INDIA: Really a Secular Country?

I am going to be of 24 in a few days. From my school days I have been eavesdropping about the secularism of my motherland i.e. INDIA. In my all civics books from class 6^th to 10^th (as I chose science for further studies) I always read that India is a secular country as per the Constitution of India. At that time I was not at all concerned about that as it was only a subject matter for me. But as I passed my senior secondary examinations I found that the real scenario is different from that what I have read in my school days. This was the time when I got the admission in an engineering college for completing my degree and I saw that a person having half of the marks which I have got in the qualifying examination, got the admission in a renowned college whereas I failed and the reason was that I belonged to the so called “General” cast and he was from the “Reserved Category”. This was the first time when a qualm arose in my mind that what I have been told since so many years was correct as the differentiation was being made on the basis on the caste. Though it was a very premature decision taken by my mind just at the beginning yet a lot was left over to draw any picture about the matter.

From then six years have been passed now I have become an engineer and working with a telecom company. Recently the Supreme Court gave a decision for allowing the 27% reservation for the OBC in the higher educational Institutions of India including IIMs and IITs excluding the creamy layer (having the annual income greater than 2.5 lacks in general). After this decision the reservation in these institutions has reached around 50%. Just after two months of this decision the Rajasthan govt. declared new 5% reservation for Gujjars and the equals and 14% for the economically backward general category leading to total 68% reservation in the state contravening the rule by which the reservation can not be given beyond 49%. The people of India easily accepted all these including me though some people disconcerted in the opposition but they could not withstand those who were in the support. Apart from this the Honorable Supreme Court of India also gave a decision for the prestigious St. Stephen College of Delhi according to which the 50% seats of the college are to be reserved for the Christians.

Here I would not like to discuss the whole history of how the voyage of reservation started and continued ever after though was not instigated for such a long time or the topic of the reservation at all. But surely being a citizen of India and especially among youth, I would definitely like to argue on the issue which is affecting the fast developing India more or less in both positive and negative direction.

Some years before when the Govt. of India decided to cut the fees of all the IIMs to 30000 then all the IIMs opposed the decision saying that this will spoil the quality of their students, how, only they can tell when the selection procedure remains same and the requisite resources are to be provided by the Govt. But they stayed their ready lists for admission for the coming session as soon as the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court came; here I want to ask which of the two will spoil the quality more? The thing which I believe is that the reservation is not the key for success, to some extent though it could help but not necessarily needed. Here I would like to recite an example from my own experience. Many of my batch mates were from the rural background and they were studying in engineering just because of the reservation. This made a drastic change in their intellect level and their coming generations would not face those difficulties as faced by them. But when I see outside India the picture is somewhat different. In the past ‘Black people’ in USA were literally sold and their living standard was worse than any reserved category people in India. They did not have any rights in the mainstream social canvas. But now the situation has changed radically; most of us are aware of the fact the Barack Obama has defeated the Hilary Clinton and is now the official candidate from Democratic Party nominated for the presidential elections. One thing which is surely clear from this is that at least it is possible to join the main river without reservation. Reservation though can help a bit but not an obligatory facade. Has it really proved to be useful to those for whom it came to the canvas? To some extent, I think we are able to reach the goal but only 10% (of that which we have reached of total which is only around 20%) I would say because of this reservation; the credit of remaining 90% of that which we have achieved goes to the increasing literacy rate all over India.

If we look at the present scenario we will find that the reservation has divided the people in their respective religions and castes.The talent of India (of so called ‘General Category’) has now started to make distances from the Govt. services and political matters and thus the society is being divided in two partitions of orb. From this anybody can predict the condition of India some years ahead.

On one hand we say that we are a secular country but the rectitude of the statement is refuted by the laws like reservation. Here I don’t want to argue on some particular community or caste or religion as they don’t have to do anything with all this, the society is only the dupe. We can not see where we are going with such combat for getting some illegitimate and superfluous ways to get ahead. “Unity in Diversity” is always said for INDIA, diversity is still there but where is unity? The issue has become very grave now and need to be pondered or else we should be geared up to face catastrophic consequences both socially and capitally.

Gujjar Agitation in Rajasthan: The Political Perspective

Assembly elections this year end and the Lok Sabha elections are to be held next year in Rajasthan. The knock of the elections can be listened in the form of ‘Gujjar Agitation for reservation’ in Rajasthan. Recently just after the serial blasts in Jaipur the Gujjar community started agitation in quest of reservation in the ST category which has become vicious now. The agitation has become a catastrophe for the common people in Rajasthan. Many people were killed in last two days including few policemen. The train and bus services have affected badly and due to this transportation problem food supply has also been affected. Previously last year also the same has happened making damage both economically and socially.

Now many questions have aroused in front of the govt. The dilemma in front of govt. is if the govt. takes a decision in favor of Gujjar community then the existing ST category people (mainly Meenas) will come for the agitation as it has happened last year and the fight will become between two communities. Neither the govt. can leave the issue on its own as it is affecting the development of the state and life of common people.

Now the matter to think is why all this is happening? Suddenly on the verge of completion of 5 years of govt. the agitation came into picture. The opposition parties are claiming the govt. to be unsuccessful on every social issue and beseeching for the resignation of the C.M. Vasundhara Raje on the issue of Gujjar agitation allegedly saying that the govt. is responsible for making the serene agitation into ferocious combat. The BJP govt. in Rajasthan has proved to be almost 70% successful and there is no major issue on which the opposition parties (mainly congress) can trap the government. The work of the ruling Vasundhara govt. can be seen explicitly in every field whether it is employment creation or the infrastructure and IT development. Though the govt. has failed at some issues but the successful implementation of other developmental plans have overshadowed them.

The matter of reservation has now become crucial not only for the state but for the whole country. The political leaders are fanning the flames just because to cook for their own not for the country. In India the opposition is always for opposition whether it is the issue of social welfare. The current situation is an example of this. In such conditions all the political parties should come together to find an appropriate solution for such big problems but instead they are blaming each other for the condition. Will the resignation of the current govt. solve the issue? Should the demand of Gujjars be obeyed? Will blaming the govt. for making the agitation violent can bear with those who were killed? Surely the opposition leaders can only frame the questions, the solutions however can be found by a cohesive effort.

Now the responsibility comes to the people themselves. We always say with proud ‘Unity in diversity’ for our country but the agitation like this shows the rectitude of the slogan. We should understand that by such tasks we are harming ourselves. I think The lack of education in major is the cause of these type of circumstances. We are destroying the public property our property and the extra burden will come only on our shoulders not on the leaders which are playing this dreadful politics for their own profit. By such tasks we are going back in terms of development so we should think ourselves as peacefully we can represent our issues to the govt.

Now we have to decide whether we want to go ahead or back. Whether we want to dance on the music played by the leaders or write our own lyrics and make a composition on our on.