Ananthamurthy calls for more reservation to end reservation

BANGALORE: More reservation to end reservation should be the slogan to achieve
social justice, according to Jnanpith award winning Kannada writer UR
Ananthamurthy.

If properly implemented, this would ensure that there would be no need for
reservations after 10 or 20 years, he said, adding this was what Dr BR Ambedkar
had originally envisaged. Till then, there should be job reservation for other
backward classes in government as well as private sectors.

Speaking to CyberMedia News, Ananthamurthy also called for a change in the
education system in India, “so that all kinds of intelligence can be
recognized at the earliest.”

Currently, “all education leads to management,” he lamented. Hence we don't
have growth in science or research activities. These IIMs think they are great
institutes. They supply students to other countries.”

Favouring reservation for socially and educationally backward classes in
premier educational institutions, Ananthamurthy said, “I would like
reservations to come to our IITs and IIMs so that these underprivileged people
can find their voice. I believe in merit, and merit can be found in every home,
not just in a home which sends its kids to school, paying a lakh of rupees.”

Drawing attention to the US, which initiated common schools for whites and
blacks, Ananthamurthy said such common schools should be made mandatory in India
too. Interaction between children belonging to the backward classes and those
from the upper class would help bring the underprivileged to the mainstream.

Ananthamurthy said that he was educated in a common school. “I came from a
more fortunate family, an educated Brahmin family. Whatever intelligence I got
is because of the interaction I had with other students from other castes.”

He also said that India should plan wisely and private firms, including IT
companies, should reserve jobs for backward classes.

“You have to create it,” Ananthamurthy said. “Like America did. When
Kennedy was there it was necessary for private firms to hire blacks. Now, blacks
are in the mainstream.”

To a specific query on whether reservation had helped the backward classes,
he replied in the affirmative. “It has helped. It has helped them create a
middleclass among themselves. And this middleclass will keep everything to
themselves. That's the problem. The challenge for the dalits is the new
middleclass.”

So, what could be the solution? The septuagenarian educationist and social
thinker considered that the benefits of reservation ought to be carried deeper
and to others. “That's what I want to tell a dalit. If you got a privilege,
don't keep it to yourself and give it to your son. Pass it on to others.”

Raising doubts on the sustainability of the IT/BPO industries, Ananthamurthy
said India should develop the hardware industry. According to his theory, people
who can develop hardware are those who do not even complete their secondary
school. They will be very intelligent with their fingers, bodies and eyes. They
are the 'shudras' of the country.”

Ananthamurthy felt Indian hardware industry is yet to ultilise the talent
available in the country.

He also lamented that much of India's talent has been wasted. “There are
many inventive people, particularly the artisan class. We have not been able to
get these artisans in IITs or engineering colleges. If there is a course on
leather technology, then those who get admitted to such courses are from the
upper class. But those who work with leather are the dalits.”

Ananthamurthy also suggested the scrapping of examinations in schools so that
students would be relieved of pressure. Most school examinations are meant for
those good at memorizing answers.

“We have to construct knowledge. So called good schools tell you to
memorize, and not solve the problem. It is very wrong,” he said.

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