Casting for Votes ; the Upa Government's Push for Reservations in Education and Private Sector Jobs May Be Billed As Affirmative Action but It's Actually Aimed at Garnering Votes. As Past Experience Shows, It Will Neither Uplift the Underprivileged nor Deliver Votes.

Summary

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The air is thick with that sense of deja vu, of being let down. Again. In one swift move, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has pushed the envelope further than even V.P. Singh did, raising the spectre of a divided India. Besides imposing a quota in central universities and institutes, it is also pushing companies-some would say to the wall-for a jobs quota in the private sector. It is the summer of discontent and disillusionment. In corporate corner rooms, CEOs and chairmen have put on pause thoughts of growth and global competitiveness. In huddles at seminars and in chamber discussions, they are trying to dress their concerns in the language of political correctness. On the street and at teen-haunts SMS, blogs and email have replaced pamphlets and college corner meetings. The terms of disengagement are familiar, even hip-hop. "To divide and rule is not cool," said one placard rather succinctly.

The unstated question though was: Could this be happening again? In a sense, it should not have been a surprise because the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the UPA does discuss codifying all reservations and enacting a Reservation Act. It also speaks of "being very sensitive to the issue of affirmative action, including reservations in the private sector". The CMP may have confused affirmative action with reservations but how could the Prime Minister, was the mute refrain. Perhaps it has something to do with expectations. When Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister, it wasn't just the Sensex which applauded. Many saw reason to hope for a new deal, for a Government which worked for inclusive growth but not divisive politics. As with the V.P. Singh regime, expectations from Manmohan, India's cerebral Prime Minister, have met with harsh reality. Populism is masquerading as policy.

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Casting for Votes ; the Upa Government's Push for Reservations in Education and Private Sector Jobs May Be Billed As Affirmative Action but It's Actually Aimed at Garnering Votes. As Past Experience Shows, It Will Neither Uplift the Underprivileged nor Deliver Votes.

The desperation is a reflection of the fact that the Congress (or the BJP, for that matter) is unable to reinvent itself in its quest for a majority. Neither party can boast of the social diversity that is necessary to represent the plurality of India. The country's two largest parties are controlled by upper-caste satraps. Four out of six general secretaries in the BJP are Brahmins, while four out of eight in the Congress are upper-class politicians. The Congress believes it can alter its state of irrelevance in over 200 Parliamentary seats ...

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