Thoughts keep the brain from rusting and lately, I have been having a lot of thoughts. Behold, some of them confuse even me!
In the Raphy household, nothing is a discussion anymore, it is always a debate. With the fierce one who can kill people with words being the one with so many majors and shall not be mentioned.
Each of these debates unfortunately yields nothing productive but a lot of noise that our neighbouring kid who cries for a hobby seems unfit for competition.
One such debate was about the Caste-based Reservation system. Heavy topic, I know. How heavy is it? Well, that can be understood only by weighing the odds. Before getting into the tangled mess of reservation systems, let me tell you a story.
Nino and Nina were two kids who went to the same school in the neighbourhood. Nino was an average achiever while Nina was the topper. Both of them came from financially similar backgrounds and both of them wanted to be scientists. Nino and Nina believed that the world was fair and their dreams would be fulfilled.
Caste is a very sensitive as well as prevalent issue alongside racism and is omnipresent. Several instances from history show us the chaos and ruin these caste systems created. In India, B.R.Ambedkar brought the caste-based reservation system to ensure equity prevailed. Some questioned this notion. Wouldn’t caste-based reservations mean adhering to caste systems?
Things were getting better after this and everyone hailed him for this.
Equality and Equity
These two words are often confused with each other. But they are very different. One means no caste-based reservations and the other one is an advocate of caste-based reservations.
For instance, in a class of 10 low achievers, 10 average achievers, and 10 high achievers; equal attention by the teacher wouldn’t be fair to the low achievers. So, the teacher has to prioritize and devise her teaching methods according to each of these groups ideally. That is EQUITY. In the case of EQUALITY, equal attention from the teacher would be the desired outcome.
Nino’s grandparents were impacted by the caste system. They weren’t allowed to go to schools because of their caste. With the help of the reservation system, Nino’s parents were able to go to school and college. Nina belonged to the upper caste and she wasn’t impacted by the caste system until the day of her college admissions.
Nina despite being a high achiever didn’t make the cutoff for the course of her choice while Nino secured admission and scholarship through the benefit of caste-based reservation. Nina was devastated. She was being punished for the crimes of her ancestors. Is this fair?
Equity may be fairer than equality, but isn’t it high time that a new system came in place? To be politically right I need to support EQUITY, but how is this possible when I was badly impacted by the very institution of equity, the reservations?
I tried my best to grasp around the pillar of EQUITY, but I can’t. I’m tired of paying for the mistakes of some people in the past.
What if there were no reservations at all? What if we all had numbers and random alphabets as our identity to ensure fair play? What if the government gave scholarships and incentives to people based on their income and not their caste? What if we had a fairer system? What if…
The air fills with what-ifs. And all I know is either your ancestors suffer or you and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
I am Nina.
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