Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

A setback

The Supreme Court's order staying the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes in Central educational institutions is perplexing. A nine-judge bench of the same court had satisfied itself about the legal tenability of and justification for OBC quotas in government jobs, based on the available data on the backwardness of the masses. When a measure could be upheld for granting employment, how could it not be upheld for extending education? OBC reservation is based on the Mandal Commission report, which studied the social and educational backwardness of the people exhaustively. The Supreme Court has adopted different yardsticks for the same issue.

S. Ramachandran Pillai,
Chennai

Reservation is a vital issue and must be given protection from judicial interference. Implementing educational quotas is akin to implementing land reforms to establish an equitable society. The rights of the people, particularly those pertaining to their uplift, cannot be bogged down in lengthy legal proceedings. The time lost before the implementation of the law extending reservation to the OBCs amounts to an opportunity lost, which will delay the progress of the nation.

Kattari Ananda Naidu,
Chennai

The Supreme Court ruling is a setback. It is after many years that the IITs and the IIMs have actually made a move to increase their student intake. But now, the move will be reversed. How can reservation affect merit? The argument that caste-based reservation is discrimination is true. But what else can be the basis? The need of the hour is a referendum on whether or not to continue with reservation. With a majority deprived of adequate facilities, the answer will be `yes.'

The very fact that the anti-quota group is vociferous in its opposition while the pro-quota is not vocal in its support to reservation shows that those who don't support the quota system are from the elite group who do not need it.

Rakesh V. Thampy,
Chennai

The order contradicts the Supreme Court's earlier judgment in the Indira Sawhney case. The Centre should take legal steps to vacate the stay and implement the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in this academic year.

G. Karunanidhy,
Chennai

If the 1931 census was not acceptable to the Court, it should have ordered the collection and compilation of data on OBCs within a time frame.

Jetling Yellosa,
Warangal

The Court should have taken the available data into consideration. The Mandal Commission report contains data pertaining exclusively to the OBCs. The Central Statistical Organisation and the National Sample Survey Organisation collect and maintain data and share them with the National SC/ST Commission and the National Commission for Backward Classes for inclusion and exclusion of different castes from the official list. The Court has asked for comprehensive data, which will take another five-six years to compile. This will result in severe deprivation of opportunities for the OBCs.

Sheriff Ashik Mohideen,
Chennai

The Court has observed that "nowhere else in the world" do castes, classes, and communities queue up to get backward status. Why does it not realise that nowhere else in the world have certain castes and communities which claim to be forward siphoned off much of the opportunities for centuries?

P. Madhusudhanan,
Chennai

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