Every
day he wakes up to the ‘kachra song’ and amidst the struggle of getting up, he
spells out one or two cuss words. Everyday struggle, only to empty the garbage
bins and then thinking some invention must be made so that ‘we do not have to
go outside to dump the garbage’ and through some pipelines, it can be collected.
But he fails to realize, even then there’ll be a particular category of people
who’ll be appointed to do the job just like earlier times. He rushes to empty his
stomach as he cannot empty his mind stuck in ‘old customary thoughts disguised
in modern-day inventions’. He keeps scrolling
his mobile in order to get the latest piece of news or tending social media
posts until he hears his mother calling for breakfast. Having done his duty of
‘Being an aware-informed citizen’ while in the seat, he feels proud of his multitasking
skills and thanks the inventor of ‘Modern toilet seats’. What a struggle it
would’ve been for his elders who didn’t have access to modern washroom
structures!
As
he eats breakfast, his father reads a Newspaper that bears a declaration ‘NEET
aspirants and doctors hold protests over Reservation in Medical seats in India’.
“Britishers chale gye Reservation chorh gaye”, mumbles his father while eating
a typical English breakfast -eggs, bread butter toast, and Tea! His mother
intervenes by saying that Nehru-Ambedkar introduced Reservations not the
British; they are the real culprits of the decline in quality doctors today. He
immediately googles the origin of the reservation and finds:
‘…While
paradoxical ideas are being spread about reservations, one needs to look
closely at the historical underpinnings of why the policy came to exist.
Reservation typically means reserving certain seats in an Institution (maybe
Governmental or educational or occupational) for those who need representation
and empowerment through integration. In British-ruled India when Indians were
suffering at the hands of the British’s ill-administration, the demand for Self-rule or
Swaraj was raised based on the reasoning-How can the Foreign administrators,
who are alien to Indian concepts of Society, culture, norms, etc., make laws
for those who are not even represented in the administration! True enough.
Self-rule or in other words Reservation of Indian nationals in the Legislature was
demanded so that Indians are represented in the ruling Government. The flag
bearers of the Indian freedom Struggle witnessed draconian ‘Rowlatt Acts’ and
massacre but eventually succeeded in getting a reservation for Indians in the
Legislature.’
He
felt his whole life was a lie! Indeed, one can equate it as the building brick of the concept of Reservation in administrative Institutions, which has manifested
today into a widely implemented and discussed Policy. But how did a concept
which enabled Representation and empowerment for Indians then, gain criticism
over time? Perhaps, with the Freedom of India from the Britishers, the exceptional
concept of Reservation lost its validity. No more Foreign demons to fight but
demons of Casteism embedded in the institutional-cultural structure of Indian
Society were still lurking behind the sacred Wells, exclusive temples, occupational-educational
restrictions, generational oppression, and exploitation…
Feeling
informed, he retorted back, “Reservation is not a foreign concept, It was more
Indian when Foreigners ruled. And The reservation that exists today was
introduced in 1932 when British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald presented the
communal award. This award made a provision for separate electorates for
Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans, and Dalits.
But the communal award was opposed by Mahatma Gandhi, whereas, B.R.Ambedkar and
Rettamalai Srinivasan supported it. Therefore, to address this situation, after
long negotiations between Gandhi and Ambedkar the Poona Pact of 1932 was signed
by them. According to this pact, the country would have a single Hindu
electorate, with seats reserved for Dalits. So, do not term it loosely”.
To
this, his Father replied, “Casteism was also a British propaganda…it never
existed in India. We had Varna System only. British propagated this in order to
divide India.” Just as he said this, House-help came in and his Grandmother
offered her tea in an old steel tumbler which was never used by any other
family member. He left thinking, Indeed no one practices casteism today and
Britishers were the real culprits due to which everyone is struggling today.
By: Mansi Walia
Comments
Post a Comment