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 India is catching up with the Joneses at a good pace in many fields. You name it and India is there or will be there along with China or if possible ahead of its neighbour in the East. Only with regard to the status symbol of the nuke, India that was Bharat lagged behind unconsionably long from 1964 but made it in 1998 if not in 1974.India was an open land with inviting arms from the days of Alexander of Macedonia; only he did not choose to stay ! Since then, a host or better hordes of others entered this blessed land and found a hospitable place with a lot of avocations to be filled in profitably. Most of the visitors, friendly or otherwise, chose to stay behind and make their homes. And what homes they were! Of course the most enduring and cunning (?) of them all were the merchants of the East India Company who gave up trade and started an administration in this rather big but impoverished and overpopulated land. To be charitable to them, the foundations laid by them cannot be improved upon to a great extent. But the superstructure erected by the natives themselves is being assailed from many sides, upwards, downwards and sideways! Almost all 190 nation members of the rather helpless United Nations Organisation have problems of growth and adjustment, as a legacy of the past. Only, India is the single nation blessed ( or cursed) with a burden from its hoary past in a singular way! While there are minorities, linguistic or ethnic, elsewhere, India is home to a bewildering conglomerate - among one set of people speaking the same language some are backward and some are forward ! Among the people in the same area some have gone ahead while for some others, time has stood still! You can spot from a set of people practising the same religion, some are jumping over the hurdles quite nonchalantly while some others cannot even walk! The government of independent India thought it devised an ingenious way suited to its genius to help people socially challenged or at a disadvantage thanks or no thanks to their low educational credentials. It hit upon a scheme to give those people a good start in the race for jobs and livelihood and social prestige. This was through a scheme of reservation in education and jobs in the government initially for a period of ten years. Those ten years have now metamorphosed into fifty years with no sign of preferential treatment to ‘challenged’ people coming to an end. Since Newton’s law is inexorable, a reaction to this state of affairs was only to be expected and now is the time! The ball has been thrown into the court of the central government of India by a wily satrap from a rival camp. Rather ingeniously he has lobbed the ball of reverse preferential treatment to a certain extent to those economically challenged among the otherwise socially ‘ahead’ groups! Since elections are round the corner and since election time is always reserved for all kinds of promises and allurements, not only in India, a scene is unfolding wherein it will be interesting to watch how this ball is tackled - hit back to the server or hit outside the line ! Or dropped like a hot potato to be picked up when the temperature is rather conducive! India incorporated may become fully reserved in a year or two, no matter what happens in China (or even in Pakistan!) T Kannan RECENTLY ON JAAL: A Prophecy Belied Feet Feat Saddam, Here We Come (Again) Season's Gratings Osama In Bollywood Sab Maya Hai If The Taliban Win... Vox Judicutura! Wanted: A Governor Gift Cow Et Al Diaspora Disgust Chitti Chitti Bong Bong Off Course Pol Poll: Are You A Neta Wannabe? The Raj Strikes Back The EMail Of The Species Kandahar Ka Kaana Raja The World Is Not Enough Back To Squire One Poll Gita Where There's A Bill, There's A Wait DotComs, By The Numbers GoI-ing After Veerappan The Bore-Gush Race Hack Attack! Eee! Governance! Justice Unbound Small States, Large Stakes Con Banega Crorepati Salesman No. 1 Cat And Meows 25 Years After Paswan Goes DOTty Child's Play Toilet Paper Drought And About Boer Boar The Joke's On You The Coming Of Bill SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK ABOUT THIS ARTICLE: ?
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