Loosing sight of the issue....

The issue is development of disadvantaged, those Indians who have been denied resources and exposure for and to their development. It is not a new issue. For last more than a decade India is facing this issue. Successive governments and political parties have succeeded in loosing sight of the issue. No body seem to be interested in solving the issue. Every body seem to be interested in taking benefit from the issue by taking only short term measures. These short term measures have divided the society in to various classes and groups. A very small percentage of targeted beneficiaries have been benefited. These benficiaries have formed their own group and worked for and succeeded in keeping all benefits of these measures to themselves. They have worked to retain the benefits to their future generations and have prevented new people joining the beneficiary club.

A very ineffective tool in the form of reservation has been used as short-term measure to solve age-old problems. No body is ready to learn lessons from implementation of reservation measures in last fifty plus years. Both pro-reservationists and anti-reservationists still looking at the problem as a new problem. More and more classes and groups are emerging making claims on reservation benefits. A problem which should have been solved much earlier has been converted in to a permanent problem.

It is unfortunate that Prime minister Manmohan Singh is also searching for short term measures. His search for a balancing act has proved that he sees this problem as a major conflict between pro and anti-reservationists. For political convenience he wants to take some short-term measures and postpone the problem to future. Every time it has happened. Manmohan Singh is also on the same path.

Increasing seats and/or by introducing quota for upper castes is no permanent solution to the problem. We must first identify it as a common problem of all humans and not restricted to various compartments, such as, SC, ST, OBCs, muslims, woman and...... This is essential or else this time also an opportunity would be lost and the issue will be pushed in future after taking some short-term measures.