Hi All,
I am IITB B.Tech. 1992 and IISc. M.Sc.(Engg) in Management 1996. I
studied on reservation but my work life is fully in private sector
and I am doing fine.I think that Affirmative action in employment, enterprise, financing
and public procurement in government, public and private sectors is
very much called for. My own 10+ years of work experience in Mumbai
and Bangalore has been that while caste based discrimination does
not operate explicitly, it exists in substantial measure and
operates in subtle hidden ways. Reservation as a solution like in
government employment is undesirable, but US style affirmative
action programmes are much needed to correct the diversity imbalance
at most levels in Indian private sector. In UK, where I am based
now, there is a annual disclosure of gradewide ethnic diversity as
part of the financial statements. That might be one option. The
mechanism of discrimination in India is subtler but discrimination
exists in a measure stonger than many believe. The systematic denial
of attempts to create data, under the excuse of preventing animosity
is typical of Indias traditional approach of hiding the problems of
20% of its population under the carpet.The problem of economic re-distribution to recently "on-paper
equalised" interest groups is complex and not unlike the problem
faced by South Africa post-Aparthied. You just have to see the
solutions they are exploring to understand the insincerity of the
Indian elite. Perhaps the reason is that the hiterto disadvantaged
are in power in South Africa, while the Indian upper caste elite is
confident that they are and will stay in power. Furtunately the
situation is changing and the power equations are changing and are
set to alter Indian political reality over time. Hiding caste in all
places except marriage advertisements does not eliminate its 3000
year capability to divide people and sustain inequitable partitions
of the population and power.Handing out some dole is no longer enough. Power sharing in
percentage of the population is needed. The pune pact made the
elections meaningless for the depressed classes. The current
fragmentation of the polity and rising education/enterprise in
depressed classes is triggering forces which will eventually change
the power balance. Please substantiate any arguments with raw data
about caste and economic status. Whatever Amartya sen may say about
argumentative Indians, arguments among unequals tend to assume lot
of things which should not be assumed and so should always be
conducted with the support of raw data for the arguments to have any
meaning and utility. The systematic non-creation of data about caste
and social status under spurious "arguments" is the key symptom of
the mischief in the social mind of upper caste indians.Let us stop hypocrisy. I (and we Ambedkarites in particular) are no
longer fooled by the web of words/beliefs as a shroud over our
living dead bodies.RegardsPratap
I am IITB B.Tech. 1992 and IISc. M.Sc.(Engg) in Management 1996. I
studied on reservation but my work life is fully in private sector
and I am doing fine.I think that Affirmative action in employment, enterprise, financing
and public procurement in government, public and private sectors is
very much called for. My own 10+ years of work experience in Mumbai
and Bangalore has been that while caste based discrimination does
not operate explicitly, it exists in substantial measure and
operates in subtle hidden ways. Reservation as a solution like in
government employment is undesirable, but US style affirmative
action programmes are much needed to correct the diversity imbalance
at most levels in Indian private sector. In UK, where I am based
now, there is a annual disclosure of gradewide ethnic diversity as
part of the financial statements. That might be one option. The
mechanism of discrimination in India is subtler but discrimination
exists in a measure stonger than many believe. The systematic denial
of attempts to create data, under the excuse of preventing animosity
is typical of Indias traditional approach of hiding the problems of
20% of its population under the carpet.The problem of economic re-distribution to recently "on-paper
equalised" interest groups is complex and not unlike the problem
faced by South Africa post-Aparthied. You just have to see the
solutions they are exploring to understand the insincerity of the
Indian elite. Perhaps the reason is that the hiterto disadvantaged
are in power in South Africa, while the Indian upper caste elite is
confident that they are and will stay in power. Furtunately the
situation is changing and the power equations are changing and are
set to alter Indian political reality over time. Hiding caste in all
places except marriage advertisements does not eliminate its 3000
year capability to divide people and sustain inequitable partitions
of the population and power.Handing out some dole is no longer enough. Power sharing in
percentage of the population is needed. The pune pact made the
elections meaningless for the depressed classes. The current
fragmentation of the polity and rising education/enterprise in
depressed classes is triggering forces which will eventually change
the power balance. Please substantiate any arguments with raw data
about caste and economic status. Whatever Amartya sen may say about
argumentative Indians, arguments among unequals tend to assume lot
of things which should not be assumed and so should always be
conducted with the support of raw data for the arguments to have any
meaning and utility. The systematic non-creation of data about caste
and social status under spurious "arguments" is the key symptom of
the mischief in the social mind of upper caste indians.Let us stop hypocrisy. I (and we Ambedkarites in particular) are no
longer fooled by the web of words/beliefs as a shroud over our
living dead bodies.RegardsPratap
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