1. Most people from reserved categories passing out of IITs have lower competencies than their general category counterparts. Most of them perform badly in the internal exams and as a result when they pass out they neither have the confidence nor the skills to create or help build world class technology companies. When we talk about reservation we forget the 'social cost' of reserving that seat and just look at the single individual who gains through reservation. The 'social cost' of reserving a single seat in an IIT is that it compromises the ability of the country to create another Infosys or Wipro which in the long run would have generated hundreds of jobs many of which would have gone to people from the OBC sector itself. A similar argument can be made about how a more competent doctor can save more lives than a lesser competent one. Reservation benefits only a handful on individuals at the cost of hundreds of others, which is definitely wrong as a national policy.

The biggest consequence of the increase in the number of seats in IITs, IIMs and other educational institutes will be the increased burden on the existing faculty.

T V R Shenoy gives a detailed analysis on the current state of teachers in our best educational institutes and why many of them will leave once reservation is bought in.

Did anyone in the Manmohan Singh ministry actually talk to the teachers in the IITs, IIMs, or AIIMS before deciding to increase numbers wholesale? If you don't consult teachers in decision that directly affect them aren't you treating them as lackeys who must do as they are ordered? And why should someone labour away in a job that is not respected when there are greener pastures -- and Green Cards -- to be had?

Read the entire article on Rediff here.

Pukar is the corporate arm of the national movement against reservation, and is holding its first rally in Gurgaon on 5th of June, Monday.

Pukar is non-political organization formed by a large number of corporate employees in NCR and beyond to mobilize the opinion of the employees & management in the Indian corporate sector against the issue of caste based reservations for OBC’s in educational institutions.

Find more details about Pukar and the rally on their website corporate.pukar.googlepages.com.

Heeding to Supreme Courts threat, doctors and medical students in Delhi have called of the strike. Even though the medicos will resume work, but the protest is still on and engineering students are pitching in.

In another related development, the UPA has gone ahead at further pandering of 'lower caste' votes by hinting at the inevitability of reservation in private sector.

Supreme Court has issued notices to the government asking a detailed explanation of the rationale behind reservations for OBC's.

The court’s order came on the basis of petitions filed by advocate Ashoka Kumar Thakur and Shiv Khera challenging the validity of the Constitution 93rd amendment extending reservation for OBCs.

However, the supreme court has given the government 8 weeks to reply, and has also warned medicos to end strike.

...the court has now made clear it was taking the matter very seriously and that the doctors would face contempt charges if the agitation is not immediately called off.

YouthForEquality faces a difficult choice - if the strike is called of now, it will be very difficult to bring it back to its current status after a gap of 8 weeks. Going by past conflicts between the parliament and the judiciary, there is little reason to believe that the SC would be of any help in winning the war on reservation. On the contrary it might play a part in weakening the students movement.

For now however, the agitation is still on.

At least 50,000 people converged on Ram Lila grounds (New Delhi) today, the 27th of May, to protest against the quota (reservation) policy of the government.

Opposing governments decision to implement 27% OBC quota in all educational institutions, the protestors struck a defiant note and threatened to continue the struggle if the government does not roll back the proposal. Representatives of people who came from different parts of the country voiced their concerns against what might turn out to be the next partition of the country. Almost all of them voiced support for quota based on economic status rather than a caste based one.

The struggle against reservations was started by medical students at AIIMS (All India Student of Medical Sciences) and has rapidly spread throughout the length and breath of the country and is gaining momentum everyday.

Under the aegis of Youth for Equality a huge rally is planned in Delhi on 27th May protesting against the impending division of the country along caste lines.

Titled 'DELHI AAO, DESH BACHAO', this is a call to all concerned people of the country to come together and fight for what we believe to be right.

To all our countrymen who fought for freedom and equality, in our glorious struggle for independence, and to all those who laid down their lives protecting our borders, today we pay our homage.

Let us stand together and speak in one voice - we won't back down, we won't give up, we won't stop, this time we fight back, and we fight with all our might.

If today we don't stand our ground, there will be no stopping the government from unleashing more populist measures which have the potential to do great harm to our country.

If you are concerned and you believe that what the government is doing vis-a-vis reservations in educational institutes is wrong, do join in. Find more details about the event here.

Subhash Kak writes an emotional piece on Rediff revealing the true nature of the struggle against reservations.

It seems such an unequal struggle: the cold apparatus of the government on the one hand, and the passion of the students on the other. The students appear to echo the words of the Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar:

....perhaps the agitating doctors in India are crying out for something much more than just the reservation of seats in colleges. They are fighting against the impending partitioning of India's soul.

Read the entire piece here.

Two members of the National Knowledge Commission (set up by the Prime Minister to promote excellence in education and knowledge creation), have quit due to the governments persistence over implementing quotas.

Political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta and sociologist Andre Beteille said they were disillusioned with the government’s policies, which they saw as a betrayal of the principles on which the commission was founded.

In his quit letter, Beteille wrote to Manmohan, who had handpicked the commission’s eight members: “I have always made a distinction between numerical quota and affirmative action. What is happening now is dangerous.”

Mehta’s letter said, “The government has revealed that it cares about tokenism more than social justice. We are not doing enough to genuinely empower marginalised groups but are offering condescending palliatives like quotas as substitute.”

The Telegraph has more.

The anti-quota rally, organised by medical students in Delhi, saw a massive turnout where thousands of people from all sections of the society turned up to lend support.

The gathering congregated near Jantar Mantar at about 10 A.M. in the morning and was largely peaceful. Medical students from all over the country joined the rally as also hundreds of Engineers, some from major software firms.

The atmosphere reverberated with chants ranging from 'Arjun Singh Hai Hai' to a more RDB'esque 'Inquilab Zindabad'. Motivational speaker Shiv Khera and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu also turned up to deliver fiery speeches which was received by the gathering with much applause.

Read more here and here.