Reservation Issue.. a journalist's experiences and views

The Experiences of a journalist who covered the "Reservations" issue both now and then.. An interesting read. Anirudh Bhattacharyya's Blog At first he puts down the most common reactions to the "r" word..

The Congress, in its present avatar as the lead party of the many-headed UPA, is attempting to make political capital out of reservations. And the focus is on the IITs, the IIMs, NGOs, and jobs in the private sector. So, the party that once protested Mandal finds it convenient to mine it for near-term electoral gains in 2006.

And, frankly, this could be terrible timing. Corporate India is surging ahead, foreign investors are glorifying the Indian economy. So, the reaction to the political posturing from representatives of Indian companies at a business conference in Chicago was understandably tentative.

So, this is all wrong, right? Maybe not.

And then he unleashes everything that reservation is about in a nice and crisp manner..

The Government is nudging industry to wake up, to absorb the reality of the social mix India is. If industry doesn't respond quickly, the underlying message seems to be, they may just be forced to comply with a sarkari diktat.

Well.. all I can say is that I liked the last few words..

As for me, I hope that 16 years later, I don't have to deal with the word "reservations" unless it's to take my wife out to dinner.