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Review reservation

The pent-up anger among the Gujjars on being reduced to mere onlookers in an ever-shrinking job market has erupted like a volcano. Over half-a-century of reservation in almost every sphere of life for the SCs and STs has given rise to a pampered elite among them who have started treating reservation as their birthright.

Thus the children of government officers, doctors, and engineers grow up to become officers, doctors, and engineers at the expense of much more meritorious students from other categories. Such a travesty of justice has not only aggravated the caste system but also played havoc with democracy and fragmented Indian society. It is time reservation was abolished.

Shivaji K. Moitra,
Kharagpur

There is no question that our political leadership that has always used reservation more as a tool for garnering votes than ensuring social development was responsible for the Gujjar violence. It is time politicians initiated a healthy debate on issues such as caste, affirmative action, and reservation citing examples from Indian history as well as other democracies.

Serious and unbiased research into reservation policies with the objective of narrowing down the social gaps will pave the way for a casteless society.

Ananthi Santhaiyan,
Mumbai

With reservation becoming a hot topic, every community is trying to extract as much mileage as it can to benefit from it. Otherwise what conceivable logic can there be for the Gujjars to cast themselves as STs when they are already in the OBC category?

Had we tackled the issue of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in a proper manner and not allowed it to become the big issue that it is today, we would have sent the message that times have changed and concessions are not the thing to look for in this day and age. With India making remarkable progress in the last two decades, it is for the people to pull themselves out of their backwardness and disadvantaged existence.

S. Kamat,
Bardez

The Gujjars and the Meenas should understand that only the elite among them will benefit from such agitations. They should understand that reservation is not a panacea for backwardness and that the political class uses it to gain power. People should fight for their basic needs such as food, shelter, water, and education.

K.T. Krishnaswami,
Singaperumal Koil, T.N.

If the Election Commission is empowered to take stern action against the parties that do not fulfil their pre-poll promises on assuming power, issues such as the Gujjar agitation will not crop up.

B. Balasubramanian,
Puducherry

It is all very well to appeal to the media to exercise restraint while covering riots. But the media are not PR agencies of governments. They are responsible to their readers and viewers.

The almost weeklong agitation and the colossal damage it caused exposed the failure of the Gujjar and Meena leadership and the governments concerned. It gave an opportunity for the people to see the real face of politicians — those who are in power and those aspiring to be in power.

C.K. Sardana,
Bhopal

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Review reservation

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