Friday, March 30, 2007
Introspection for "Social Justice Taliban"
I did not coin the term "Social Justice Taliban". I think somebody at the group blog - www.nationalinterest.in, coined it. But I loved the term and have decided to adopt it while having "civilized" discussions with the leftists. By "civilized", I mean, I want to kill them and they want to return the favor in kind ;-).
Here is what the Supreme Court of India had to say about reservations for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Judges keep SC/ST quotas untouched, call for updated definition of OBCs
Earlier, I had advocated for the citizens of India belonging to the "general category" to give up their fight against the "Social Justice Taliban" because the Talibanis seem to have the numbers on their side. In a democracy, numbers matter and you have to pick and choose the battles that you can fight and win. Judging by the numbers, as perceived from the remote US, people belonging to the general category were hopelessly outnumbered.
Fortunately, some people at Youth for Equality ignored the futility of the situation and took on the "Social Justice Taliban". I am surprised and happy to see that these guys have now started contesting elections in order change the power structure that failed to motivate even one single mainstream political party in India to oppose the bill of reservations in the centrally funded educational institutes for the OBCs. All the best to them. They will need it in the future. I still think that they are fighting a losing battle against all odds.
In the meantime, the SJT (Social Justice Taliban) is trying to figure out their next step. The verdict of the court has momentarily thrown the ranks of the "oppressed" in confusion. But, in time, they will regroup and come back with a vengeance. The next step of the SJT might come in the form of an amendment to the constitution that makes it legal to introduce reservations in every sphere of Indian life. Karunanidhi and the other Tamilian politicos are already jumping up and down with rage at the Supreme Court verdict. They have called for a shutdown of Tamil Nadu in protest against the verdict. Soon other self-proclaimed messiahs will follow in other parts of India.
In spite of all this "tamasha", the Government of India refuses to appoint a qualified committee to study the need for reservations in India. Hard demographic data is needed to answer the following questions:
I have always hated the concept of sacrifice for helping others in the Indian ethos. We have stretched the concept of sacrifice to such a limit that it seems to be quite ridiculous nowadays. But, in reality, one has to accept it as one of the natural human traits. Having accepted that I can only say that if people are being exhorted to sacrifice for the purpose of helping the underprivileged, the least the government can do is to let the people making the sacrifice know the names and the identities of the people whom they will be helping.
¶ 12:57 PM Here is what the Supreme Court of India had to say about reservations for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Judges keep SC/ST quotas untouched, call for updated definition of OBCs
Earlier, I had advocated for the citizens of India belonging to the "general category" to give up their fight against the "Social Justice Taliban" because the Talibanis seem to have the numbers on their side. In a democracy, numbers matter and you have to pick and choose the battles that you can fight and win. Judging by the numbers, as perceived from the remote US, people belonging to the general category were hopelessly outnumbered.
Fortunately, some people at Youth for Equality ignored the futility of the situation and took on the "Social Justice Taliban". I am surprised and happy to see that these guys have now started contesting elections in order change the power structure that failed to motivate even one single mainstream political party in India to oppose the bill of reservations in the centrally funded educational institutes for the OBCs. All the best to them. They will need it in the future. I still think that they are fighting a losing battle against all odds.
In the meantime, the SJT (Social Justice Taliban) is trying to figure out their next step. The verdict of the court has momentarily thrown the ranks of the "oppressed" in confusion. But, in time, they will regroup and come back with a vengeance. The next step of the SJT might come in the form of an amendment to the constitution that makes it legal to introduce reservations in every sphere of Indian life. Karunanidhi and the other Tamilian politicos are already jumping up and down with rage at the Supreme Court verdict. They have called for a shutdown of Tamil Nadu in protest against the verdict. Soon other self-proclaimed messiahs will follow in other parts of India.
In spite of all this "tamasha", the Government of India refuses to appoint a qualified committee to study the need for reservations in India. Hard demographic data is needed to answer the following questions:
- Who are the OBCs?
- How do we define whether a particular caste is OBC?
- What is the percentage population of OBCs as compared to people of general category in different states of India?
- What is the economic and social status of the OBCs in each state?
- What are the metrics to decide whether a caste is economically and socially backward?
- How does the data regarding OBCs change with respect to different states of India?
- Why does OBCs comprise 70 percent of population in Tamil Nadu whereas they comprise only 6 percent of the population in West Bengal?
I have always hated the concept of sacrifice for helping others in the Indian ethos. We have stretched the concept of sacrifice to such a limit that it seems to be quite ridiculous nowadays. But, in reality, one has to accept it as one of the natural human traits. Having accepted that I can only say that if people are being exhorted to sacrifice for the purpose of helping the underprivileged, the least the government can do is to let the people making the sacrifice know the names and the identities of the people whom they will be helping.
