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India Intelligence Report
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Anti-Quota Struggle Expands, Students Threaten Suicide |
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More importantly, even if such
largesse is funded, existing programs
are not functioning because of a
lack of adequate qualified teachers.
To overcome this limitation, the HRD
Ministry is planning to
lower the standards of recruitment of
lectures to infuse more
bodies into the system unmindful of
several reports pointing to
unemployable condition of graduates
from Government colleges. The GoM
report also proposes the extension of
retirement age for teachers in premier
institutions to deflect the shortage
of lecturers. To overcome the
limitation of such unemployable labor,
Arjun Singh and his peers such as
Minister of Commerce and Industry
Kamal Nath say that there should be
reservation in private sector.
Analysts are also castigating the
Government for populist programs when
basic education suffers in Government
colleges, which make up 80% of
institutions in India.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that the
report may also recommend that through
a Model Right to Education Bill, the
Government may exempt private colleges
that do not take any financial aid
from the reservation norms but this
need to be confirmed. Analysts are
also questioning the Government’s
desire to implement only the
reservation aspect of the Mandal
Report when there are many other
long-term and long-standing
requirements that are not even being
addressed. The insinuation here is
two-fold. One is that the political
parties do not want to apply their
mind and make tough decisions and
investments necessary to uplift
largely undeveloped groups. Second, by
promising an entitled scheme, the
political parties can reap a vote-bank
harvest that can guarantee an
electoral victory.
Health conditions of students and
doctors who have been on an indefinite
fast have deteriorated as they entered
the 8th day. A group of IIT-Delhi
students have written to Kalam to
commit suicide as the country was
abandoning their future in light of
the sons and daughters of the rich
from the Other Backward Classes. In
the previous version of reservation,
when self-serving Prime Minister V.P.
Singh tried to institute reservation,
many students committed suicide
publicly by burning themselves. The
deaths of several students melted
whatever support V.P. Singh had for
his divisive designs and brought down
his Government. |
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Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss had
demanded the return of striking
doctors back to work and vainly
threatened to dismiss them if they
don’t. Papers carried advertisements
calling for doctors to be recruited in
Government hospitals. However, this
seems like an empty threat as the
country has a severe shortage of
doctors and firing qualified ones on
rolls is not really going to be
possible. Doctors on strike said that
they will ignore administrative
notices from the All India Institute
of Medical Science (AIIMS) demanding
that they show up for work.
Representatives of doctors who met
Health Ministry officials said that
they were basically pressurized to
return to work with an assurance that
the interests of the forward class
will not be compromised.
The doctors also rejected an appeal by
the Prime Minister as meaningless as
he had not looked at any of their
demands. The doctors have softened
their stand asking for a committee of
experts from the non-government
organizations to study the process of
how they will provide reservation
without losing quality.
As an amusement aside, several
politicians have been on their own
trip on what quota is. Communist
Politburo member Brinda Karat, wife of
the Government-dominating Prakash
Karat, said that it was capitation
fees charged by professional colleges
that are stifling quality not quotas.
But she did want the removal of creamy
layer from the reservation regime.
Junior Commerce and Industry Minister
Jairam Ramesh and long-time Gandhi
family acolyte called the argument
that say reservation compromises
quality “bogus” and accused the “media
for fanning a summer of discontent in
the country.” He cited example of
Tamil Nadu where reservation is at 70%
and being able to adapt to any hi-tech
changes. Ramesh carefully failed to
point out that Tamil Nadu has slipped
from the 2nd spot of industrialization
to 9th, slipped from 1st information
technology to 4th, and 1st in medical
sciences to below 5. He also carefully
ducked questions on why the Federal
Government was not announcing newer
IITs. Karnataka Chief Minister H.D.
Kumaraswamy said that he has asked his
staff to create a reservation of
positions in technology for candidates
from the rural areas but did not
reveal how he will map quality of the
candidates with their area of
domicile.
Arjun Singh put up a grad defense for
his moves and displayed remarkable
sycophancy. He claimed that he was not
alone in wanting to bring reservation
through and that the Prime Minister
was with him on the issue. He refused
to accept the charge that he was
attacking the Prime Minister to covet
that position. Asked if he was
“jealous” of Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, Arjun Singh said “Only that
person who does not know the kind of
respect and regard I hold for Sonia
Gandhi could say. She is the leader
and whatever she says is acceptable to
me.” While a detail of discussions in
the Congress Working Committee meeting
is not known, reports indicate that
Arjun Singh had to face some
inconvenient questions on his handling
of this issue.
Analysts reject Arjun Singh’s claims
of innocence saying that if the
Government really wanted to
“logically” extend the 93rd Amendment
to the Constitution in December 2005
to include the OBC to premier
institutions, it would have done that
in consultations with allies. Other
reports say that Sonia Gandhi was
unhappy with Arjun Singh’s performance
as HRD Minister and once he secured
his seat in the Rajya Sabha, he
preempted any moves to remove him as
Minister by delivering a fait accompli
that the Congress cannot seem to
reject and appear anti-OBC. Unnamed
sources in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)
say that the 93rd Amendment was not
meant to logically extend reservation
but to undo a Supreme Court verdict
that disallowed reservation in private
unaided colleges.
The sad conclusion for this whole
episode is that there is never going
to be a suitable answer to the issue
and is going to divide the country
even further. |
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