From: fb78@sol.acs.unt.edu (Ganesh Gopalakrishnan)
Subject: Re: enRRum anpudan!
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 17:33:14 GMT

kat@doe.carleton.ca (Kathiravan Krishnamurthi) writes:
>   Brahmanism practised by Brahmins and every other community has
>to be fought against, not the Brahmins personally. Then the whole
>country will march to the path of progress.

Would some knowledgeable netter enlighten fellow travelers on some
things: what exactly is Brahmanism in the present day context,
what empirical evidence (hard data, not mere campaign rhetoric,
poison pen write-ups in parochial newspapers/magazines) exists
that PRESENT day BRAHMINS in TN practise Brahmanism any more
than other communities, castes (yes, other so called "upper
castes") practise their own "ISMs".

Personally, I feel poor TN is being taken for a very big ride
by its so called leaders who are only interested in serving
their selfish interests and party interests. After all, Kerala
which had a much more rigid social system based on caste in
yester years does not have near the extent of discrimination
that exists in TN today. All Malayalees COMPETE in entrance
examinations for professional courses. Reservations are
limited to the constitutionally mandated ones for SCs/STs.
I would not be surprised if, given its very high literacy,
Kerala is the first state to push for doing away with all
forms of reservations. I was reading the last issue of
India Today (talks about Muslim Youth in India) and was
really touched by the comment of one dynamic Muslim
businessman of Kerala who commented that no community
can come up through handouts and should not hanker after
such handouts. He was very proud of accomplishing what he
has (pretty stupendous by any standards, if I might add),
through his own merit and very hard work.

When are we going to have any kind of merit based system in TN?
After 1000 years? 5000 years? Are we going to be beating this
"dead snake" for ever? Well, we may not be, for a different
reason. I would hazard a prediction that economic liberalization
will open up tremendous opportunities that have never existed
before in India. It may not be necessary to be an Engineer or a
Doctor to lead a happy, productive, reasonably prosperous life.
Also, many other states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra where
very rigid caste systems have existed in the past, do not
have nearly the same hangup about this issue that TN seems
to nurture in its political environment. In an expanding
economy, talented people, regardless of caste considerations,
will be absorbed somewhere. If an innocent person (I don't see
what else to use for a person of any high caste) who has
never been responsible for persecutions of the past, is
persecuted, he or she may well leave TN. If that person
happens to be very talented in a field that is in high demand,
the loss will certainly be TN's. If I may paraphrase Supreme
Court Justice Thomas (do not remember the exact words),
"it is very wrong to hold present generations responsible
for wrongs committed by the past ones".

Also, has any body seen any hard data (empirical evidence)
as to who have benefited from the TN reservation policies?
Has it really gone to the weak and underprivileged? I'm
sure some of it has, but surely some of it has gone to
privileged people who were able to "produce" appropriate
documentation?

Just some thoughts. That's all. Personally, I believe that
TN has explosive talent that will bloom in a free-enterprise
oriented Indian economy, but to take full advantage of it,
it has to put its own house in order. Help the disadvantaged,
by all means (free education, clothing, meals, additional
coaching at the school level etc) enabling them to compete.
But penalizing talented children because of "past misdeeds"
of a different generation is simply not "pahuththaRivu"!

- ganesh

>Kathiravan