Merit can co-exist with affirmative action: Empower people to be competent. Do not give them the crutch of a reservation. Let the government not run away from its responsibility of creating competence. Reservation has no government effort or expense. Hold the Govternment accountable for providing primay education to all. Quotas are a lazy option for the government. It is a globally competitive world. There is no reservattion for India there. One has to compete. China has addressed primary education and especially women empowerment far better than India. If they can do this why can we not? Due to government inability to implement primary education effectively. Over 70% of SC children drop out before reaching class X. 80% of seats for SC/ST go empty in ITI's. Can we aim to get these percentages to zero!
What is the cost of reservation? Is it worth the social divide? Is it worth branding some people as OBCs or SC/ST? Does this not propagate the caste system. In year Zero India's share of global export was 30%. In 1991 it was 1%. Is this due to caste system? We are condemning India to be backward and we should seek reservation for us in the world!
Read example below of empowerment in action for social upliftment.
'The group of ministers headed by Mr Sharad Pawar sent questionnaires to more than 250 industry and trade associations on the topic but not even 10 per cent responded. Very few private organisations have furnished details about the social composition of their employees. A notable exception is Hindustan Lever Limited that employs 33,000 people, of which more than half (55 per cent) belong to SCs/STs/OBCs. Interestingly, HLL recruited most of these employees from employment exchanges and merit was the only criterion for selection.
The example of the largest multinational corporation operating in India clearly indicates that merit can coexist with affirmative action.' Read here for details.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060428/edit.htm#th
