The Hindu : New Delhi News : A missing link in quota debate

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 18, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A missing link in quota debate

They are usually the loudest crusaders of student causes. And yet if there has been a missing link in the debate surrounding the burning issue of reservation over the past couple of weeks, it has been the near stoic silence of student outfits on the Government's proposed move to provide quota for Other Backward Classes students in Central universities.

For most, the rationale has been rather simple -- they support reservations and so cannot be part of the agitations. But despite their strong case for reservations, they have not been really putting their point of view across. One of the major hindrances, according to the organisations, has been the fact that campuses are closed for the summer vacation. Strangely enough, Delhi University students protesting against reservation seem to have found it easier to get out of the holiday mood.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which has a considerable number of reserved category students, is all for reservation, but student outfits here again say they are finding it difficult to mobilise support due to the summer holidays.

"We will be launching a campaign as soon as the new semester begins. Although pamphlets were brought out supporting the reservation policy, with few students around, it is difficult for us to do anything big. But yes, it is on our agenda and we will take some demonstrative action in campuses across the city in June during the admission season,'' said Rohit, former JNU president and Students' Federation of India member.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) too maintained its support for reservations in universities but says it might join the protest to condemn the brutal action of the police on protesting students in Mumbai.

From the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the only sound so far has come from the Kerala Students' Professional College Students' Forum (PCSF), which has written a letter to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh saying they are mobilising students.

While condemning the lathi-charge on students, PCSF president Mathew Kuzhalanadan in his letter said: "No single voice in favour of reservation from any of the premier institutions itself shows that there is hardly any representation of the deprived class in these institution and this itself points to the need for such a reservation''.

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It was, undeniably, the most striking image of the ongoing hunger strike by medical students at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences on Wednesday.

Sitting amid the tired faces and droopy eyes in the hot May sun, they may not have been part of the strike here technically, but as any student here would tell you, their presence was the biggest motivator of all for most of those on the hunger strike.

From giving their children lectures on good eating to actually encouraging them to join hunger strike, parents of medical students are literally backing their children on the issue. And while many may criticise them for fuelling the agitation, most parents say they are only doing their duty.

"I did not even know till yesterday that my son was on hunger strike, but when I came to know, I decided to come here and lend him support. We are here because these children are fighting for the right cause. The Government cannot keep reservations in medical colleges as it concerns the lives of hundreds of students. How are they planning to build a better India by fuelling caste feelings?'' asked one of the parents who was present here.

-- Lakshmi B. Ghosh

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