The REAL backward class - General Merit Category

Right..I think I have been very vocal about the whole caste system. I intensely resent the whole OBC category and reservations. It is extremely unfair and has been made without any concern for the rest of us 'cattle class'. It is basically been created by people who do not want to work hard for anything and will blatantly misuse the law for their own selfish purposes. Most of these law is not available to the people who desperately require it. Why I am so against this concept? Let me furnish a few examples to show the blatant misuse.

Disclaimer: I am against the whole concept of reservations on a caste basis. I am all for it if its based on economic background. So who avail it unnecessarily and unfairly automatically come under my wrath. It's not the people who I am angry at, it's the stupid law.

Class 10: Final Exam fees: Everyone in the GM category had to pay some 300 odd Rs towards the fees. BUT the OBC candidates had to pay Rs 10. Well, that's not what pissed me off, , what pissed me off was the people to whom it was applicable could afford far more than most people in our class could. They were very affluent, yet they chose to brandish their caste certificate and pay only Rs 10. Why? because they are cheap and selfish.

College admissions: After class 10 exams: Well, my sister got 91 % in her class 10 exams, she did not get into any of the lists put out by one of the most prestigious woman's college. She had to use the teachers quota to get in. Why? You need to go and take a look at the admission list to fully understand the discrimination. The first 20 names will be of GM category. All in percentages range from highest 97% to the least being 96.5%. Th next 20 names is for the OBC category, with the highest scorer being 65%. NOW tell me how do you feel, a person who probably does not deserve it, gets in the list purely on the merit of being an OBC candidate. I know people who fall in the GM category who are not doing good economically, this seat would have done them a world of good. But they are disadvantaged just because they are in GM

Medical seats: I know a friend, again a GM candidate who was studying for her MD. She choose one of the lesser known specializations just because the rest were too expensive and the competition for a merit seat is too intense. I think some 10% seats are for GM students across the nation, the rest are reserved and others are payment. Imagine lakhs of students taking that exams and only a few qualifying for it. No wonder institutes ask for impossible scores. When you are a GM student, you need to be either so intelligent that your IQ hits the stratosphere or so rich that World Bank borrows from you. It doesnt feel good when you score 98% in MD entrance exams and could not get through because an OBC candidate who has money and has scored 60% gets preference.

Banks and PSU's: Ask a banker in the GM category why he has not gotten promoted or has been transferred to a no name town in spite of their seniority and impeccable work record. 95% of the chances are that they would have been overlooked in favor of a colleague from an OBC quota. Powerful unions for the OBC and existing politics make it impossible for a GM banker to survive, unless he has powerful connections or is in the union. And most people in these quotas are not promoted on merit but mostly on caste hierarchy. It discouraging and demotivating.

There are many more examples and I can go on about it. GM candidates work hard to get where they are. Most of them are from middle class backgrounds and cannot afford to shell out vast quantities of money. Their parents do the best they can and help them get ahead in life, only to be met at each turn by the quota system.

The system is not just regressive, but an insult to India's intelligence. How can a country progress when the country's best minds are not given the opportunity. The law might have made sense at some point, but now it's just a ball and chain which is dragging down the people and the country along with it. This is the reason why most people under that category prefer to study abroad as they are given ample opportunities.

Is it a wonder when people think of getting an OBC certificate to make life simpler?