http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1124348
Sunday, September 30, 2007 3:41:00 AM Does entitlement enrich? R Jagannathan Microview One fact that has been much commented upon in India's recent victory in the World T20 Championships is the composition of the team. With several small town lads playing big-time cricket, they fought like tigers and took risks. Harbhajan and Irfan, who had been out of favour for a while, also did well because they, too, had something to prove. To themselves, at any rate. Lesson: Achievement depends on motivation, not entitlement. This column is not about cricket. I would like to use the above idea to make a broader point about how easy entitlement to jobs or college seats robs the poor and disadvantaged of the opportunity to excel and achieve. Entitlement, on the other hand, demeans. Nobody, but nobody, likes to feel beholden to benefactors for their success. Unfortunately, that's precisely what politicians want to encourage. It is also why they are so keen on inflicting quotas on favoured constituencies –– whether it is Dalits, OBCs, Muslims or women. Mayawati even wants to include poor Brahmins in this quota system. God forbid. That would be the surest way to make them useless and unemployable. Brahmins were on the cusp of economic decline when the DMK came to power in Tamil Nadu and started increasing education and job quotas for the backwards. Once they fell from grace, though, Brahmins were a transformed lot. Most Brahmins in Tamil Nadu worked harder to succeed, since they knew the state system would be tilted against them. Many moved to other parts of India, and many migrated to the US and Europe. Today, Brahmin soft power has never been higher. Even Mayawati courts them. Lesson: Adversity stokes performance, not easy entitlement. A few days ago, DNA published a story suggesting that women are increasing their share of organised employment at a time when men are slipping. One reason for this is, no doubt, the willingness of women to work for lower wages than their male counterparts. They also bring skillsets that are more appropriate to the modern workplace –– easy adaptability, ability to communicate, networking skills, et al. But I daresay the most important reason is that they are more eager to succeed than most men are. Most employers I know prefer women employees, and not because they are poor things that need a helping hand from men. They deliver. Lesson: Attitude, as the cliché goes, is important for altitude. In Tamil Nadu, which has had the oldest and deepest system of reservations in education (60-80 per cent), an interesting thing seems to be happening. An increasing number of OBCs, and a sprinkling of SC/ST students, prefer to compete not for the quotas, but for the open merit seats. They are succeeding. According to PV Indiresan, a former IIT, Chennai, director, and vocal critic of the reservation system, OBCs are almost on par with so-called forward caste candidates when it comes to 'merit-based' admissions in medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. Quoting an August, 2004, report in The Hindu, he points out that the lowest marks secured by SCs choosing to compete for open merit seats was 287.5 against 295.74 for the forward castes (FCs). The backward castes were right behind the FCs –– at 294.13. Quite clearly, reservations are not the only reason why the disadvantaged have begun to compete so strongly. The 'X' factor that works is likely to be their tremendous will to succeed. As against this, even after 60 years of independence, the presence of SC/STs in the upper reaches of government is insignificant. Could it be because such SC/ST candidates are actually underperforming because of the acute loss of self-esteem that comes from knowing you wouldn't have gotten in through the front door? As though policy-makers haven't done enough damage already, they now want to include Muslims in this system of undeserved entitlements –– through quotas and special favours. I believe that special treatment for any group is counter-productive and self-defeating. Secondly, it engenders a false sense of hope in the 'favoured' community that it will get benefits without effort. True achievement needs an atmosphere of empowerment, not entitlement. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
