Indy Telecom & Industrial Media

The Indian cabinet recently approved a 27% reservation in the famous Indian Institutes of Technology. This is despite the fact that a lot of people have opposed and protested against it. And even more importantly, this is while the issue is still up in the Supreme Court of India, which is quite blatantly unethical on part of the cabinet ministers.

Reservation is a process in India by which the government allots a certain percentage of seats for certain segments of population. Therefore, if you belong to a “reserved category”, you are automatically given an admission even if your academic performance is far below someone who does not fall under the reserved category and yet did not make it. In some Indian states, this percentage is up to 70+% — i.e., 70%+ of seats are reserved for about 95% of the population, while the rest 5% of the population have access to only 30% of the seats, and they have to contend with the rest 95% of the population for these seats, as well.

For instance, Alice may be a smart kid who fell into the 90th percentile in her standardised tests. Unfortunately for Alice, she does not fall under a reserved category. So, despite the fact that folks of Alice’s ethnicity only comprise of 5% of the population, Alice still needs to score in the 95the percentile or above to be accepted.

Now, Bob is a relatively unintelligent kid who falls into the 70th percentile. But Bob is lucky — Bob falls under a reserved category, so even though Bob is way less deserving than Alice, he still makes it by sheer virtue of his birth. Alice not only competes against the 5% of the people for 30% of the seats, but also against the other 95% for the 30%. However, Bob just needs to score enough to make it into the top 70 percentile, and he automatically makes it.

So, even though Alice is way smarter than Bob ever would be, Bob gets to go to school because the Government of India discriminates against people.

And India, a nation state which claims to be treat all its citizens equally (which is even listed as a fundamental right) provides an unequal platform in the most fundamental of things for the nation’s youth — education.

However, let’s take a look against the ethnicities that the GoI discriminates against, such as the Brahmins. But before we go ahead, let us provide a sample space of Brahmins for the reader — C.V. Raman, S. Chandrasekhar, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Rabindranath Tagore. Yup, four (and only) four of the Nobel Laureates that India has ever produced. Yup, three (out of six) of the Nobel Laureates that India has ever produced. The other three are Har Gobind Khorana, won won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics.

And just for the sake of fun, let us look at their percentages:

In the 1931 caste census taken by the Colonial British government, Brahmins were 4.32% of the total population. Even in Uttar Pradesh, where they are most numerous, the Brahmins constituted just 9% of the total populace. In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, they formed less than 3% and 2% of the population respectively

So, a small percentage of people, who for the most part fall under the middle-class category financially, but are gifted neverthless in terms of intellectual achievements. That done, let us proceed.

For the most part, reservation or no, the deserving and smart folks would find a way. However, this would do something else — the smart folks would leave the country. Oh, this is already happening. The US, for instance, is teeming with Indians, most of whom came here precisely for these reasons — the opportunity to have their talent recognised, which their country would not.

Now, this is a good thing in a lot of ways. In a way, it is the survival of the fittest — you see, the brightest of the nation were the 5%, who have been discriminated against. Now, those that can get through the already tough system are the smart ones from this 5%, and they will find a way.

However, the system will reach a culmination point where the “upper caste” (who, ironically, are being discriminated against) will no longer be in India, at least not significant enough to matter. Those that are in India will be the ones who were unable to make it; however the rest would get out of the nation once and for all. And in economies and societies like the US which encourage talent and merit, such folks would prosper.

But let’s rewind a moment and see what would happen if these folks were not discriminated against. Maybe they will have dreams, work hard and try to make India into a first world developed state. However, when the system and the government discriminate against them, would they be willing to do so? No, it would be a lot easier for them to simply move to another society that encourages their talent.

So, they are happy — they get to live in a first world country, they get to pursue their dreams and they have left behind the system that discriminated against them.

But who are the losers? Of course, India is the loser — it just lost its best brains because it discriminated against them. Remember what the Jews did when Nazi Germany started discriminating against them? They ended up working for the state that was fighting Germany, and helped in the defeat of Germany and its allies. What do you think the intelligentia that escapes the persecution by the Indian government going to do?

That is right, their loyalties change.

I’m a Brahmin, and I’m sick and tired of what India has become. The nation I was born in hates me and my kind, and there are no opportunities for us. For sins that my ancestors supposedly committed thousands of years ago, my kind are being persecuted against.

I’m not an equal in the eyes of the law, nor in the eyes of the state, even though I supposedly have a fundamental right to being treated so. Once upon a time, my kind did not have a choice — today they do.

And when the time comes, those that persecute will pay for it. If history has taught us one thing, it is that the persecutors will always pay for it. Always.