Eyes Speak Lies ...

F.I.R. – Forum of Indians against Reservation

May 23, 2006

The Prime Minister of India
through
The District Magistrate
Kanpur City
Uttar Pradesh
India

Subject: Students Demands against proposed reservation Bill.

The IITs, IIMs and other premier educational institutes are the "centers of excellence" and have greatly benefited the Indian society and economy. The kernel of the high standards of these institutes is based on merit.

The proposed extension of reservation in these institutes would adversely affect the standard of merit. The students of IIT Kanpur along with other premier educational institutes, therefore, wish to raise our concern against the proposed extension of reservation. Simultaneously, we also wish to present these institutes as models of an egalitarian society where merit is not affected by caste based differences. To establish an Indian society which fosters social justice and equality, these institutes could act as plausible prototypes.

We students would also like to make it clear that the concerns shown are not directed against any reserved categories. We, irrespective of which category we belong to, are fully committed to social upliftment of these unprivileged classes and request the Government of India to lay emphasison more desired sectors of social upliftment. Promoting education at the primary and the secondary level, providing basic health facilities, implementing land reforms and labor reforms at the grass root level are the areas to which we request the Government to pay more attention to. Neglecting these basic reforms and merely reserving more number of seats at these premier institutes would not serve the purpose of social betterment but instead, would adversely affect the standard of these institutes and social harmony as well.

We are also apprehensive of the fact that mere reservations without actual reforms would increase the urge of several sections of society to get included in the list of reserved categories for vested interests. This, in turn, will create social unrest.

Hence, we put forth the following demands for your earnest and immediate consideration;

(a) We are strongly against any reservation in general and recently proposed hikes in reservation in particular.

(b) We want immediate withdrawal of proposed reservation Bill.

(c) We are against any increase in number of seats without proportional increase in infrastructure.

(d) We want our representation in proposed committee on reviewing the reservation Policy.

(e) We demand immediate stoppage of humiliation and repressions of protestors.

Our demands are symbolic representation of our solidarity with the cause and the protestors all over the Nation. If our demands are not heard seriously, we would make a combined nation wide protest in all major cities of India on a declared date.

It's our earnest request to you to intervene in to the matter and do the needful.

Thanking you

Sincerely

Students of IIT Kanpur

IITK Students also go on hunger strike

This letter was handed over to the district magistrate of Kanpur on 23rd of May, 2006, to be forwarded to Dr. Manmohan Singh, honorable Prime Minister of India, after the students of IIT Kanpur, along with other Engineering and Medical colleges of Kanpur, organised a peaceful, non-violent, non-disruptive cycle rally in protest of the reservation Bill that has been passed without showing any concern to the ones who've raised their voices and tried to make the deaf listen.

One of the most noticeable (I was about to say ‘outstanding’ but it is not in the least that) things about the rally was that we were joined by students of various schools, kids in classes ninth and tenth, who should’ve been enjoying their summer holidays, but instead prefer to walk and cycle in sweltering heat, in a rally of 500, accompanied by police jeeps. Imagine what they would go through, having to bear all this at a tender age, when the world is still a good place to live in, when it is the age of security, of comfort, of staying away from the cares of the world. Imagine the mental trauma of their parents who let their children out on the streets when anything could go wrong with a rally, it might turn violent, when there might be a lathi-charge by the so-damn-concerned-about-the-welfare-of-the-people police force, and yet they send them out to fend for themselves for a better future. That is their only hope, and these blood-sucking politicians wouldn’t budge from their parliamentary servitude, the unanimity of the decision and other utterly useless and foolish reasons they come up with to justify themselves.

The apathy of the government towards the condition of students on hunger strike, and their mule-like rigidity at so baseless an issue is abominable. Anybody who had the ‘privilege’ of watching Arjun Singh’s interview on CNN-IBN with Karan Thapar would see how uncomfortable it became for Arjun Singh to face direct questions thrown at him. The questions did not go in a roundabout fashion, steering clear of the main issue and meandering away but were direct, straightforward and hit hard, and Arjun Singh had no proper answers. He could just blabber something about it being a unanimous decision and the parliament taking the decision. I’m not hitting at Arjun Singh here, nor am I in any ‘Hate Arjun Singh Fan Club’ because it’s not him who introduced it, it wasn’t his brainchild but just that the task of presenting it fell on him. Any person in his place would have faltered just the same because the bill itself, when confronted with facts, has no foundations. It does not stand. On watching that interview, I did not get angry at Arjun Singh, but pitied him rather.

Some statements said that day, that penetrated my conscience and that I know will go unheeded, that were extensively covered by both print and television media were :

* We need progress, not reservation.

* Ever since our childhood, we've been taught to study and succeed. Never were we told that after 20 years of hard work, we'll be asked to spell out our caste, not our achievements.

* It was never made clear to us that just because the next person happens to be from a lower caste, he'd be the one telling you what to do, inspite of the fact that he is highly incapable for that task.

* We never knew that among us, we were students from different castes. We'd always thought that we belonged to IIT and that was the only tag that we were happy to carry unless you came and tagged us in an entirely different fashion.

* We have, in this rally, students from every caste. Before embarking for this, when we ent to them to join us, we did not ask them their caste and then invite them accordingly.

* If you will ask us our caste, we are sorry, we do not know. We thought we were Indians and we thought that 'Divide and Rule' was the policy of the Britishers. Maybe we were wrong.

* We, engineers and doctors, when we should be stuying and operating on patients, are forced onto the streets by your vested political decisions. We demand an explanation for this waste of time, energy and manpower that could have been used in far more fruitful endeavours.

* While coming over here, we did not disrupt the normal traffic/lives of innocent people in the city. We do not seek to harm anybody for our interests. We only seek justice.

* During the rally, we did not burn any buses or beat up people on the streets because we do not have a problem with them. In fact, the people we have problems with, probably do not even know what it is like to travel in a bus, what one goes through in a short bus journey, what the state of travels is.

* There was a time when lawyers of India gave up their practices to run the country and free it from the British raj. Today, maybe the time has come for engineers and doctors to sidestep their profession and take the reins of the nation in their hands.

* If we can repair machines and heal patients, we are sure, we can weed out the poisonous seeds that you have sown in this country, and we will do it far more efficiently.

* Maybe that will be the time when we will call the shots and you will be out on the streets in our stead, protesting for your seats of power.

* We know that it is not your mistake but ours that we chose you to represent us, but unlike you, we know how to correct our mistakes and set them right. Do not forget that we can throw you out of power the minute we want. We are not ruled by you.

* Maybe you'd better heed to us.

As I am writing, it is becoming more and more difficult not to use profanities but then, if I do, that’ll take away from the sincerity of this post and more importantly, will betray a feeling of helplessness. I am not helpless. We are not helpless. We have taken a stand and it’ll succeed. We’ll fight it out to the end, even if it's going to be a long fight.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1192/673/1600/amitabh.jpg

Does any one of you find this funny?

posted by Swetank Gupta @ 3:14 pm