”We are the only nation in the world, where people fight to be called backward rather than forward.”
- Narayan Murthy

“India is ready to discuss racism as long as it is in other countries, but not caste in its own backyard.”
- Dipankar Gupta, professor of sociology , J.N.U. New Delhi

”In place of appealing for removal and abolishing this old curse on India, all the Indians have been shamelessly accepting the caste system imposed upon by their Religion. People are fighting against the reservation quota. Is there a single sensible person who wants to fight against the caste system which is the main reason for the quota ? ”
- Damien Rebello

Caste conscious lunatics and live in this lunatic asylum, of course against our will, and ‘blessed’ with an eternal curse of associating with the insane. The Indian caste system is pointedly diabolical. It is a real curse.
- Swami Vivekananda

Year 2006 : Indian newspapers carry daily stories of atrocities against Dalits or young couples being killed, sometimes by their own families, for daring to fall in love with someone from another caste. The caste based communities in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have militants to terminate people belonging to the other caste. In spite of all this the Indians think that they are making progress.
- from DailyNews U.K.

Nobody is saying that the caste system should be praised, for it has indeed degenerated India’s self-pride.
- Francois Gautier

Without question, caste system is the curse for India, and it has humiliated millions through the ages. Caste is India’s sorrow, the apartheid that makes Indians hang their heads in shame. Caste serves as the prime reason for conversions even today.
- Barbara Crossette

So you see to what extent this disgraceful caste system has taken us? Our political parties trade on it, our governments use it, our police connive at it. There is a nexus of criminals, police and government, as everybody knows, and we suffer.
- Shri Parthasarathi

India’s real curse lies in the fact that, 57 years after Independence, people continue not only to face daily injustices, but they can be murdered, raped and viciously humiliated merely because they have tried to break out of the caste trap to assert their rights as equal beings.
- (Human Rights Report)

The devil doctors exposed by the IBN-CNN raise a number of questions?

Are these doctors meritwallahs or from depressed classes?
Why the so-called upper caste merit wallahs doctors turned out to be devils ? We dont say depressed people cant do it, but till date none has been found in this racket.
This racket clearly shows why the doctors dont want to expand medical education ?
There is huge money in this profession which has become synonymous with dalali, anything can be fixed for money?

The IMA must tell why merit wallahs were found doing this, as it feels that they are the upholders of hippocrates oath in this country. The IMA itself is is battleground of corruption and sleaze, and there are many more skeletons in the cupboard.

Hacker docs in the dock, IMA promises action

CNN-IBN
Posted Saturday , July 29, 2006 at 21:17
Updated Sunday , July 30, 2006 at 10:59 Email Print
New Delhi: After CNN-IBN and DIG exposed doctors who cut off beggars’ limbs for a price to help the beggar mafia the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has promised to prosecute the erring doctors.

Dr Ajay Kumar, National President Elect of the Indian Medical Association has said that the doctors will be arrested immediately.

“If they are registered with the IMA then their medical license will be immediately suspended,” he said.

The police have already taken Dr P K Bansal for questioning. He runs a clinic named Orthomat in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar locality.

Dr Bansal had agreed to amputate the limbs of a beggar despite knowing that the law prohibits amputation by will.

Another doctor, Ghaziabad-based Ajay Agarwal took money to amputate healthy limbs of a DIG investigator who posed as a prospective beggar.

People entered Agarwal’s house in Ghaziabad and demanded action against the erring doctor.

In a sting operation, a team of CNN-IBN reporters exposed orthopaedic surgeon Ajay Agarwal’s unethical practice.

Dr Agarwal put the fake beggar through a series of medical tests at his nursing home.

The surgeon pocketed Rs 4,000 as advance for the operation from the team while also giving advice on how the amputation could be made to look legal.

When CNN-IBN reached Dr Ajay Agarwal at the Noida Civil Hospital, the cameraperson was pushed and abused.

It was in fact Dr Ajay Agarwal who had referred Dr P K Bansal to the investigative team as part of amputation nexus.

Dr Ajay Agarwal is absconding and the police are trying to track him down.

CNN-IBN had also exposed Dr Arvind Agarwal of Bareilly.

Dr Agarwal, who is also the Secretary of the Orthopaedic Association of Bareilly is now absconding.

His wife says he has not returned since Saturday afternoon.

When questioned about Dr Agarwal, his wife, Dr Neera Agarwal said,”If he has not come then how can I tell you?”

The police are now looking out for him. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bareilly, Anand Swaroop said, “We are looking for him and have contacted IMA for cooperation.”

To the Anti-reservation folks :Who checks this ‘dilution’ at the grassroot level all throught the country?

If you are against the rich OBCs getting a free ride, make your stand clear, otherwise this just seems like yet another instance of the ‘higher castes’ teaming up on the ‘Dalits’.

In June 2006 issue of “The Region,” an article titled, “If You Lost Your Job…” discusses the benefits of unemployment insurance with a rather counter-intuitive finding of Robert Shimer and Ivan Werning. Please find the full article here.

A brief background for the readers: in U.S. if you lose your job, you are qualified to receive a unemployment insurance check for about six months, provided you didn’t resign from the position yourself. It’s a common practice for laid off workers to take advantage of this program. The underlying rationale behind limiting these UI checks for six months (I am not sure if it varies from state to state is (using words from the article) is, aa) one might put less effort into looking for a new job, i.e., reduced search effort and bb) one might demand higher pay before taking up a new job (i.e., you may be reluctant to take a job that pays less than the UI paycheck, for example). All in all, the main idea is “declining benefits” is a good way of spurring unemployed to get off their couch and join the labor force. Makes sense, right?

But now, new research, as described in the article, shows that this common belief - that declining benefits is a good idea - is distorted. The new research says that not only the unemployment benefits should be “constant over time and not declining,” but also that the workers - while they were employed - should be able to borrow and save, thereby enhancing the liquidity for them when they become unemployed. The article goes on to show how they worked it out etc.

On my first reading of this article, it occurred to me that there are parallels to reservation/quota issue that’s boiled over in India recently. Isn’t it the case that when quotas were set aside initially, they were meant to be phased out - much like “declining benefits”? (in India).

If the ultimate aim of quotas are to pull the disenfranchised into the work-force, can we say that this quota problem is similar to, for the purposes of economics/policy discussion, the unemployment insurance problem discussed in the article? (setting aside caste for a moment).

Among the two terms, “insurance,” and “liquidity,” discussed in the article, if we say roughly that “quota” equates to “insurance,” then, as an economics tool, perhaps we were just given another tool, the “liquidity.”

Does it make sense to say that “Ok, now don’t have to limit ourselves to just “quota” but also start thinking about “liquidity,” and about how to create conditions for more liquidity for the disenfranchised.”? If nothing else, perhaps we can start using the term “liquidity” to better explain, in plain language, the ins and outs of quota system.

Am I making sense? I’d be the first to acknowledge the intractable nature of caste factor that makes this quota policy a tough one. But, please read the article. It seems to me that the parallels give us an opportunity to apply the lessons there into the current debate.

Regards,
Crazyfinger

Let me try to summarize Aswin Mahesh and Vincent S’s argument in 2 lines. People are being denied basic stuff like access to water due to caste discrimination. Ergo, reserve seats for rich OBCs in IITs. Bravissimo. And they take several 100 lines to couch this in a language that people will fail to see through the basic premise.

If discrimination exists at the very basic levels try to eliminate it or work toward it. Giving reservations in higher education is in no way going to eliminate caste discrimination at the village well level. Besides, most of the cast discrimination at the village level is practised by the middle castes against the lower castes and the Dalits. But thhis current OBC reservation drive is just a naked majoritarian grab by the middle castes latching on the victimhood story of the Dalits. It is a crying shame.