Dr. Abdul Kalam, President
Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister
Mr. L.K. Advani, Leader of Opposition
Chief Ministers of all states
All other fellow of Indians
This is for wide distribution.

    

Is the logic of reservation to atone for the deprivation wrought by our decrepit caste system?  If yes, then why shouldn’t deprivation–judged by income and wealth–be the basis of reservation?  Let’s not downplay the wisdom underlying ancient Indian caste system of rewarding individuals based on profession and productivity.  This wisdom was thrown away to establish birth rights, subsequently, leading to the weakening of society and subjugation by external forces. 

Should we be oblivious of the adverse historical consequences of perpetuation of birth rights while continuing and expanding reservations and quotas? It obviously is irrational and socially suicidal to perpetuate birth rights and to expand them on a massive scale. 

Any reservation that is not based on deprivation will never correct the problem of deprivation of the economically backward people in every caste, tribe and religion that we want to redress. It is true that the deprived lot is disproportionately higher in certain castes, tribes or religions.  This is why deprivation-based reservation will benefit those castes, tribes and religions more than the others.  Reservations based on birth rights will only benefit the elite in each caste, tribe or religion and it will continue to deprive the deprived masses in each group of the government mandated largesse. This will perpetuate the systemic deprivation of masses.  It will make the society divided and remain at loggerheads.  It will lead to masses agitating and joining the violent movements.  External forces can fuel such violent movements.  Then a divided society will be defeated and subjugated by external forces, as in the past. 

The expectation of the latest constitutional amendment and subsequent proposals – for reservations in private educational institutions, NGOs and corporations – is that the beneficiary elites will succeed in subduing or controlling masses within their respective subgroups.  This is obviously a false expectation in a democracy.  Even the military regiments based on such divisive philosophy should be disbanded because it fosters tacit disunity in security forces.  Because military is disciplined and authoritarian, the caste-based regimentation does not seem to affect performance, though the performance and cohesion will likely improve from disbanding regimentation.  Military-style regimentation among citizens in a democracy has definitely failed to strengthen and unify Indians. 

If the constitutional amendment is designed only to benefit the elite in each subgroup without caring for the long-term adverse effects on national competitiveness, unity and security, then it is irrational and suboptimal. The cost of reservations as birth rights is enormous to society.  Institutionalizing birth rights has led to subjugation of our society by external forces in the past.  For example, the eldest son of a king in ancient India would adorn the throne of the kingdom as his birth right, no matter how incompetent or lethargic he might be.  A guru’s eldest son would be appointed as the adviser to a king, no matter how dumb or illiterate this successor guru might be.  They together would torment productive subjects and rob private and public wealth.  That system of governance enervated our society so badly that we could be easily subjugated by external forces. 

The system of governance prevalent in India today is hardly different from what the ancient kings practiced before they were all subjugated by external forces.  This is why independent India is now being already subjugated economically, as the pays, perquisites and privileges of rulers and their schemes are increasingly being funded by external remittance earned abroad.  Our nuclear bombs will not help our independence.   A nuclear Pakistan has already lost its sovereignty and is under tremendous pressure to give up its bombs. 

So there is a choice for our modern kings (netas) and their gurus (babus) in our democratic India:

(a)  Keep on establishing birth rights for kith, kin and cronies, leading eventually to subjugation by external forces and internal turmoil as in Nepal.   

(b) Or, practice optimal governance that rewards talent, productivity and perseverance, not determined by judgments of netas and babus, but by well established markets which are optimally monitored and regulated by the government for stability and prosperity of society.

Expanding seats in institutions of higher learning like IITs and IIMs does not alleviate the folly and fatuousness in the system of governance that had resulted in physical subjugation of India in the past and is leading to economic subjugation now. The idea of reservations (news clip below) to develop rural India is oxymoron and hypocritical. It is a tactic designed to deflect citizens' thinking from the real issues that bedevil rural India: mining, deforesting and scorching, with the public's mineral and forest wealth usurped by the so-called industrialists and their political patrons and nothing of this wealth coming to develop rural India.

You, your friends and relatives are cordially welcome to visit freely and copiously the “School of Optimal Governance” on the Internet at Pro-prosperity.com.  Judge by yourself why this site is at the top of millions on Google search for information on topics like (i) universal religion and god, (ii) optimal governance for prosperity, (iii) universal religion for prosperity, and several other prosperity related topics. 

An aspiration to become a knowledge superpower can be fulfilled only by a well-informed government. Isn’t it then prudent to shape the philosophy of governance and constitution based on current human knowledge and wisdom?  Please visit Pro-Prosperity.Com to see why humans need to rethink about issues like religion and god.  

To be developed, India must be governed by rational expectations of citizens.  A crucial element of rational expectations in governance is presumption that citizens are as smart as rulers. 

With best regards,

Sankarshan Acharya

Citizens for Development and Pro-Prosperity.Com
Pro-Prosperity.Com is rated as number one by Yahoo! for information on: optimal governance for prosperity

Govt may bring law to ensure reservation: Nath

[ Times of India, Saturday, May 13, 2006 11:39:16 amPTI ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1528235.cms

NEW DELHI: The government has said it may bring a law to ensure reservation in private sector jobs if the industry failed to come out with "adequate" voluntary response on affirmative action for "all inclusive" growth.

Simultaneously, the government is also working on a package to provide incentives, including tax concessions, for encouraging private companies to set up industries and create employment in districts where a large number of population is Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes.

"We will first see what is their voluntary action...but if it fails, the government will have to look at other options ...including making it legally," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in an interview to CNN-IBN.

Nath said the government action would depend on the response from the industry and if the government felt that the steps being taken by private firms were not "adequate on the ground", various options would be considered.

Asked whether the options include reservation, he said: "there are various options... which does not preclude reservation... But that (reservation) is not the only option."

Nath said India's growth has so far been "urban-centric" and it was important to develop areas which were not a part of this growth story.

There are about 104 districts in the country, where SCs, STs and OBCs comprised more than 50 per cent of the population, he said, adding these were the areas where the government wanted the industry to set up operations.

But, "if there is no other alternative to all inclusive growth, reservations will have to happen," he said.