Education

Today education has become an important part of everybody's life. It is must in today's environment.
For
- Education a business due to increase in more schools and institutes which are opened to provide education.
- The privatization of educational institutes also helped it to become from educational institutes to a business.
- The standard and quality of the education decreased due to more institutes and lack of quality teachers.
- Teachers started concentrating only on those who understand things by themselves and others are left alone.
Against
- Institutes like IITs and IIMs are providing good education to make better future of the students.
- Due to new technologies and globalisation the growth of education industry is growing.
- Education is been given and taken more seriously nowadays due to high competition in educational area.
- Teachers and students are trying their level best to get updated all the time and both are trying to provide quality
work so that the education system can produce good talent.
- Education system has developed more and more than the previous times and it is one of the leading systems in
the world.
- Education is very important to grow and helps the country grow too. It allows a human being to understand and
live with challenges and produce good results. But nowadays it has become a business due to globalization and
privatization of institutes.
Today the education which is being provided by the institutes or universities are not of that standard which it used
to be. Now a days, education industries main motif is only to earn profit.

The education system in India is much more improved these days and is one of the leading ones
in the world. It is also one of the biggest contributors to the economic growth of the nation.
Besides various government initiatives, the role of the private institutions in the development of
education industry in India cannot be denied. India's private education market was worth $40
billion in 2008, which is expected to reach $68 billion by the year 2012.
However, there are also some glooming statistics as well. Despite such rising investment in
education industry, 40% of country's population is still illiterate. Only 15% of the students can go
to next level to reach high school.

The Higher Education

India has world's third largest higher secondary education system with a number of institutions.
More and more students are going for higher education these days. The result gets reflected on
the number of students enrolling for higher education. The number of institutions is also
increasing day by day. India has got following numbers of educational institutions (as on
December 31, 2007):
Institution

Qty (in no.)

Central University

25

State University

231

Institutions established through State Legislation

Deemed University

100

Institutes of National Importance

31

Degree-granting Engineering College

1,522

Polytechnic

1,244

Prominent Institutions
There are a number of Indian universities/colleges/institutions that have crafted its name in the
world of education through its quality of education and infrastructure. Many of those have won
awards
i agree to the statement. Education is now considered as a buisness more than serving knowledge to the
students. if we talk about secondary education, we see a healthy competition between different boards
eg. CBSE or ICSE boards, their main focus is on to have more number of students passed with high
grades and therefore they are reducing the tough subjects from their syllabus. next after schooling as
students are concentrating more on engg. colleges as it is the fastest growing and most favourable field
in India, a large no. of engg. colleges are opened with good infrastructure but with huge fees, their main
motive is to earn profit. we can see many advertisements in TV, Newspapers, Radio and even coaching
institutes they are tempting students to come into their institute by providing experienced faculties. .

E-Learning is good for the education system and society.

The advancement in the technology has taken education sector to a new level which is E-learning. This is an
improved way of education system.
For
- E-learning sources provide best study materials which is very helpful for the students knowledge building
process.
- This process of education makes life easier for students.
- Students dont have to remember every thing or dont have to take notes of every important point as they have
every thing on net through E-learning source.
- It reduces the travel time and associated cost in the process of learning.
- E-learning gives flexibility to students with respect to time and place.
- More knowledge based activities are included in E-learning programs.
- Students get an option to see the things they don't undertand in one go again.
Against
- E-learning has made students lazy as they dont put in as much efforts as compared to students who were used
to before this e-learning evolution.
- Students dont attend their important lectures as they have E-learning resource available 24*7.
- Now they dont have to work hard to make notes and prepare for exams.
- Students have started depending on these E-learning programs.
- It lacks face to face communication which is important for overall development of the student.
- Many villages and remote areas do not have an access to internet or the internet speed there is too slow.
E-learning has its advantages as well as disadvantages. It has made the education system more flexible and
more knowledge based. E-learning techniques clubbed together with face to face interaction with a teacher can
prove to be extremely useful for the students.

Favor (Boon)

Social networks are new meaning of staying in touch with whole world.

The internet a tool that an increasing number of people are choosing to use with great
frequency. Too many of these people forget that the internet is a unrestricted,
unregulated, and uncontrollable grouping of millions of people, their data, their opinions,
and there interests.

Public sharing of private lives has not led to a rethinking of anything. It's just reminded
people to use extreme caution when publicly sharing their private lives. If you wouldn't do
something in front of everyone you know, don't do it on the internet.

Laws should --never-- be extended to allow privacy protection for things that people say
and do in the public domain. Perhaps the greatest part of the internet is the lack of
control, the utter and complete freedom of speech. What is needed is a basic warning from
parents or friends to those who are new to the internet, warning of the possible pitfalls
that can come with such freedom.

Humans are social animals by our nature and social networks are just one other outlet for
humans to interact. We should not look at social networks are threats but as opportunities
for us to interact with people globally. I myself am an active user of social networks and
have made many friends and business contacts online that I would otherwise not have had
the same level of opportunity or interaction.

Against (Ban)

Social-networking sites allow seemingly trivial gossip to be distributed to a worldwide

audience, sometimes making people the butt of rumors shared by millions of users across
the Internet.

Public sharing of private lives has led to a rethinking of our current conceptions of privacy.

Existing law should be extended to allow some privacy protection for things that people
say and do in what would have previously been considered the public domain.

A guy who posted a video on Youtube weightlifting,skiing, and performing karate

exhibitions. He was fired from his job for showing to much Bravado.

like other human social interactions which are transient, e.g. talking to friends over lunch,
the Internet keeps a permanent record of what we say to each other. If you are having an
online conversation with your friend(s) then you should be aware that conversation can be
seen by countless others and that a record of that conversation will be kept somewhere on
the Internet. Indeed, now with some social networks introducing geolocation services a
record of where we go and how long we spend there will also be maintained.

There was one incident where robbers using user's geolocation on facebook to find out
when target is at home or not.

People need to be aware of the environment within which they are communicating to
others. If you are discussing things in a public forum then all that information is available
to everyone else in that forum. Therefore hey should take a common sense approach to
what they should and should not discuss. In the real world we only talk about sensitive
issues when we are in private and with people we trust. I think though that when people
are online they can fall into a false sense of security because there are physically in a

secure place using their computer either in their office or their home which results in them
divulging information they should not.
Conclusion

Social network is indeed boon for human race as it is bringing people closer and letting
them communicate with each other without any fear and barriar.But still one nee to
cautious of what level of personal information they are revealing on the social networks.

Hard work always yields fruitful result because its purely a honest way we choose; but
simultaneously to work hard like an ASS is a complete waste so where to be smart and where to
work hard depends on the situation and on US
working without planning - hardwork
working with planning and managing time - smart work

Our education system is need to change.

As per my view we didn't get job after completion of education. We need soft skills courses an
some other technical courses.
Our education certificates are only gate pass for any interview. We need lot-off skills to get job.
That means either you pass is A grade we did not select with out having other skills. The faculty of
institution are very lazy they didn't try to personal care on student.
Here the main drawback in our education system is the lack of awareness of the subject to the
students while choosing a degree after 12th.
In my view the engineering or degree concepts/subjects in first year of engineering and degree
should be introduced and made well known for a period of at least six months or so after the 12th
so that the students and parents will come to an idea of what their interest and how is the field
they are choosing.
This is far better than a student knowing his interest in computers or any after choosing
mechanical or some other stream which is quite different.
I do not support our current government that funds Education, nor do I support those who are put
in charge of providing education in Ontario, Canada. After extensive research and applying to
these institutions I am assured that they are crooked, bias business men and woman and these
kids are their targets, our Government has allowed them to operate and has done nothing to
create competition or solution for honest educators by providing Canadians who are serious about
learning with formal education in their acquired fields.
We are provided with options, considered the light form of checks and balances with in our
educational system, such as ombudsman or ministry of education as a group that can look at the
bias practices by colleges and universities which can help for future applicants/Canadians. Anyone
with the proper knowledge of how our government funding for public and private education works
will understand that money is a major factor behind those that certify individuals in Canada, it is a
business and it is NOT up for grabs. If they support 13% tax and it does not benefit all Canadians
then they should get rid of it. I have also come across prejudice people who are put in charge of
the acceptance into these "public" institutions, which is wrong and eventually the same practices
will be applied onto theirs in the future, since we are all Canadians!

Should there be private universities?

No, we need to make sure the government should control everything about our lives. By
putting all universities under the control of the government we can be sure that we will all
be given plenty of government indoctrination.
why can"t government can produce quality education?whether all the facilities are available
in private universities?
then people are choosing the private universities?

Higher education in India has largely been the preserve of the Government till
recently in terms of both funding and provision of education. But for this to
continue, the Government should continue to be in a position to pour in large sums
of money to fund higher education. Today, the Government is unable to find the
funds even to keep up its own commitment of spending 6% of GDP on education.
There is also a clamour to spend more of what little funding the Government has
allocated for education, on primary education than on higher education, and quite
rightly so, given that many children don't even get a basic primary and secondary
education today. Thus the Government spending on higher education as a
percentage of overall government spending on education is only likely to decrease
further in the coming years.
But the demand for higher education is continuing to increase with more and more
students wanting a higher education today than ever before. How can we bridge the
gap between increasing demand and decreasing government funding for higher
education? The only option is to tap the private sector to participate in the funding
and provision of higher education. The process of increasing private participation
in higher education has already begun with a few states like Chhattisgarh and
Uttaranchal having passed legislation to permit the setting up of private
universities in their states. Indeed the private sector has been funding higher
education in India for a long time, albeit on a very limited scale. The Birla Institute
of Technology and Science at Pilani in Rajasthan, which is funded and run by the
Birla Group Trust, became an officially recognised university as far back as 1964.
Other institutions like the Manipal Group in Manipal in Karnataka have been
running private colleges since 1953 and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education
became a deemed university in 1993. Many other self-financing colleges were set
up in the early 1990s and a few of them have now become deemed universities.

Problems arising out of poor regulation of private universities

After the passing of legislation in Chhattisgarh in 2002 (and subsequently in other
states like Uttaranchal), to facilitate the establishment of private Universities with a
view to creating supplementary resources to assist the State Government in
providing quality higher education, there was a spate of private universities that
were set up under the Chhattisgarh Act. The Chhattisgarh legislation was passed in
a hurry without much care, leaving many loopholes in the Act, which were quickly
exploited by many organisations that set up private universities, without a serious
commitment to higher education. Many of the private universities set up under the
Chhattisgarh Act did not have either the infrastructure, or a campus, or the funds to
provide quality higher education, and functioned out of one-room tenements. The
Chhattisgarh Act did not provide for proper regulation and maintenance of
standards by these universities and moreover, the Chhattisgarh Government did
little to ensure that the private universities did what they were expected to do
according to the legislation. Students who signed up for courses offered by private
universities set up under the Chhattisgarh Act were being taken for a ride by many
private universities who had no capability to offer quality courses.

quality is a myth in india?

Defining the topic:

Quality is an abstract term so to define it is bit difficult. But I will try doing that.Quality
is what satisfies the customer (I have given this definition because you as a MBA
are expected to think from customer point of view) Quality of a product made by a
company is always dependant on the type of product and more importantly on type of
consumers they target.
Like for example Television manufacturers will always have TVs with different picture
quality in market and as quality increases so does the price. But manufacturers of soft
drinks have a price that is affordable by all and moreover they deal with health of a
person so they cannot negotiate with the quality of their product.
Quality is something that gives three majors aspects to any product or services that is
Reliability, maintainability and Safety. It suggests standards maintained by the company
maybe high or low. If its a good quality product so is the goodwill of the company.
Now quality is not always a myth neither its always a reality, so in a GD do abstain from
taking a stance instantly.

REALITY

Talking about India, India has set a Quality Council in 1997. QCI provides strategic
direction to the quality movement in the country by establishing recognition of India
conformity assessment system at the international level. QCI also has quality quality
inspection bodies for regular quality assessment in any industry.
Quality helps in defining countries economy/GDP and its stature in global map.
Examples GERMANY is known to manufacture its high quality cars which has luxurious
and are one of their type in the world like Mercedes, Porsche, Smart etc.
INDIA is known for its services, which is of highest quality, in service sector industry
which contributes more than 50% in GDP.
Companies like JUST DIAL have grown because of excellent quality of the service they
provide. Whenever we call the helpline of justdial, an operator would attend to your call
in less than 5 seconds which is less than most of the service providers.
JUMBO VADAPAV runs its business on the quality of vadapav they provide for which it
doesnt matter to them if their vadapav is costlier than the one found anywhere else. It
now has 100 centres all over Mumbai and their major success factor is quality of their
product.
In any pharma company in INDIA or abroad quality is something they cannot play with.
They have to maintain the FDA recommended Good Manufacturing Practices even if
they like it or not.

MYTH
But having said all this its not so nice everywhere. Quality remains still a myth at several
places.
China is known to focus on quantity rather than quality. China mobiles in market are
cheaper then you can imagine. Phones with same facilities in other brands are available
at 4-5 times the cost of China mobiles. But the quality of phone and their accountability
is never guaranteed. I mean if you see their sound quality its like the phone is still of
ancient times.
Indian market some products that do lack quality due to following reasons: Cost, Time,
Attitude, Lack of Competition etc. It takes an initial cost to renovate an existing product
to bring in quality and assurance of quality. The 'chalta hai' attitude of some producers is
taking its toll. For example, every year some thousands of farmers are committing
suicides for fake seeds. And government than have to induce huge money like last year
(25,000 crore were infused in agriculture industry as a bailout plan). We seriously lack in
quality fertiliser and irrigation facilities. Many are dying due to food poisoning.
Many buildings are collapsing due to lack of quality in their planning. Example during
Gujarat earthquake of 2001, in a city like Ahmedabad which has 4.6 million population
as many as 50 multi storeyed buildings collapsed, and the main reason being that they
were not constructed in a way where they can resisit an earthquake. For example most
of the buildings there stood only on pillars at their base but if u see in Mumbai most of
the buildings have large walls or some rooms at their parking place and not just pillars
which makes the buildings more resistant to earthquakes.

Drastic differences:

We have a high quality mineralised water (Bisleri) but at so many places there is lack of
portable drinking water.

Our ambulances cannot reach the destination in even an hour but we have pizzas
delivered in less than half an hour.

Our city roads are full of potholes and so called KHADAS and just connecting them would
be express highway that shortens the journey time quite a bit.
Well friends do add in some points which you think are worth discussing in this topic.
I would say I had the toughest time writing this as it is not at all an easy topic to discuss
on. I hope I did justice to the topic.

Quality! A word that says it all about a product. We say, its a good product or a bad
product. So, what is in first case Quality? Why is it directly proportionality with
reliability and good will? Quality according to me is in conformance with some standards
set to make a product more valuable and accountable. In Indian market some products
do lack quality due to following reasons: Cost, Time, Attitude, Lack of Competition etc. It
takes an initial cost to renovate an existing product to bring in quality and assurance of
quality. The 'chalta hai' attitude of some producers is taking its toll. For example, every
year some thousands of farmers are committing suicides for fake seeds. Many are dying
due to food poisoning. Ill built buildings are collapsing due to lack of quality. The quality
is but a Myth in India except for some Industries.

privatization will lead to less corruption?

I am totally agree with this statement. Most of the corruption is in the public sector where every
person is totally independent and has the power to work freely in his own way. But in Private
sector even the co-workers take the concern about others. Also if there any kind of illegal work is
going on then it is easily caught in short duration. As every person wants to dug others and
improve himself/herself. So no any kind of such cases arises.
Some persons are saying that corruption is in the minds. But they have to know that corruption
occurs in mind only when they have been given the space to do the same. And it is not provided in
the private sector. In Public sector the persons know that there is so much of hard procedure and
long term case to get him dismissed. So he doesn't afraid of this. But in Private sector a person
has the afraid of losing his job even under a small mistake.

When a person does not adhere to the values, when he do not exercise his true power, authority
and responsibility, when he try to avoid his basic duties.. the other thing which is growing in his
mind is corruption. It may be in the form of money or it may be in the form of barter. It is simply
give and take.
So, we have to forget about our focus only on public sector and its tarnished image with
corruption. Corruption can be attracted by any individual, so dont think from the point of view

of public sector only, it may be there in the private sector also.

When we look at the corruption issues in income tax, pwd, rationing etc. and on the other hand
like 2G, Satyam Scam; we need to say there is little difference between these two as per as the
existence of corruption is concern.
What is privatization? When public organization do not able to perform the duties within a given
time period and scope then it has to be directed to the second group of national economy, the
private sector. And the main or some thinkers and economist will define.. the ultimate objective of
private sector is to earn and churn profit. And when we talk about profit, there are number of
profit centers in a private organization, sales and marketing, finance and accounts, production,
human resource etc. That means, one has to face the issues either in product or pricing. It means
the citizen or need to say, the common man of a country will have to suffer in the long term,
where on the other hand he is suffering since short term as per as the public sector is concern.
Coming to the conclusion, a country should have a public-private partnership in every sector with
transparent policies.
Privatization is transmitting of ownership from the public sector to the private sector.
Corruption could be in any form and any field whether it is related to money, politics, and medicine.
For

People out of fear of being noticed very fast may be less corrupt.

It reduces prices of goods and has less interference of government.

There is a close relation between employees and managers. They both work together in order to
maximize profits in the correct way. Certainly, if there are profits, corruption will be less.

Salaries of people are high as compared to government sector. People are constantly motivated. This
reduces the changes of bribes etc.

Against

Privatization gives more liberty to people.

Privatization will introduce more risk. More risk means people to save their assets will certainly get into
corruption by any means.

Privatization may lead to monopoly. People are free to make any sort of Adjustments.

Corruption as a matter of fact has got nothing to do with public or private sector. It entirely depends on
the people.

Privatizing a sector is not the solution. People are corrupt in almost all hierarchies.

Corruption in itself is bad and not acceptable from any sector and any form. Biggest examples would be Satyam.
The government should not just take strict action against corruption but also try and speculate over means to
avoid it .

Is china is a threat to india in softwares?

Theres no doubt about Chinas competitiveness in the IT sector, considering its hardware and
telecom markets are much bigger than Indias. And even in software, China has a huge captive
domestic market, as compared to Indias relatively tiny domestic market. There are some other
alarming figures for India: the ratio of Chinas IT spend to its GDP is nearly 5 times that of Indias. If
Indias current growth rate in IT doubles, it would still take us 25 years to catch up with China, and that
only if Chinas growth rate remains stagnant. D-Links Naik has evolved a formula whereby the Indian
IT industry will have its cake and eat it too
Frankly, these numbers do seem to put a huge question mark over Indias much talked of aim of
becoming an IT superpower.
1) Large domestic market
But, rather than throwing in the towel, there is a school of thought developing in India which believes
that the Indian IT industry can convert this apparent Chinese threat into an opportunity. Nasscom
president Kiran Karnik is one of the main votaries of this opinion. He believes that while China will
always remain a formidable competitor, a policy of engagement rather than a policy of isolated
approach would perhaps be a better strategy. First, it would give Indian companies a door to enter the
Chinese domestic market which is today dominated by MNCs. Plus, Indian IT companies based in
China can address other East Asian markets like Japan and Korea. This view is also endorsed by
Noshir Kaka, principal, McKinsey & Co.
It is a well established fact today that Indian IT firms have an excellent opportunity waiting to be
tapped in the
Chinese domestic market, which is estimated to be four times the size of Indias. Also, with China
becoming a part of the WTO, local banks in China will soon be forced to start upgrading their
technology. As local players have not been able to provide the required expertise and technology in
the domestic IT market, the Chinese market is currently dominated by MNCs. This in itself offers an
excellent opportunity for Indian IT firms, whose development expertise is no way inferior to these
MNCs.
Another important aspect is the growing purchasing power of the Chinas 1.3 billion people which in
turn is creating a strong massive base to build domestic technology companies. China is also
expected to be the largest market in the world by 2004 for mobile phones and digital cameras, and the
second largest for PCs after the US. A key reason why India is miles ahead of China in software
exports is due to the simple fact that the efforts of Chinese software firms were spent in addressing
the huge domestic market (estimated to be worth $16.2 billion).
But things are about to change, as China wants to emulate Indias success in the software sector and
become a major global force. China has initiated a series of measures, which include plans to set up
specialist IT training institutions on the lines of our IITs and Chinese firms are following the same
strategy Indias IT majors did (bagging projects based on price) before going on to become software
majors.
Infosys Murthy believes China is an opportunity since its IT industry cannot even provide for domestic
needs
Yet, there is a bigger opportunity for Indian IT players in China. One, according to Infosys chairman N
R Narayana Murthy, is that Chinese firms cannot meet the full demand from the Chinese domestic IT
industry, resulting in the government allowing foreign firms like Microsoft, Oracle and IBM to operate
through joint ventures. In addition, Kaka feels that Indian IT firms can take advantage of the fact that

China offers Indian IT firms lower trade barriers, lower taxes and excellent infrastructure. No wonder
Infosys is on the threshold of setting up facilities in Shanghai to tap the Chinese domestic market.

government should stop funding the

IITs and the IIMs and, instead,
divert the funds to primary
education
Favour

India is not a developed country here literacy ratio is very less so government should
concentrate on make more people literate rather then concentrating on small group of
population

Students from IIT IIM are moving out of India serving other nation's organization that is
really awful

India is democratic country. Democracy can only be successful in only one situation that
everyone should literate that could be achieved by concentrating on primary education

Spending huge amount of money on IIT & IIM is dividing the nation in 2 different
communities one community is not even having primary education where other community
is having higher education

The most of the people going for the IIT IIM are self capable so government should make
all this institutes self financed and stop funding.

Against

Still India in development mode so need of these institutes to promote our young talent to
international platform.

its true student from IIT IIM are moving out but they are sending back money to the
country eventually that money is getting utilized in India itself.

The phase of development through which India is passing by needs more reorganization of
Indian talent pool, which surely needs the more better higher education for young Indians.

For democracy we need policy makers so we needs few people who are Indians who can
create better systems for us IIT's IIM's producing such kinds of brains.

Students from other countries are coming to India so eventually revenue coming back to
government pocket.

Conclusion

We cant compare the primary education, which is vary vast area with IIT IIM which is
concentrated to small area.

Funding to IIT IIM can be self financed but there should be proper mechanism and student
should get scholarships in case of fees hike

Reservation in India
Reservation in India is a form of affirmative action designed to improve the well-being
of perceivedbackward and under-represented communities defined primarily by their 'caste' (quotasystem based on 'gender' or 'religion') is a phenomenon that commenced with the coming into force of
the Indian Constitution (the Constitution initially provided reservation to Christians, with the proviso
that it would automatically reduce gradually with the efflux of time) -- however, lately preferential
treatment on regional basis has either been non-statutorily introduced in the educational institutes
(e.g. eligibility conditions for candidates from outside the State are 5% higher than that for the 'locals',
as per local rules prescribed by certain Universities) or is being advocated in both jobs and lowly
professions like auto-rickshaw-drivers).
These are laws (both Constitutional and statutory) or merely local rules/ regulations/ practices (not
derived from any Act passed by the Parliament or State-Legislature) wherein a certain percentage of
total available vacancies in educational institutes and government jobs are set aside for people from
backward communities and others. Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other
Backward Classes (OBC) are the primary beneficiaries of the reservation policies under the
Constitutionwith the object of ensuring a levelplaying field (without defining the bench-mark that
determines which particular individual player has reached the said 'level'; the Supreme Court's recent
concept of 'creamy layer' requires a case-by-case determination as to who has ceased to deserve
protection of these Laws).
The reservation system has been a matter of contention ever since it was first introduced in the British
occupied India and remains a point of conflictnay, a form of protectionism [placing a 'handicap' upon
certain communities] was introduced by the Mughals who levied 'jazia' tax against the Hindu traders.
Many citizens who come from the upper classes find the reservation policy of the government biased
and oppose itbecause they feel that it takes away their rights to equality. Moreso, not everyone who
comes from the underprivileged communities, supports the system because he/she says that it makes
one feel disadvantaged. Thus the reservation system is controversial.

Background of caste based reservation

A common form of discrimination, within humanity, in India is the practice of untouchability. Scheduled
Castes (SCs) are the primary targets of this medieval practicea practice, which is outlawed by
the Constitution of India.[1][2] An untouchable person is considered, "impure or a lesser
human."[3] However, during the Vedic period a person's 'Varna' (not 'caste') was defined by his/
her socio-economic duties (broadly classified into four classes or Varnas) -- these duties were either

voluntarily performed or were assigned by the local administrator etc., and 'varna' was not defined by
one's birth into any particular family.
STs are generally those who have been living in tribal areas loacted far away from modern civilization
such that the fruits of modern education and development have not reached them in, at least, an
equal measure.[4] While the definition of SCs and STs are primarily based on the history of oppression
of the community or their geographical distance from socio-economic growth, the definition of OBCs is
more flexible and dynamic, and they are defined based upon the prevailing social status of their
communitiessometimes, it also depends upon the bargaining power of these communities through
'rasta-roko' or 'jail-bharo' andolans.[1]
The main objective of the Indian reservation system is to increase the opportunities for enhanced
social and educational status (in the sense better than the previous -- until it becomes equal to that
enjoyed by an average member of other communities) of the underprivileged communities and, thus,
enable them to take their rightful place in the mainstream of Indian society.[5] The reservation system
exists to provide opportunities for the members of the SCs and STs to increase their representation in
the State Legislatures, the Executive Organ of the Union (Centre) and States, the labor force, schools,
colleges, and other 'public' institutions.[4]
The Constitution of India states in Article 15(4): "All citizens shall have equal opportunities of receiving
education. Nothing herein contained shall preclude the State from providing special facilities
for educationally backward sections (not "communities") of the population. [Emphasis and
parentheses added.] It also states that The State shall promote with special care the educational and
economic interests of the weaker sections of society (in particular, of the scheduled castes
and aboriginal tribes), and shall protect them from social ''injustice'' and all forms of ''exploitation''."
[Emphasis added.] The Article further states that nothing in Article 15(4) will prevent the nation
from helping SCs and STs for their betterment ['betterment' up to the level enjoyed by
the average member of other communities].[6]