IBNLive Chat: OBC quota, is this the end of merit?

HARD TALK: CNN-IBN's National Affairs Editor Diptosh Majumdar discusses issues on quota.

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Diptosh Majumdar: I think the country needs hundreds of colleges at this moment. I was told by my friends in Prime Minister's Office a few days ago that Dr Ramadoss is sitting on a file for the last eight months that would have allowed corporates to build medical colleges throughout the country. The Prime Minister is pushing for it but the Health Minister wouldn't listen.

Shanku: Why has the English language media taken a biased stand with regard to reservation? It has abashedly supported the corporate funded anti-reservation protests. Even today only one channel beamed images of students celebrating in Patna university. Every other channel were showing old images of anti-backward caste protests. Is the English media showing what it's elite viewers want to see and hear?

Diptosh Majumdar: To some extent I agree with you that the English viewership is a little different...but tell me Shanku frankly. I'll wait for your answer in the course of the chat if education was equal at the primary level best possible free education for everybody wouldn't that be a better option than reservation at higher education institutions. why is the country not being able to provide good school education at zero prices, no fees, to everybody shouldn't that be the best way of creating a level-playing field?

Sam: This will in all likelyhood take us back and keep us as a nation in which only 50% can be treated as ok class and the rest as reservation class. The appointment ads also will need to advertise persons in ok class need only apply, and matrimonial also will be similar as persons having acquired degrees under reservation please excuse. The foreign recruiter will come to terms with this syndrome very soon and will ask all types of awkward questions before he will recruit any one. The politicians in this country who are basically having very little merit and huge skills in skullduggery have dealt a final deathblow to our country where one has to search for merit on the basis of a needle in the haystack. This is black day for all students who are unfortunately born to upper caste parents and to all children in general including those under reservation, as they will never have their self esteem and even if they achieve any position in life, they will always feel that somehow they don't deserve it.

Diptosh Majumdar: The Dalits with their reservation have not done too badly in the last sixty years. So reservation does help in the uplift of backward classes. There are many real life stories to prove that. My question is that you cannot make it permanent. Look what happened to the battle in Rajasthan between Meenas and Gujjars. If you ask me frankly Meenas have made extremely good use of their Scheduled Tribe reservation after Independence but they cannot continue with the benefits even now .the problem in India is everything is permanent...we cannot make reservation permanent

p v maiya: By extension of this judgement, can we reserve for OBC and SC&STs 49.5% reservation[ excluding creamy layers of course] of seats in the Parliament and other legislative bodies , membership of which anyway does not require any educational qualification? If not why not?

Diptosh Majumdar: I don't think we'll do that, we are a rich democracy, good sense will prevail.