If the Indian
society ever had to be compared to any food product, it would best qualify as a
hamburger. Not just the single but double occurrence of the meat cutlet between
the buns. The multiple layers in the Indian society form a hierarchy of social
strata just like the tomato, bacon, cucumber, meat cutlet, onion, cheese slice,
lettuce also repeating in the opposite order in some instances, form their
hierarchy called burger. Both seem wobbly but still manage to stand still, look
pretty. Eventually, when you take a bite, all the layers of junk submerge to
the delight of your taste buds and it’s the taste of these submerged layers
together that matters over the individual ones.
The
Indian constitution is one of the longest in the world borrowing a few concepts
from several Western constitutions (thus my comparison to the hamburger) and
eventually forming an impressively unique constitution. We surely like to
include and be everything from a democratic republic to a sovereign, socialist
secular state. This inclines our society towards having a diverse nature which
has given birth to several social and economic indicators, each comprising of
layers. Any Indian college or university application form is a perfect representation
of how many indicators of identity Indians have. Each of these indicators
comprise of layers. It is only after filling one will you realize how many
groups of community you belong to. The questions in the form will cover the social
standing (i.e. layer) of a person in the context of religion to caste to the socio-economic
background (i.e. the indicators) in the Indian society. Answering these strictly
identity-categorizing questions will work in your favour most likely when you
belong to the minority group that is the religious group the institution you
are applying to, hails from. There is a rational behind this kind of
categorizing which has made wonders in terms of expanding opportunities for the
minority community but at the same it has left behind causalities along the
way. These casualties belong to the General Category, a large chunk of layer
belonging to undecided indicators. They do have their indicators but these
aren’t in question here. They are the “general” Indians who are assigned only
one indicator which is their academic merits while the non-general category
might have “the merit tatkal” granting them quick entry. Why not assess all students
on the relevant qualifications for the applied subject or job regardless of
these indicators? Does the “General Category” have to be socially or
religiously qualified to study something they have been toiling for a year or
few?
The
purpose of categorizing not just students but Indians even outside educational
institutions can be worthy to defend but only to an extent. The idea of
reservation has its angelic purposes to give equal opportunity to all but
inadvertently it also creates a barrier between social communities just by
naming caste or religion as a deciding factor in granting admission or a job. Why
should caste or religion even be mentioned?
The argument could be that it does help a community build opportunities
for their indigenous members. But couldn’t this also restrict them to eat the
same “dal-chaawal” every day? Why does
any Indian have to reach a point where they have to rely only on their
community for education or job opportunities? This might raise many questions
and eye-brows. The point remains that building an India for a general category Indian,
who is worthy of qualifying irrespective of the caste, religion or
socio-economic background they belong to, will promise riches for the country.
The efforts to make opportunity suited for every layer of the Indian society is
commendable and rare. But simplifying the specific questions to one basic
question that tests the individual’ aptitude, can put the deserving people in
their deserving spots which can promise better prospects for every kind of
Indian. Eradicating these divisions created by layers and treating all as belonging
to just one layer may help. Lets stick to eating the hamburger as how gestalt
has taught us and not make a “harm”burger out of it.
