The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Quota a measure to ensure equality in modern society'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007
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New Delhi

`Quota a measure to ensure equality in modern society'

Staff Reporter

`Caste system causes inequality, so State interventions are required'

NEW DELHI: As long as the country does not have equal universal education for all, the reservations will have to be given, as they are important to ensure equality among people.

"Reservations are not doles given out to backwards. They are measures in a modern society to ensure equality," said Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury at Jawaharlal Nehru University here on Tuesday.

Addressing the students at an all-party convention supporting 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes, the Politburo member said: "Caste system in India has a pernicious influence on our society. It just cannot be wished away. This tenacious system causes inequality, so you require State interventions to ensure equality for all."

On the recent interim order of Supreme Court that has stayed the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission), Act, 2006, Mr. Yechury said:

"Judiciary can not make laws. It can only interpret laws. The political parties have to understand this and address the issue. The stay order will have to be met seriously by the political leadership of this country." The Rajya Sabha member also stated that the apex court's recent order was "logically inconsistent with its own internal logic".

"When a nine-judge Bench upheld reservation in jobs on the basis of Mandal Commission, then how can a two-judge Bench stay reservation in higher education? Both can't co-exist. A correction is necessary on this for the sake of our country and its social equilibrium," Mr. Yechury said at a convention organised by Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU).

In his address, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal hit out at anti-reservation forces claiming that they would never want the backward classes to walk on the path of development and advancement.

"The anti-reservation groups talk about merit. When private colleges charge exorbitant fees and donations to admit students with less percentage and marks, then why don't these people talk raise the issue of merit?"

Earlier, social activist Swami Agnivesh lashed out at members of Youth for Equality forum for booing Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh at a recent seminar held on the JNU campus. "Why did they boo Arjun Singh? The entire Parliament had passed the law, why did they single him out?" He also said that the universities should not just be a centre for studies but also social and cultural revolution.

Elaborating on the concept of merit and efficiency, JNU faculty member Jayati Ghosh said that exclusion in Indian society was socially and economically very damaging and decreased the efficiency of the country.

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