The 90:10 challenge!

Finally, the Bombay High Court (surprising, it is still called Bombay High Court) has dumped the Maharashtra Govt order providing 90% reservation to students from the State Board, applying to junior colleges within the State.

Flashback

It was some 25 years ago, when I was a SSC student who had stood 2nd in school and secured admission into the Science stream of one of the premier junior colleges of that time. Out of the roughly 100 students in my class, about 40% were from the CBSE and ICSE boards. In those days, students passing out of these Boards had an additional weightage of 5% (Percent, mind you, not marks, so that was really huge).

These guys used to have a certain aura around them – at least that’s what I felt. Let me explain why. They were not really snooty; in fact my entire circle consisted of only CBSE/ ICSE guys, since most of the SSC guys were from vernacular schools, with whom I used to have a problem relating to). In Standard XI, the standard of curriculum suddenly appeared to have risen sharply. The complexity and volume of the syllabus was far higher than what I had been used to upto the SSC level. And my friend circle from the ICSE and CBSE found the same curriculum a breeze. Reason – most of it had already been covered in their respective courses back in school. And for the rest of us hapless SSC guys, it was a major struggle coping with the stress.

Beliefs

That experience of my own in Junior College convinced me that the level of studies in the ICSE and CBSE Boards most definitely provided a superior quality of student given the same IQ level and genetic background. It was this belief that led me to shift my own kid from the SSC School that she was going, to a recently opened ICSE school. The sense of urgency to make this shift was also on account of the fact that the number of ICSE schools were on the rise. Hence, in my kid’s generation the percentage of her peers who get an ICSE exposure would also be higher (than the relatively smaller percentage in my generation).

My hunch was right. The change was felt right from the first month of the shift. The volume of studies was far higher, but not stressful. It was richer in content, but not demanding on the student’s overall time and effort.

Frustration

It was thus, with a great deal of frustration, that I heard about the Maharashtra Governments order to have a 90:10 quota system for SSC/ non-SSC students applying for junior colleges.

1. The ICSE and CBSE boards do not have sufficient number of their own junior colleges – hence the students have to forcibly move into the State Board stream to further pursue their studies. Discriminating against them therefore, is unfair.
2. Further, the issue is that of shortage of seats. If all the ICSE/ CBSE guys had actually studied in SSC format, then they would have fallen into the same category as the present SSC students – in such a situation, how would the Govt have tackled the seat shortage issue?
3. The Government has to remember that while the Boards might have been from Maharashtra, the Students are locals. Discriminating against them on flimsy grounds is not only unfair, but is only postponing the problem of seat shortage.
4. Adjustment of grades to account for difference in grading systems between the two streams can be done to a limited extent. That can take care of the misgivings which SSC students have about the regional language compulsion which they claim brings down their percentages.

On a long term Basis, the ICSE and CBSE boards would need to plan for extending their courses upto Standard XII. This alone would help resolve this issue as well as make sure that the quality of education enjoyed by these students is sustained.

The "NON" Congress Party!

In 1999, after Jayalalitha brough down the one and half year old Vajpayee Government by a single vote, the prospects of Sonia Gandhi (who is Italian Born) becoming the Prime Minister were real. Three Senior Congressmen, Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar and Purno Sangma, in a closed-door Congress meeting, raised objections to a foreign born person occupying the highest chair. (Whether Pawar’s objection was really to the foreign origin or whether this was merely a political ploy to bring himself centre-stage, one cannot say). Sonia was enraged at this affront to her authority (after all, who can offend a Gandhi in the Congress and get away with it?) and showed these three the door! The NCP, supposedly the “Nationalist” Congress Party, thus came into being!

Now, 10 years later, questions are being raised about the raison d’etre of the NCP! Let’s see why:

1) Just one year after its formation in 1999, the Congress and the NCP had no qualms about joining hands to form a coalition government in Maharashtra, which ran “successfully” for the entire term.
2) They then fought the 2004 Maharashtra Assembly elections together and again continued the Government for another five years.
3) And now, they are all set to fight the 2009 Assembly elections as well.
4) In the meantime, the NCP has also fought the 2004 and 2009 General Elections with the Congress and become an integral part of the UPA with Sharad Pawar becoming the Agriculture Minister in both the stints.
5) Now, Purno Sangma, who wants to make sure his next generation’s career is well taken care of, has apologized to Sonia for his misdemeanor 10 years ago. Obviously, after Sonia visits his son’s wedding and takes Agatha Sangma under her tutelage, he would be hard pressed to say such a thing.

So, the issue is, why is NCP still alive?

If the foreign origin issue, raised so evocatively by Pawar and his cohorts in 1999, was such an important issue, then pray, why didn’t they pursue it? When in 2004, Sonia was all set to become PM, did we hear any murmur from the NCP?

The other day, when Praful Patel was asked the question about the continuation of the NCP, he deflected it by giving a standard vague reply that they were partners in secularism or something to that effect. Pray, what has secularism got to do with this? Do they need to exist as a separate entity just to promote secularism? If that were the objective, wouldn’t it be better if they unite and form a single entity? Why struggle and try to find a feature distinctive from the Congress?

I’ll tell you why!

If NCP merges with the Congress, Sharad Pawar loses his bargaining power. Today, whenever he senses that the Congress is on a weak wicket, he can always try and flirt with the third front, fourth front, fifth front and so on, like he did during the 2009 election campaign. That way, he can remain in power whichever combination comes to power. (He is rumoured to have even been in talks with Bal Thackeray by playing the Marathi PM card).

And by

a) wooing Agatha Sangma, Purno Sangma, Tariq Anwar,

b) putting the CBI after Padmasinh Patil,

c) getting the IPL matches played outside India and

d) making the media raise questions about the NCP’s existence,

Sonia is trying to nullify exactly that – Pawar’s bargaining power!!!

Redeemer of the Marathi maanus?

I was interested in finding out the reactions of bloggers to Raj Thackeray's onslaught on “para-prantiya” परप्रन्तिया (pronounced in Marathi) which means “people from outside the state of Maharashtra”. But to my dismay, the event seems to have been ignored or at best, given a passing mention in the blogosphere.

What Raj is doing is not new. Neither is it unique to Maharashtra alone. Awakening the linguistic identity of a populace and instilling a sense of injustice and hurt pride in them is the easiest way to get ahead in Indian politics.

About two years ago, Raj Thackeray had separated from the Shiv Sena because he saw no meaningful future for his political career in the party as Thackeray Sr had thrown his weight behind his own son, Uddhav. At that time, the tone of his politics was progressive and pragmatic. There was no rhetoric which the Sena was famous for nor was there pandering to the linguistic or religious sentiments of people. After the initial hoopla about how the emergence of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena could affect future elections, everyone seemed to forget about the man. A small local election ensued and the MNS had a poor showing. A large number of MNS workers who had come in from the Sena were contemplating a return. With his back to the wall, our hero had no other option but to take refuge in the oldest and sure-fire strategy to win a votebank for himself.

Having said this, the “Marathi maanus” propaganda is neither without basis nor has it failed to evoke strong support among the locals, particularly in the larger cities like Mumbai. The ever-increasing influx from other states is getting a bit tiresome. There is a feeling among the locals that the outsiders bring in their own alien culture and never make any attempts to harmonise themselves with the local ones. There is also the sentiment that the outsiders look at say, Mumbai, just as a place to milk and make money and then go back to their roots in their home states. These feelings are not unjustified. Particularly if you look at the UP-Biharis, who are currently the target of the MNS, these have increasingly begun to assert their presence in the state. The “chat puja” which is largely a North Indian festival may have been celebrated in Mumbai for many years. But of late, the event has started attracting huge money and hype. The celebration of the UP diwas was totally uncalled for. Worse, the UP-Biharis are finding influence with the local politicians who are finding their sheer numbers a convenient vote bank. The increasing clout is represented by the cabinet minister Kripashankar Singh, who is from UP, but now a minister in Maharashtra.

Amitabh Bachchan’s fans may cringe at the MNS chief’s diatribe against the superstar. However, Raj uses the Big B only as an example to prove his point. Despite having made a name for himself after staying in Maharashtra for so many years, the Big B has become an ambassador for UP. Which means what? That the Big B has his roots in UP! This must be true for most of the other Upites. If you have roots in one state, you will never ever want to assimilate in the ethos of your adopted state.

As Raj Thackeray in his May 3rd carefully drafted speech outlined, language chauvinists from all states are guilty of poisoning minds. Many of the arguments put forward by him are not easy to refute. He read out a statement attributed to Sonia’s partner in govt, Anbumani Ramadoss, who has warned Dravidians against Rajnikant’s attempts to come into the centerstage of TN politics. This, despite, Rajnikant (who is a Maharashtrian) has completely transformed himself into a Tamilian and is a hero to the locals there.

We know of language chauvinists in other states like Andhra, Karnataka etc.

We also know how it is difficult, nay impossible, to have a comfortable stay in capital cities of states if you cannot follow the local language – try living in Chennai without knowing Tamil or in Kolkata without knowing Bengali. The lingua franca in offices is not English, it is the local language. But in Mumbai, you need not really know Marathi. Hindi is good enough. That shows the liberal attitude of Maharashtrians. It is this liberal attitude which politicos like Raj Thackeray is trying to change for his electoral gains. You can fault him for his crudeness and foul language, but you cannot bar him legally, as Home Minister RR Patil has recently found out. Then, politicians cannot be given moral sermons too. So how does one stop him?

Not easy. In a country where states are drawn on linguistic basis (a Nehru legacy), we must be prepared for hardening of such identity differentiation. Only if you redraw the states on some other basis, will the language identity be dented. To take the poison out of Raj’s bite, we have to first take away the luxury that chauvinists from other states have.

Then, and only then, can we look at Raj Thackeray in the eye and tell him to shut up!