Tuesday, May 23, 2006 

The Division Bell...

There are very few new things to be said about the topic of reservations in India. Most things that can be, have already been said, and the same rhetoric has been recycled again and again. Indeed, this is probably just an exercise of venting out frustration.

But for the sake of the exercise, if you will, let us look at the problem. First, a little background. The IIMs and the IITs represent the pinnacle of higher education in India today, and are seen as a sure passport to a better lifestyle, abroad or in the country. The students there are the crème de la crème of the student fraternity. Most importantly, due to the meritocratic nature of the admission process, they represent a holy grail which any student with a reasonable aptitude can aspire to. Now, the Indian government intends to pass a bill which calls for up to FIFTY percent reservation in these places for SC/STs and other backward classes, on the basis that these people cannot afford higher end education. This move which has raised the public's ire in no uncertain way, as has been seen in demonstrations around the country.

Now, looking at it from the general category student's point of view, the bill is an absolute abomination. The chances of getting in these institutes, which were already dismal to begin with, with about one in every hundred applicants making it, now becomes positively infinitesimal. More importantly, the brand value of these institutes will reduce, as they fall from being an autonomous meritocracy to being a government subsidized reservation oriented state. It is indeed pitiable that Manmohan Singh, the person who kick started India’s economic reforms, should resort to such cheap political parlor tricks to cater to his vote bank.

But is this really such a big issue? Does the seat allocation process for a couple of thousand people in a country with a population of more than one billion make such a big difference? The answer lies really in the halo, and reverence with which these institutes are viewed in India and around the world. They stand in the forefront, and are indeed recognized as a symbol of a resurgent India, whose alumni head global businesses around the world and are chiefly responsible for putting India on the socio-economical map in a big way.

A point on our government system. Democracy has always been about checks and balances. So it makes sense that a majority of people will not agree with almost anything the government is doing. And the important thing is, that is how it should be. Democracy does not work due to collective agreement; it works in spite of collective disagreement. It probably slows down the rate of progress of our country, but it does generally ensure that we're heading in the right direction.

Keeping that precept in mind, one would expect a certain opposition to this bill. but due to the fact that any politician seen opposing a bill which provides direct advantage to a group will automatically lose the votes of that group serves to ensure that any reservation bill passed without any problem. Now, while it is unreasonable to expect a politician to let go of votes, the tragedy of the whole story lies in the fact that reservation is not even a solution to the perceived problem, that OBCs and SC/STs are not getting the best education possible. IITs already have a reservation system, where a certain number of seats are reserved for SC/STs. but it has been observed that these students, on an average, take more than 6 years to complete their courses. In fact, the reservation quota for these students doesn’t even get filled on a regular basis, while deserving general category students do not get admitted.

To add to the issue, the government is not bringing out any good reasons for this move, apart from saying that (India needs a) "...fair, just and inclusive education system...”. In a recent interview with union HRD minister Arjun Singh, CNN's Karan Thapar ran rings around him, peppering him with questions and statistics, and the minister wasn’t able to give any quantifiable answers to them. (To read the interview, click here)

The problem, I suspect will remain unsolved. While it is possible to talk about the high minded idealizations of politics (or just the opposite), it is not until politicians realize that reservation is not bringing them votes will they stop treating it as a quick fire solution to all problems they have. But unfortunately, by that time it wouldl have become too late.

4:02 AM | |

Friday, May 05, 2006 

Bike Rides, Waterfalls and Glistening Nightmares...

Bikes are meant to be driven, preferably on long and empty roads. This was what made me enthusiastically say yes when susse came up with the idea of driving to hokkenagal. Now don't get me wrong, I’m not an awesome biker or anything. In fact my best friend, Nandhini, thinks exactly the opposite, and the only reason she sits behind me normally is that it’s the only transport available. So anyway, back to hokkenagal. It was a four hour drive and we left at 2:30PM on a very hot day. It started to sweat almost immediately. The roads, at least upto hosur were diametrically the opposite of long and empty, and the sun was beating down on our heads as if roasted heads had suddenly come in style. Oh, and btw I was driving a splendor. While the other two bikes, a thunderbird and an rx135 would touch ninety and beyond with effortless ease, my bike would refuse to go beyond seventy, to the extent that n actually asked me to go faster, something which had never Ever happened before. On upslopes we would be extremely lucky to cross 20.

But after hosur the roads became really good. It was only once in a while that we would see other vehicles, and the road stretched out in the horizon. If I had to lie, I would also paint a wonderful sunset, flowers by the wayside and country belles, but unfortunately there was nothing of the sort. What surprised us was the amount of interest that we created when we stopped in any village. I supposed half of them thought we were mad, but other than that I cannot see the interest we sparked. You would think srk had come to shoot a film or something. Anyway, the journey itself was uneventful, except susse and monez decided to rescue a cat. (I think it was susse's 'c I can do good things also' gesture of a lifetime). It was around seven though, that things got a little hairy. We were, as usual lagging behind, and it began to get very dark. The last fifteen km or so had very bad roads, and the absence of any kind of moonlight accompanied by headlights which were anything but made the journey a bit complicated. Both of us heaved a huge sigh of relief when we finally reached.

We found the other guys busily arguing with a bunch of what I assumed were fishermen. Apparently we could spend the night on an uninhabited island just off the shore. The idea seemed weird enough to do, so with some misgivings, we decided to go there. It involved two moonlit bamboo boat rides, which would have thrilled the hearts of both subhash ghai and alfred hitchcock, for different reasons. Anyway the island was fabulous, if infested with mosquitoes. They seemed rather glad that we were there, and refused to leave us alone. The fishermen lit us a campfire, and it was pretty awesome. The next morning we prepared to go to the Waterfall. The capital W is significant. It turned out that that they gave massages near it. The place was famous for it, and susse and hari were adamant about going there. All this was fine, except that we didn’t count on the skin show. I don't think I’ve seen that many glistening potbellied semi-nude men ever in my entire life, and I’m pretty sure neither have the two girls. Add on to the fact that people were shitting upstream to us, that susse and hari were among the potbellied semi-nude population, and the water was filled with biting fishes, it was rather an interesting experience, to say the least.

The journey back was pretty normal. Apart from an incident where joo wanted to kill the cat, and once when n and hari were so engrossed in eating they forgot to spot us, we made good time. There were plans afoot to go to a disc that night, but I doubt a thunderstorm would have woken any of us up. Surprisingly (or not), the girls slept the most.

2:44 AM | |

Tuesday, May 02, 2006 

Buy Indian? Really?

I was just reading a mail sent by a friend which proclaimed that India's economy is going down the drain, that the rupee's value is depreciating and that buying Indian is the way to go. These mails irritate the heck out of me, as they are so obviously not solving the problem, though they are well meant. It is true that the average spending on foreign (note: not an originally Indian) products by Indians have gone up in the last few years. But with the opening of the Indian economy, and the entry of big name multinationals, what exactly were we expecting? That nobody would buy them? It's true that a bottle of Coke or Pepsi costs only 89/90 paisa and that charging 9 bucks for it is a crime. But to say that due to this, 30000 crores of rupees are going out of India is bullshit. According to published figures, Coke and Pepsi India have never made a profit here, in fact they have not even broken even. But that's not really the point is it? It's easy to complain that global companies will use their huge war chests and economies of scale to push products for cheap in India. It's easy to go to the parliament and ask for taxes and cess to be put on the same. But shouldn’t somebody point out that china has exactly the same problem and yet managed to outwit these western companies at their own game? Their economies of scale are so good that nearly all western manufacturing companies have plants there, whose products they then sell in countries like India! The question here is, having identified the problem, what should be done about it. Since we are living in liberal times, and don't have a protectionist regime to hide under any more, more questions should be asked about the quality of products been made and marketed here. Take shaving products, why would I want to use Godrej and Emami products, with their terrible marketing and questionable quality, when I can buy Gillette products for the same price? And it's not like Godrej is a small company and cannot afford to spend more in marketing either. at the end of the day, these companies should get out of the slumber mode in which they seem to have been for the last twenty years, and prepare for the competition, like Bajaj and TVS are doing with their superb range of bikes and to a lesser extent, Videocon is doing in the consumer goods section. As Friedman says, the world is getting flatter, and we have to be prepared to live with it.

10:49 PM | |