Yesterday, I watched this movie directed by the talented and one of my favorite, Prakash Jha.
Exactly 24 hours later, I am still thinking about it.
I have always felt that movies are supposed to be an escape from reality. I do not go to a movie hall to get inspired or educated. For that, I would go to a library or spend time with a trusted friend.
But Arakshan did raise some important questions. Too bad, instead of taking them head on, Jha conveniently looked the other way and made it a fight between socialism and capitalism. The climax was typical bollywood - melodramatic to say the least. By giving a fairy tale ending to an issue of this magnitude, I think Mr. Jha took the easy way out and made his audience look like a fool.
It also brought back some painful memories. It was only in my first year of engineering did I realize why I couldn't get a free seat in any of the colleges of choice, inspite of a reasonably decent score. I lost 2 precious years trying to protest by withdrawing and turning into a recluse. I know it was a pretty dumb thing to do. I also lost love and respect of so many people. I can't say that reservation was the only reason which ruined me but it was definitely something that triggered the chain reaction.
Anyways, I think I am digressing. Lets come back to the questions raised by Arakshan. I think there were 2:
1. Is reservation really necessary?
2. If so, how much is enough?
Before I could form an unbiased opinion, I decided to educate myself. So I tried to skim through the Wiki pages of Indian Constitution, Mandal Commission Report, Sachar Commission Report and few others that listed as references in the wiki pages.
I honestly don't have a straightforward answer to the questions above and I definitely don't think there is a short-cut way to get around it either. Nevertheless,
1. Yes, I do agree reservation in our country is necessary. We are a young nation. This is the first time, India as a republic or a federation has come into being. We need to lay the foundations for social equality and justice. However, I do oppose reservation on the basis of single qualifying criteria such as caste or religion. We need well-rounded policies to ensure that the scarce resources are distributed rather evenly.
2. Whether the current structure is enough or effective, would require some statistical and quantitative analysis of the census and the income tax returns of all citizens. We should also have some kind of targets to assess ourselves based on the outcome of the analysis.
I hope the civil servants and the politicians come up with real and smart solutions. I don't have one!!
