THE WHOLE COUNTRY is awaiting the response of the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Arjun Singh on quota policy. Everybody is watching whether on 11 May he will be able to safeguard the interest of his allies or succumb to the pressure of the youth who are protesting against reservation policy. As a good politician a middle path should be worked out to protect the interest of the vast majority which pays taxes.

 

India in the 20th century was a divided land. We should be thankful to the British for uniting the whole country: they left their language and scientific skills to unite us better. By and large we have unity in diversity, as our first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru described put it.

 

However, the present generation of politicians who enjoy power have never tried to unite people. Rather they have made special efforts to provoke people by giving importance to religion, caste and creed during election campaigns. Unfortunately, the efforts that the politicians or the general public make towards the development of the country go unrecognised due to the power and position of corrupt politicians.

 

Every politician tries to bank upon issues like poverty, reservations for backward classes, free education, equality, water and electricity and the safety of women during their election campaigns, but after coming in power they do not even remember what their election manifestoes looked like.

 

The present situation will continue for another 1,000 years, unless the youth of our country, who are 60 per cent of our population, start taking interest in active politics. The youth of India faces greater responsibilities, as within a span of the next 10 years they will be decision makers. India is growing rapidly and making a mark in various fields, like human resource, nuclear technology, medicine, the media, telecommunications, information technology, etc.

 

Our economy is improving, and along with contributing in other fields, we should not forget that India is essentially an agro-based economy. We should be aware of how much we are contributing to the agriculture sector. The government should workout policies to ensure agricultural growth. It should fund latest rural technologies.

 

Instead of focussing on the reservation for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes or the Other Backward Classes the government should stress on river linking, eradication of illiteracy, good transportation services, better-equipped libraries and good teaching material and faculties for the development of major sections of the people who live in villages in India.

 

Let there be reservations for the poor irrespective of religion and caste, because caste never identifies the real poor. Our growth is tremendous, but we need a lot of help from both government and private industries in bringing riches to our villages and agricultural sectors for the next big jump in the Indian economy.

 

Every citizen should develop a secular thinking while dealing with a sensitive topic such as reservations. The whole of the country should unite against increasing reservations based on caste, like we do during India-Pakistan cricket matches. The government and public and private organisations should jointly work out plans that bring out the best and deserving candidates regardless to which caste they belong.

 

[Dr Kumar is a member of the Junior Doctors’ Association of Bangalore Medical College. This association was active in Bangalore in protesting against the proposed reservation for the OBCs in central educational institutions.]