India Shinning or India Burning??

Ok so everyone I meet who is doing something "important" like engineering (this comes first obvi!!) or medical or MBA, etc. etc. is only talking about reservations!! Some for it and some against it!! I guess the blog's title makes it more than clear as to which side I am!!

Its an age-old fact tht the far-away gleam of a forest fire at first seems like the place is glowing but once you go near u realise tht the place is actually burning and withering away into nothingness. That is the state of our country today with frustrated, angry students leaving the country as soon as they throw those black caps up in the air (sometimes even b4 tht...who cares abt the graduation ceremony anyways!!). And not to mention the protests that spark up from anyone and everyone these days be it from law students for the Jessica Lal case or from Medha Patkar and Co. for the Narmada Project.

Well who listens to the protests other than the protesters themselves? is the cliched question we usually as ourselves and each other as we casually toss the newspaper carrying sensational tales aside.

Oh no ur quite wrong!! This time it seems to be different. With so many protests and the entire student community questioning the credentials of the men who decide the fate of some of the most brilliant minds in the country, it seems to be the kind of revolution that we hav as of now read abt only in history books.

But wait a min aren't we forgetting something? Our country is even today counted as a 'developing' nation. There really are ppl who need help in getting quality education. Hey dont think I'm changing my stand bcos I'm not! Reservations are not the answer to uplifting the SC/ST/OBC.

What we need to do is setup a system of scholarships, facilities like libraries and free study materials in the remote areas of our country. All this will not be accomplished immediately (Rome was also not built in a day!!) but eventually we will weed out all distinctions and leave only a system based on merit.

If all this is actually implemented, these underpriviledged will benefit from it at school level and be able to compete at higher level in a system "powered by intellect and driven by values!!" (I'm an Infoscion afterall :) )