Sunday, October 05, 2008
And our government does it yet again...
Today, sitting in my home in Atlanta, I have a fear in my mind...a fear every Indian is having now.Will another bomb blast occur? how many more lives are lost? People are scared to get out on the streets, hang out in the malls, go to markets...and our "Intelligence" forces have been reduced to nothing more than buffoons. I'm praying for those affected by the blasts and hoping that no more blasts occur. But this post is not about terrorism. Rather, in between all these horrible acts happening in our country, our politicians seem to be more interested in getting more votes from backward classes as elections dates are looming near. How much more ridiculous can one get?
It's time for elections again in the Centre and some states, and the Government has made a "smart" move by increasing the income ceiling of the creamy layer of OBCs. Smart because it will help them get more votes, and nothing else. They don't really care about the common man anyway.
Imagine this. A family A with an annual income of 4.5 lakhs, that is Rs. 37,500 per month before taxes, which amounts to approx. Rs.30,000 after taxes considering 20% for that income bracket. Now, there are a lot of people in India whose annual income is much less than that. For a family B who has an annual income of 2 lakhs p.a, the take home salary per month is approx. 15,000, half of the salary of the former. Now, apart from getting twice the salary of B, A also gets more benefits because A belongs to the creamy layer of OBCs. (and this creamy layer is getting more fattening with new castes being added to that all the time). When giving reservation based upon caste itself is injustice, what do you say about giving reservations to people who are not economically backward. I mean, in case of A, the person can still lead a decent lifestyle with that salary if not a lavish one. My dad often says, our system is becoming so hopeless, that pretty soon, if there is a 100m Athletic race in India, an athlete from SC/ST category will start from the 50m point and someone from OBCs will start from the 75m point while the General category will be standing all the way back. It might sound funny, but I wont be surprised if they implement that.
I'm sure with the introduction on this new rule, more people will push their cases to include their caste among OBCs, while the General Category people will continue to miss every benefit. As someone who does not belong to any backward community, I am not asking for any benefit or special reservation for general category, but to consider "Merit" as the main factor for providing a reservation, and family income as next main factor. I only wish that some day in the future, the goverment abolishes caste-based reservation...but wait, for a country which is always fighting to go backward, how can the future be in sight?
It's time for elections again in the Centre and some states, and the Government has made a "smart" move by increasing the income ceiling of the creamy layer of OBCs. Smart because it will help them get more votes, and nothing else. They don't really care about the common man anyway.
Imagine this. A family A with an annual income of 4.5 lakhs, that is Rs. 37,500 per month before taxes, which amounts to approx. Rs.30,000 after taxes considering 20% for that income bracket. Now, there are a lot of people in India whose annual income is much less than that. For a family B who has an annual income of 2 lakhs p.a, the take home salary per month is approx. 15,000, half of the salary of the former. Now, apart from getting twice the salary of B, A also gets more benefits because A belongs to the creamy layer of OBCs. (and this creamy layer is getting more fattening with new castes being added to that all the time). When giving reservation based upon caste itself is injustice, what do you say about giving reservations to people who are not economically backward. I mean, in case of A, the person can still lead a decent lifestyle with that salary if not a lavish one. My dad often says, our system is becoming so hopeless, that pretty soon, if there is a 100m Athletic race in India, an athlete from SC/ST category will start from the 50m point and someone from OBCs will start from the 75m point while the General category will be standing all the way back. It might sound funny, but I wont be surprised if they implement that.
I'm sure with the introduction on this new rule, more people will push their cases to include their caste among OBCs, while the General Category people will continue to miss every benefit. As someone who does not belong to any backward community, I am not asking for any benefit or special reservation for general category, but to consider "Merit" as the main factor for providing a reservation, and family income as next main factor. I only wish that some day in the future, the goverment abolishes caste-based reservation...but wait, for a country which is always fighting to go backward, how can the future be in sight?
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Early retirement for our cricketers?
Its time for some cricketing action once again with the India-Australia series and I am looking forward to a good contest. What what really grinds my gears is the "Voluntary Retirement Scheme" for the 5 senior cricketers Kumble, Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman. Though this seems to be just hyped up because of the media, it looks the new BCCI committee has laid out this plan.
In my opinion, this is just bullshit. How can anyone decide when one's career ends? Well, in the case of rookies, many of time BCCI decides by totally ignoring them after few initial bad performances, but I dont blame them entirely as there are hundreds of people looking for a spot in the team and only performance matters. I feel the same thing should be done for the senior cricketers too. If you don't perform, we'll drop you approach is fine, but you can't decide when he has to retire. That too when 5 world class players are in question. Well, the BCCI denies it saying its all rubbish, but then how did the media make such a big issue out of it? Though its a known thing that a media makes a mountain out of a molehill, they atleast need a molehill first and I dont think Ganguly's omission for the Irani trophy is any basis for a VRS scheme! Like Bedi says, if ever such a thing happened, it is cricket terrorism!! Atleast for a test series, the presence of a few seniors is needed anyway.
I hope the players dont get distracted by these things and concentrate on their game and I hope we will witness an exciting series!
In my opinion, this is just bullshit. How can anyone decide when one's career ends? Well, in the case of rookies, many of time BCCI decides by totally ignoring them after few initial bad performances, but I dont blame them entirely as there are hundreds of people looking for a spot in the team and only performance matters. I feel the same thing should be done for the senior cricketers too. If you don't perform, we'll drop you approach is fine, but you can't decide when he has to retire. That too when 5 world class players are in question. Well, the BCCI denies it saying its all rubbish, but then how did the media make such a big issue out of it? Though its a known thing that a media makes a mountain out of a molehill, they atleast need a molehill first and I dont think Ganguly's omission for the Irani trophy is any basis for a VRS scheme! Like Bedi says, if ever such a thing happened, it is cricket terrorism!! Atleast for a test series, the presence of a few seniors is needed anyway.
I hope the players dont get distracted by these things and concentrate on their game and I hope we will witness an exciting series!
