M A I L B A G

Quotas okay for poorer sections

THIS has reference to Pushpesh Kumar’s rejoinder “Quota will make India weaker” (Perspective, June 19). The writer tried to justify his anti-reservation stand with convoluted ideas. Really, no dalit wants to remain a dalit. But it is not the doles or alms which make them equal but economic equality. There are many who oppose caste-based reservations.

If we make a law making it mandatory for upper caste people to marry dalits, this will not be accepted. Most competent candidates for various examinations are from the upper castes. So, where will the dalits go? Moreover, reservation implies recruitment of the most competent among the dalits. Is there anyone who can prove that all dalits are incompetent?

The private sector is trying to lure them by providing them education and vocational training to make them competent. In Punjab, more than 80 per cent dalit students are in government schools whose condition is well known. Why is the government privatising them? Does it not amount to running away from its duties?

I agree that super dalits are misusing reservation. So, the law should be suitably amended and reservation should be given to the poor and needy who are economically backward.

SHASHI PAL, Mohali

II

I am happy that the captains of Indian industry have refused to accept the Centre’s proposal for job-based reservations to dalits in the private sector. Every community has poor people. The industry says, dalits can be extended help financially as also educated to develop skills and make them employable. The jobs will be given purely on merit.

Reservation is politically motivated. It will set a wrong precedent if our factories are packed with dalits, purely on the basis of their caste and not on merit. For the safe future of the industry, everyone should oppose the Centre’s policy on reservation.

DEEPAK SARAF, Rampura Phul

III

In his article on reservation (Perspective, June 12), Udit Raj has conveniently ignored the point that the wards of dalits who are already rich and well-to-do such as Class I officers and top politicians are enjoying the fruits of reservation. No upper caste person objects to reservation to poor dalits. But one’s heart burns when a junior employee becomes the boss, purely on the basis of his caste. Shouldn’t reservation be confined to the poorest of the poor dalits, that too, once in a lifetime and not to generation after generation, including the creamy layer?

No purpose would be served by merely denouncing one caste or the other. Castes or classes are here to stay and we have to live with them. What type of society does Udit Raj want? Where the due share of the poorest dalits is usurped by the super rich dalits?

PUNEET PAL, Ferozepur City

IV

I endorse Udit Raj’s views. He has rightly said that our industrialists have not made a single international brand compared with their counterparts in developed countries. There is no reservation in the industry but they are still lagging behind. Therefore, an opportunity should be given to dalits to show their performance.

Mr Raj makes an important point that if the best brains among the dalits and other sections are rewarded with jobs, our industry would be more efficient. Dalits are an integral part of our society. So, their uplift means social progress. The need of the hour is to provide reservation to dalits in the private sector to make India stronger.

YADBINDER PAL SINGH, Amloh (Fatehgarh Sahib)

Working sincerely

Jaspal Bhatti’s “Power Trip” (Spectrum, June 5) was a hard-hitting spoof on employees of the electricity board who are in cahoots with the power hustlers. The writer, who employs humour magnificently to hit the nail on the head, brought home his point with uncanny knack.

Power can’t be stolen without the connivance of the board’s employees who themselves teach the power swindlers how to tamper with the electricity meters. When a surprise raid is conducted in homes, the meters of the upright and uncorrupt are thoroughly checked. They are invariably told to increase their load but the culprits are let off when palms are greased. The government, unable to do anything in this regard, goes on increasing the tariff, thus burdening the public. When it talks of privatising the board, its depraved employees start raising a hue and cry, but never learn to mend their ways.

Similar conditions prevail in government schools where the teachers rarely perform their duty honesty and sincerely. Now that the government has started thinking of privatising the schools, which it should not do in the larger public interest, they have risen against it. To prevent all this, employees should work sincerely for their livelihood. After all, they are earning from the government.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH, Batala