is not checked but their caste and tribe.

Why's it so?

That's why I'm dead against reservations of any sort.

I am completely against reservations. Earlier i had started a similar topic here and got a good response. But after the Docs stopped ther strike, the movement here seems to hav lost its steam. However its very active on Orkut.