Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court8217;s sharp question on the exclusion of the creamy layer among OBCs in higher education has thrown the government in a quandary. Politicians are united in their desire to include the creamy layer, with the exception of the CPIM, while there is wide disagreement among bureaucrats about the correct policy. The Supreme Court has also dared to bring up the issue of a creamy layer among SCs/STs.
As many sociologists have argued, OBCs are a very heterogeneous group whose number and socio-economic status has not been established convincingly. Clearly, OBCs have not suffered from the historical indignities and discriminatory treatment meted out to SCs. Certain OBC castes are socially/economically backward but many have made progress. Despite Mandal, the logic for quotas for SCs/STs does not apply to OBCs. Any policy for them has to be based on 8220;new8221; evidence about discrimination.
Let me illustrate this with the story of two OBC boys who would be considered disadvantaged. The first is from a family nudging the poverty line. His father served in the army and retired on a monthly pension of Rs 1,500. The son studied in the village school until Class 5 and then in a school in another village until Class 10. He then went to a nearby town to complete Class 12. He did well and was told by his maths teacher to prepare for the entrance exam to a regional engineering college. His father borrowed Rs 1 lakh from a teacher in the village and the boy went off to Kota for coaching. Here he heard about the IITs and decided to try his luck with the JEE. He took his exam in Hindi and passed.
The father of the other boy is a mason in a small town earning Rs 3,000 per month, which would put his family near the poverty line. Since the boy was a good student, he aspired to join the army through the NDA. He passed the exam but failed the interview. He then turned his attention to IIT, borrowed money for coaching in Kota and cleared the JEE. He has now done training stints in Germany and the US and has job offers from both.
Both students feel their lives have changed after coming to IIT. Both wish to spread the information about IIT to their village and town and help others achieve what they did. In the information and encouragement they provide to other students lie the true route to a successful education. They have achieved, without taking recourse to reservations, what many would have considered impossible. The primary factor in their success is their own talent. Both had supportive families, both could rely on borrowing substantial sums of money from the family members and well-wishers. Not state policy but the informal community networks enabled such poor parents to invest in their children8217;s education. These students are justifiably proud of their achievement. Would their hard-won success have been as sweet had the tag of 8216;reserved category8217; been attached to it?
Of course, there are as many stories of students who tried and did not make the IIT dream. As I delve into their stories, I find that they are distributed across caste and class. In the mismatch between demand and supply of quality education that is the problem. What keeps young people back in villages is often a lack of information or guidance, not a lack of quotas.
The writer is associate professor, IIT Delhi
