Saturday, June 28, 2008

THE TIPPING POINT

With the announcement of 49.5% reservation in faculty poistions in IITs, the bright days of India are coming to an end. As correctly put by one of the IIT Director ""Some of the finest people have given up top positions and fat cheques that were offered to them in other parts of the world to come and teach in the IITs, despite the low pay scale that the government offers. With reservation in faculty positions, I see a day, not far from now, when the IITs will crumble," Consider that even now IITs are facing severe faculty crunch because of lack of talent imagine what will be the situation when talented faculty move to corporate houses who respect the talent.And it won't be long before UPA's HRD extends this quota to faculty positions in IIMs also.And this crumble is really not far- according to HRDs orders this should be applied with immediate effect. This means either hire SC/ST/OBC Profs equivalent to the number of existing Profs !!! OR fire half of your existing Profs to make way for SC/ST/OBCs. My country is great ! Imagine a education system where sub standard profs are teaching sub standard students who are then going into important positions through quota. To put it in perpective its like using sub standard raw material to be processed in sub standard machinery and aiming for a world class product. Just one word to describe this - DISASTER.It is really sad that we are increasing backwardness in the name of equality. And even this brings a bitterness in the society. I can already see people talking in "them" and "us" languages ....is this equality you aimed for Mr AS?









Some reservation advocates talk about OBC population and numbers. Even if we assume that OBC population is 50% (on which all reservation figures are based on and this figure itself is based on a census taken in 1800s !!) reservation should be according to the SC/ST/OBC population giving the exam. But this is not so.




Fact 2: IITs were asked to fill 27% in three stages. i.e. for 2008 admissions 9% seats were reserved for OBC students. Students who were qualified enough- 7.4 %. And this despite of lowering the cutoffs and giving option of preparatory course to students scoring even lower than that. Imagine what will happen when this reaches 27%.

See the picture attached






Fact 3: Since increased quota is not finding any students now UPA is trying to increase creamy layer definition to Rs 5 lakh pa!! This means any OBC earning 40,000 per month is a backward ! If That qualifies for a "backward" quota i can't imagine what upper class is earning right now.



Fact 4: Last year 28 SC/ST candidates were expelled from IIT Bombay for their dismal academic performance. Being an IITian i would also like to point out that SC/ST/OBC students get one extra year to complete the course before being thrown out. Also, nearly all expenses are bourne by the govt. for their complete stay...and this is your and my hard earned tax money that goes down the drain when that happens. Now, these 28 guys have filed a complaint against IIT B alleging "descrimination" !! As if they were asked to write their caste on their answer sheets and Profs deducted their marks for being SC/ST/OBCs





Fact 5: The above facts are useless because they are intended to be read by educated and knowledgeable people and our politicians do not fall into that category.
(BTW approx 35% face criminal charges pending against them including rape and murder charges. See link in references for details)






Well....now at least i don't see my kids going to Indian colleges. Regardless of whether they are talented or not they won't have the "backward" tag ....and even if they managed to get into some institute they will be taught by Profs who themselves have got there through quota and not talent. This is how this crumble will begin and 20 years down the line...all "general" talent would be outside this country, students as well as faculty, and India will be a hub for education and employment - for the backward classes.

References:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HRD_orders_faculty_quota_IIT_directors_livid/articleshow/3173620.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/IITs_struggle_to_fill_up_OBC_seats/articleshow/3146633.cms

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080054606&ch=6/26/2008%2010:25:00%20PM

http://reportpress.wordpress.com/2007/04/06/criminal-politicians-rule-india/

6 comments:

  1. The irony of the fact is already pointed out by you - "the people who are relevant in the decision making (the politicians) will not be reading these kind of articles".

    BTW nice start. Those were some bitter facts.

    On a lighter note, I guess the situation can only be reversed if reservation in extended to the political system (there it would be for general people) so that we have some balance of power at the top :)

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  2. Nice blog :) Good collection of facts.

    This is a serious issue to be considered .. but as you said there is no one to consider it.50% of the professors who are unqualified and under talented are going to teach the creamy layer of our country[:O] As you said rightly the future consequences of this will be (naah must be) disastrous.

    One more thing I don't think that the professors have a low pay scale. Even though what they get from the government is low.the monetary benefits that they get from the sponsored projects of various companies are pretty high.

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  3. I don't understand the logic behind quota system in faculty, as the main motive of quota system is to lend a helping hand(by talented profs) to those who are backward and less privileged so that they can progress but here the hand which will help them is also in need of helping hand( quota in faculty). WTF :(....

    Because of new IITs and reservation::
    One day will come when number of seats for SC/ST and OBC will be greater than number of SC/ST and OBC.

    Nice blog thankur.....

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  4. I have just one comment:

    Jitna jaldi ho sake bhaag lo India se..

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  5. nothing wrong with reservation at professor levels; the people being employed ARE being given a "helping hand". Afterall, if someone couldn't study (with reservation) like others, the least he should be allowed to do is "teach" others with his extraordinary skills.

    Also, another reason would be to prevent the "backward" students from being subjected to "casteism".

    I'd say go for 100% reservation.

    Nothing good can come from going down this path of reservation. Atleast not in the manner it is being implemented / twisted / used.

    People at the top ought to be better than playing such cheap tricks to get to the next election win.

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