LIFE

- Mother Teresa

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

MIGRATION

Migration – it refers to physical movement from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. An individual may migrate to increase one’s standard of living while people migrate in groups to set up a particular community. Sometimes people migrate with new hope and new aspirations (many people migrate to Mumbai to with aspirations to become an actor to do something big in the film industry).

An individual can migrate with his own wishes or he can even be forced to migrate due to various reasons.  Sometimes the community which migrates to another part to set up their livelihoods and may end up overpowering the number of people staying in that existing place. Migrants do try to treat their new place of living as their home and try to adjust and fit in to the existing, but sometimes they are not greeted well with the localities.  Migrants may outnumber the local community which results in a tiff between the two. Sometimes migration in huge numbers also results in the case of unemployment. The present situation of Mumbai is the same. The local parties are trying to drive out people who have migrated in the past few decades to give the localities more opportunities and to gain prominence which they have been losing in the past few years.

Sometimes forced migration creates huge problems between the people who are being force to migrate and the one who is forcing them to migrate. Forced migration happens due to a number of reasons such for re-development, for new town planning projects within a city, as well as some rehabilitation of projects. Forced migration may happen be for the cause of well being of the whole area (for construction of a dam) i.e. the localities or it can also be for the progress of the nation (to set up industrial estate).

Migration is a necessity for a place to grow in social as well as cultural aspects. With a mix of culture and the increase in number the economy of the place starts to build up which results in the growth of a place. A village starts to grow up to become a town and town moves on to become a city.

Every migration flow generates a return or counter migration. The majority of migrants move a short distance. Migrants who move longer distances tend to choose big-city destinations. If there is no migration then the life of a city may come to a standstill and you may not beable to see new colours in life.  Migration is a part and parcel of life and each individual does feel the need to migrate but may not due to various reasons. Migration is one thing which will continue and the people will keep migrating with new hopes and in search of a new livelihood in their minds.

Daffodils 

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed and gazed but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

Place where I belong

It’s been almost 25 years that I have been staying in the same locality. The place where I have grown up playing cricket, the place where I have cycled through the streets all day long and the place where I have taken my first steps. The place which made me run towards it is now making me run away from it. Yes this place is located in the suburbs of Mumbai and needless to say is now becoming the education hub of the suburbs which in turn is growing faster day by day increasing the population and density.

Since the time I was born I have seen the place changing. The little two storey buildings now become a huge seven storey structures. My buildings been old and this two storey structure seems to be sandwiched between huge eight storey structures. My eyes have witnessed the changes since the past few years and every new building that comes up brings along new people with new faces. Before we knew which uncle use to stay in which block and which flat but these days we done even come to know whether a person by that name stays in out locality or not. Forget locality we have been so busy now that we don’t even get to see people in our very own building. I have seen many people leaving this area and shifting to some other part and many people coming in and making it their homes too, some were friends and some even relatives.

My locality is filled with various cultures. There is a Gujarati society next to my building which organizes navratri and dandiya nights and on the other I have a maharashtrian society which celebrates ganesh chaturthy and gudi padwa with great enthusiasm and anticipation. As a result I have grown up seeing a mix of various cultures which has resulted in a number of temples that have been coming up in the past few years which not only have kept my grand mom engaged in cultural activities but has also held peoples belief in god and kept religious faith alive in the younger ones.

This place once a less populated suburb is now loaded with traffic and too much pollution. The place where I stay has two schools nearby which make the mornings too noisy and the evenings over crowded. A theatre that just opened shortly seems to have increased the problems even though it adds to the source of entertainment. The lane that leads to my house passes through the theatre which has inadequate parking space as a result of which people park on the road making it cramped. Sometimes I am eager to rush home and get some sleep but the lane itself makes me go nausea tic. These are the same lanes where once I use to run behind the ball and try to stop it from reaching the boundary or hit it so hard that it crosses the line. The lanes in which once you could hear people ringing the cycle bells now are echoed with people honking over and over again.

The locality where I stay is located close to a very famous biscuit factory. The highway being a few meters away also makes traveling convenient by road. The transport services i.e. the railways stations and the bus services are also located close by. The area is easily accessible and well connected by all means makes it easy for people to travel as a result many people have started shifting in which in turn is increasing the demand of more space as a result more towers are coming up. The airport being situated close by does not allow the structures to go higher than the existing but just adds on to more traffic as well as noise pollution. The only time where I get to sit peacefully is at night but because of the load on air traffic increasing now the flights pass over my building which not only increases the sound but also disallows me to sleep.

I am tired and my body needs rest. I want to leave home and shift to a new peaceful and a much environmental friendly locality but when I turn the pages of my life and look back; I realize that this place means a lot to me and shifting to another place will not bring any change to my life as the change is now taking over every suburb and every locality. I agree that changes will come but in such a way which is making living conditions worse is just not acceptable. I feel that the kids are missing something which once we enjoyed. The same grounds where once upon a time we had been playing cricket is now occupied with cars using it as their parking space. Where do these kids go if they want to play? Where does a common man go if he wants to take some sigh of relief and breath in fresh air? Urbanization has taken over so much that the one constructing these massive structures are not only endangering human life but also changing the standard of living to worsen the conditions for the people staying here. I agree that a place has to grow with changing times but if the growth has to come at such cost then I strongly disagree. I feel the need of change and the times to reverse so as to make one feel as to what we have been missing. I feel that one should look back and get those times when children laughing out loud in the building compound use to be the only sound in the lane. The growth will come and so will the standard of living rise but that will not change my thoughts and my love for this place. It is just another locality but I want it to become the best where people don’t breathe smoke they breathe in fresh air with a sigh of relief.

A Life - Lesson

- James Whitcomb Riley

There! little girl; don't cry!
They have broken your doll, I know;
And your tea-set blue,
And your play-house, too,
Are things of the long ago;
But childish troubles will soon pass by. --
There! little girl; don't cry!

There! little girl; don't cry!
They have broken your slate, I know;
And the glad, wild ways
Of your schoolgirl days
Are things of the long ago;
But life and love will soon come by. --
There! little girl; don't cry!

There! little girl; don't cry!
They have broken your heart I know;
And the rainbow gleams
Of your youthful dreams
Are things of the long ago;
But Heaven holds all for which you sigh. --
There! little girl; don't cry!

A Life

- Sylvia Path

Touch it: it won't shrink like an eyeball,

This egg-shaped bailiwick, clear as a tear.

Here's yesterday, last year ---

Palm-spear and lily distinct as flora in the vast

Windless threadwork of a tapestry.

Flick the glass with your fingernail:

It will ping like a Chinese chime in the slightest air stir

Though nobody in there looks up or bothers to answer.

The inhabitants are light as cork,

Every one of them permanently busy.

At their feet, the sea waves bow in single file.

Never trespassing in bad temper:

Stalling in midair,

Short-reined, pawing like paradeground horses.

Overhead, the clouds sit tasseled and fancy

As Victorian cushions. This family

Of valentine faces might please a collector:

They ring true, like good china.

Elsewhere the landscape is more frank.

The light falls without letup, blindingly.

A woman is dragging her shadow in a circle

About a bald hospital saucer.

It resembles the moon, or a sheet of blank paper

And appears to have suffered a sort of private blitzkrieg.

She lives quietly

With no attachments, like a foetus in a bottle,

The obsolete house, the sea, flattened to a picture

She has one too many dimensions to enter.

Grief and anger, exorcised,

Leave her alone now.

The future is a grey seagull

Tattling in its cat-voice of departure.

Age and terror, like nurses, attend her,

And a drowned man, complaining of the great cold,

Crawls up out of the sea.

Reservation in India with Respect to Education

“Manmohan Singh - We are sending Indians to the moon next year...
Obama - Oh! How many???
PM - 100...
35 OBC, 25 SC, 20 ST, 10 handicapped, 5 sports quota, 4 minority & if possible....1 astronaut”

I received this joke a few years back and it sometimes does make me think is reservation a necessity or mere vote bank politics. Till date we have not had a consensus on the same. With the Patel’s raising their demand for reservation in Gujarat it makes me wonder is reservation a mere political thrust or does it have more to it. Since education is the backbone of a person’s well being I decided to look at reservation in the field of education and its impact. The main focus of this article would be on the IITs as it is one of India’s premium education and is one of the best amongst the world. This article deals with the scenario India is in and argues both sides of the topic and in the end puts forward a conclusion with suggestions which need to be thought of as this is a very sensitive topic.  

India is one of the few countries that practices affirmative action on a large scale. B. R. Ambedkar, the Minister of Law in the Interim Government, and a leader who drafted of the Indian constitution, he made provisions for reservations for Scheduled Castes (previously termed 'untouchables') in government run institutions in the 1950s.

The IITs had initially implemented a quota system, but the quota system was scrapped and the modified scheme described below was introduced in 1983. This procedure was evolved based on the experience of implementing a quota system for ten years (1973–1983). The logic cited for this procedure is that IITs being Institutes of National Importance, there should not be any compromise on the quality of students studying in them; accordingly, students admitted through the reserved quota have no relaxation in requirements for passing courses or getting the degree. They are, however, allowed to complete the program at a slower pace (take longer to get the degree).

Currently, reservation of 15%, 7.5% and 27% seats is provided for candidates hailing from SC, ST and OBC communities. In case enough candidates do not meet minimum qualifying criteria as per written tests, SC/ST candidates are permitted a relaxation of 50%. If some vacancies still exists, a further relaxation is offered with a deferred admission after 1 year of Preparatory Course study covering physics, chemistry and mathematics. After one year of study, only those candidates who are able to clear a cut-off in the End Semester Exams are allowed into regular studies at the IITs. The seats reserved for SC/ST students are not transferable to General Category and roll on to the next year's students from the Preparatory Courses.

HISTORY

In the year 2005, based on the recommendations of an independent panel, the UPA government at the centre proposed to implement quota system for Scheduled caste, Schedule tribe, Other Backward Classes and minority communities in IITs and IIMs (for both students and faculty). To pave way for such reservation scheme, the Constitution of India was amended (the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, originally drafted as 104th Amendment Bill). In 2006, the UPA government promised to implement 27% reservation for OBCs in institutes of higher education (twenty central universities, the IITs, IIMs and AIIMS) after 2006 Assembly elections. This, if implemented, would reduce the seats for the general section of the population to less than 50.5% (since those for whom the quota is granted can compete with the general section also on merit).

This led to sharp reactions from the student communities in the institute’s concerned and also substantial opposition from students of other colleges as well. Students gathered under the banner of "Youth for Equality" and demanded that the government roll back its decision to grant more reservations.

In addition to complete roll-back of the proposed reservation, the striking protesters have demanded that an expert committee comprising members from non-political organisations to review the existing reservation policy and find out whether reservation for OBCs is required at all. This is based on the current confusion over actual population of OBC as various organisations have indicated various figures for the population of OBCs. This is mostly because the 1931 national census was the last time detailed population and economic data was gathered along with caste information for the OBC population.

On 29 March 2007, the Supreme Court of India, as an interim measure, stayed the law providing for 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes in educational institutions like IITs and IIMs. The Court held that the 1931 census could not be a determinative factor for identifying the OBCs for the purpose of providing reservation. The Supreme Court also observed, "Reservation cannot be permanent and appear to perpetuate backwardness".

On 10 April 2008, the Supreme Court of India upheld the law that provides for 27% reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in educational institutions supported by the Central government, while ruling that the creamy layer among the OBCs should be excluded from the quota

Against Reservation

The main argument against the concept of reservation is that it goes against the idea of merit and would dilute the IITs as one of the basic reasons behind their success is the excellent students they get via IIT-JEE. It is also being argued by the opposers that the irreparable damage caused during the childhood of the individual, cannot be rectified at a later stage. Also, the primary education provided by the government to the economically poor is highly inadequate, and this negligence by the government is the root cause of the problem. Statistics across the IIT's reveal that while about 4–5% of general category students do not complete their degree program, the number goes up to about 20% for reserved category students. This is used as an argument against reservations claiming that the reserved class candidates are not adequately prepared to face the challenging academic life in IITs.

The argument of centuries of social injustice through the caste system (see below, in the next Section) is not accepted by those who point out that the caste system, although differently known and practised in different societies, is a tribal hangover from the past, which had some merit in that it ensured, or 'reserved', specified jobs to be done castes which had a preference to do so. They have no sanction in the Vedas (the Upanishads Section) in which only speak of four broad 'Varnas' or divisions according to the temperament of people and of inter-Varna switch, or mobility, based on individual efforts when he/she happens to be borne to a man of a particular Varna. This process, called 'Samskara' is, approximately, conscious individual refinement. In a true sense, therefore, the talk of deliberate subjugation of or discrimination of upper castes against lower castes has no basis, even though distortions of the principle has happened historically, without sanction of the Vedas. Hence reservation, the anti-reservationists seem to say, is just a mask for demanding reservations under the cloak of casteism over-riding merit and blissfully ignoring that Vedas do not sanction this. At any rate, after several decades of Varna reservation for the lowest social strata comprising certain classes constitutionally enshrined as 'scheduled castes' and 'scheduled tribes', and otherwise open competition to all people irrespective of any criteria other than merit and aptitude, there is no justification for the political parties to demand extend reservation of educational admission and job opportunities to more classes ('other backward castes').

It is pointed out that more opportunities in keeping with the uncontrolled growth in population, in all spheres of economic activity as well as education, will be the only right answer and not reservation. However, since proportional representation is the basis of modern democracy as it is practised, these anti-reservationists point out, this, in India, has led to its most abominable abuse, resulting in a democracy which is of and by Indians but against their own interests, since a disunited country oblivious of equality of opportunity because of prohibitive reservation levels, can never compete successfully in the global context, nor achieve much in its own management of internal economy.

The abuse of political power to demand reservation for all other than the so-called 'forward ' communities is, according to the contesters, just a vote bank politics to woo the majority represented by the beneficiary communities to cast their votes in their favour. Since, however, there are no opponents among political parties to educational and job reservations, in view of their universal vote bank politics, such reservation in themselves cannot favour any particular parties at the elections.

In response to the government's assurances that seats will be increased in the institutes so that the general category students don't get affected, another point raised against reservation is that most of the seats reserved for SC/ST candidates remain empty and hence any more reservation is a waste of resources. A major concern among them is also the fact that implementing reservation in institutes of higher education would be difficult unless the quality of faculty in them is diluted. They back this point by the fact that all IITs and IIMs are facing shortage of faculty and hence increasing the seats will lead to deterioration of education.

For Reservation

The most important argument in favour of reservation is basically economic in nature. If there is discrimination and exclusion prevailing in any of the institutions, whether industry, educational institutions, it has a negative impact on the economic growth. In the absence of equal opportunity, a sizeable section of the society remains either unemployed or underemployed. The burden will be taken by a minuscule economic agents accessing opportunity to the mentioned institutions. Reservation as a form of positive discrimination should be welcomed for the national interest. But this shouldn't mean reducing the opportunity for the general categories. Government should try to accommodate all by creating more number of educational institutions. Some people consider the additional procedures for admission into the IITs as unnecessary and counter-productive. The opposition to the policy of reservation (through the preparatory course), and favouring direct admission is based on the following arguments:

In the past, a large number of seats remained vacant. According to some estimates, only 10% of SC/ST seats were filled due to lack of qualified candidates. However, since 2010 hardly any reserved seats are left unfilled as enough candidates qualify on merit.

Candidates who did not have the basic minimum marks but were on the borderline were offered admission after spending on year studying preparatory course. They wasted a year as well as felt traumatised due to this preparatory course. In 2012, for the first time there was no need to have a preparatory batch since enough candidates qualified within the reduced parameters.

On the philosophy behind the process of reservation itself, the people in favour of reservation feel that reservation is necessary to undo and counter the 'evils' of centuries of caste system that prevailed in the country. Reservation proponents also contend that merit as it is defined today is something that is achieved with the help of cramming, tutoring, constant guidance, quality schooling and knowledge of English and poor Dalits, poor MBC's lack most of these.

Conclusion

Before I put forward my views here is a recent article which needs to be read before we draw a conclusion from the same.

In IITs, qualifying score goes down so that ST student count can go up

Hemali Chhapia,TNN | Jun 13, 2015, 06.51 AM IST

MUMBAI: A shortfall in the count of scheduled tribe students has forced the Indian Institutes of Technology to re-engineer the qualifying score to join the tech colleges. The aggregate marks are down from 177 (35%) to 124 or 24.5% of 504. Similarly, the cut-offs for each subject have been revised from 10% to 7%. Downsizing of qualifying marks has taken place across the board. The minimum percentage of marks in each subject is 6.30 for OBC students and 3.5 for SC/ST candidates.

For the first time, ever since the Joint Entrance Exam has been redesigned as a two-tier qualifying test, the minimum cut-off score has been reduced by 30 per cent. Only those students who score the minimum required marks for both aggregate cut-off list and subject wise cut-off will make it to the rank list. With this revision, the IITs have now managed to push in a few more ST candidates than the total seats reserved for them, thus working to ensure that not many slots go unfilled.

"There weren't enough ST students who had qualified. Although we now have more ST students than the seats, not everyone may take admission. They may not be happy with the IIT or the stream allotted. But we surely now have enough ST candidates who have qualified this year," said a JEE chairman.

On June 3, the tech schools had declared a higher cut-off. But on Friday evening, they had a change of heart and the downgrade took place after compiling the performance of all candidates. Authorities realized that there weren't as many students who made the cut. There are 10,006 seats across the IITs this year; there are 750 seats for ST candidates.

"We have revised the marks based on the performance of all those who took the JEE (advanced)," said the organizing chairman of JEE 2015. Last week, the IITs had uploaded the scanned copies of the ORS answer booklet and 150 candidates had challenged their scores. On Saturday, the IITs will upload the fresh scores, before declaring the result on June 25.

The above article mentions that the IITs would be reducing the percentage of merit for ST students to occupy the empty seats. Doesn’t it mean that the quality and level of education is being compromised just because the seats are being left empty. Cant the empty seats be opened to the general quota so that the quality is not compromised. More than 1 lakh students appear the IIT JEE and a mere 6000 of them qualify. If you see the stats it means only 6% of the total people appearing actually get the admission. Is it fair to people who do not belong to any quota.

On what basis is the percentage of quota being determined. As stated earlier the quota percentage had been derived on the census data of 1931. Majority of who would not even be alive in today’s date. We need to rethink on the proportions as a only 50.5% of the seats are open for the general class where as there are more deserving candidates. Few years back the IIT also had an NRI quota of 2% but that was removed as the level of students were not upto the mark. If such a step can be taken for another quota why can’t we rethink the same for the SC, ST, OBC quota as well. Politicians will always play their politics card but we as a nation will have to think in what direction we need to take our country.  

In a country like India we have to think about the economic backward class but at what cost. Are we ready to let go the best that we have. In fact the schooling education shall be strengthened first before we take such steps for our premium institutes. The schools which the people come from are of a low standard and opening doors for them in such highly regarded institutes is a risky sign. We boast about our IITs and IIMs but are they the same what it was a few years back. Is there a need to make them autonomous? Is too much political intervention hampering the quality and standard of education in India? We can have reservation for them but for that we need a complete new survey which justifies their population to the number of students admitting. By just lowering the standard would not be wise. If equality is to be maintained it needs to be justified on the basis and ground reality.

I am not against reservation but I feel there is a need to debate and question the basis of reservation. An SC/ST/OBC or any reservation category person can apply to a general quota as well but a general category person can never be admitted on a reserved seat. Don’t we need to think again and decide what steps are to be taken so that the general people do not suffer? If the level of candidates for the reserved seats is not upto mark then cant those extra seats open to the general quota instead of lowering the standard. Equality must be maintained but justice should prevail.