Sunday, June 29, 2008

Reservation for faculty in IITs

Mr. Arjun Singh feels that he has catered to only 50% of the Guru-Sishya tag-team in terms of doling out reservations and hence has gone ahead and introduced reservations for faculty in IITs.

One can understand the concept of reservations for studying - since many people do not get a chance to develop their skills with which they can take on the world.

I personally believe that reservations should be a definite no-no when it comes to employment. I will not use arguments such as 'diluting quality' etc because unknown to many of us discrimination might exist in the employment sphere also.

So, let me put my argument this way:

1) If, in-spite of all the help that any candidate obtains in the educational process- studying in the best institutes, coached by the best teachers, having the best lab facilities; if he/she is unable to attain the requisite excellence level to join the faculty of IIT, is it fair to provide such a student a backdoor entry considering that the faculty also play a crucial role in moulding the future talent of this country? IMHO, "No, sir!!!". So, replace "any" with reserved/general/special/favoured, and you will get your answer.

2) If Arjun Singh does believe that deserving candidates who hail from the "reserved" category of the 'great' Indian caste system do not get a fair evaluation due to discrimination, shouldn't he not be looking for means to introduce fairness in the process rather than arbitrarily lowering the bar?