pEvening Diary

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Reservation Issue

Reservations In Indian Universities

The basis of Reservations in general is to give a chance for the deprived members of the society to be on par with other members of the society. I agree wholeheartedly with the Government in this regard. I feel it is a good policy but the implementation has gone haywire. Many claim university seats by exploiting the loop holes & by using, money power, political clout etc. They are not deprived in terms of power or economy. Actually the real deprived are still left behind & so the reservation policy becomes ineffective.
The authorities need to plug the loop holes & implement it the best way to serve the purpose it was intended for. Reservation only gives you a place in the university but to graduate from the university the student has to go through the entire process & grind as everyone does. So in principal one should not doubt the credibility of the graduates passing out from the universities be it doctors, engineers or whatever as long as they complete the entire system successfully.

In my opinion if people loose faith about the system of the university then that needs serious thinking. I think more concentration is given on the entrance requirements & exams to the universities rather than the talent or capability of graduates that come out from the university after going through the entire process successfully. I think the product that comes out from the university should be acceptable if the standard for graduating from the university is good & the system follows the norms strictly. So the only concern is that many students who have scored better during the qualifying exams to get admission are bypassed.
As I see it there is only a thin line of difference on the scores for qualifying & in fact the difference is (decimals) in many cases which is negligible. What difference does it make between a person who scores 90% & one who scores 88%.Is there too much of difference in intelligence? Will he make a poor quality professional when he does graduate? I think not. Then why should he be denied a place to join the professional colleges especially if he or she is from those deprived classes. The qualification requirements for entry in the universities are set based on research and any student who could achieve the requirements should be capable enough to succeed. So one cannot say that the student is not fit for the course he is opting if he succeeds in fulfilling the requirements set by university for graduating.

The problem is what about those who were left out because of this clause regarding concession for the deprived. The best solution for this problem is to have better colleges with better infrastructure so that the intake is more & the standards of the product are high. That way all can be accommodated.To have better standards the educational systems should be changed & the product becomes desirable in the job market. This is where the concentration should be rather that fighting against the deprived class. I agree reservation with proper implementation is for a purpose, but it has taken a wrong turn for worse. Let us be more pragmatic. Whenever there is imbalance allocations are made to balance it out.

I felt dismayed when I read the news Doctors go on indefinite fast in the capital because the would-be or the so called doctors who take oath to serve the people are protesting for the wrong reasons & if they are reasonable they wouldn’t deprive the poor who are affected by this strike. I feel they care less for the poor. The attitude of doctors is of prime importance in this noble profession. The society does not require high end doctors who don’t have an attitude to serve the people. If at all they want to protest they have to adopt ways where the care for society is not compromised. It is the same in all professions that are primordially to serve the society in general

Ahsan Ghori

Common wealth & Patriotism

GAMES & PATRIOTISM

The 28th commonwealth games came to a spectacular end & now all thoughts are towards the next game to be held in India in 2010.The Indian flag held high & a lot of improvement with regards to the Indian medal tally standings on the medal table as India stood 4th overall. The high note was the display of the spectacular event where the former world beauty queen, the bollywood beauties & dancers gave a scintillating performance showing the rich culture & traditions of Indian heritage plus waving to the crowd & pocketing a cool Rs 3 crore for the 11 minute performance. All this is fine & it was a great showmanship. The unacceptable part is when Aishwaria Rai says she did this out of patriotism for her country & I fail to understand this, if it is for patriotism, why the Rs 3 crore for the performance? instead she should be doing it for free. Isn’t this hypocrisy of the highest order? Politicians are to be blamed for the this bollywood mania & the hype they create which makes the crowd go hystrical.The games are a show of endurance & hard work the athletes have to go through to achieve the best for the nation. That is patriotism in my opinion. But for all their effort they are given second class treatment compared to the divas. If you ask the Indian populace to name the athletes who won the medal no one knows but Rani Mukerjeee wow! All know her. I think the government should spend a lot of money to improve the athletes & give them the status they deserve so that many talented youth are encouraged to join sports instead of heading to bollywood.We need to set our priorities right.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Letter to editor -Apr 2006

On brain power (www.khaleejtimes.com)
6 April 2006
  • I AGREE with an observation on the Opinions page (KT April-4) about the immaturity of the brain during the teenage, though teenagers consider themselves as being mature. Psychologists say that the frontal cortex of the brain, that controls the sense of reasoning, is not fully matured during teens. So, when one cannot reason, the reactions are haphazard and one tends to take immature decisions based on momentary emotions. We all fall prey to these emotions be it love, hate, or anger, and many a time we realise the folly later and regret. Sometimes it is too late and the damage is already done. I advocate freedom with guidelines, because when we have guidelines, we know the outcome of quality of the product. The same with human relationships as well.
    - Ahsan Ghori, Abu Dhabi