Dr. Udit Raj

(First published in January 2006)

The doctors clamouring against reservations for OBCs have demanded that merit be the sole criteria for admission to medical and engineering colleges. Then, how is it that they haven't objected either to the NRI quota or candidates who procure admission on the basis of capitation fee? Does this not affect quality?

Reservations was introduced in the Kolhapur State as early as in 1902 and in the State of Mysore in 1921. In Tamil Nadu, where the human health index is much better than in other states, there is as much as 69 per cent reservation.

Let us take for a moment that upper caste doctors are really meritorious. But is this of any help to the nation when many of them use elite institutes as a springboard to go abroad for higher wages. Nearly 70 per cent of doctors from AIIMS doctors go abroad. How are these elite institutes, under such circumstances, serving the interests of the common people?

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Speech made by Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar, Member Rajya Sabha, on annual Budget 2011-12

Mr. Dy. Chairman Sir, I rise to support the Budget 2011-12.

Sir, I congratulate the Finance Minister for presenting an inclusive, growth-oriented and balanced Budget.

Sir, Budget is not only a mechanism of allocation of resources, but also an instrument of income redistribution. Sir, as we know, in welfare economics, there is what is called Pareto optimality, which means that any set of income redistribution is desirable that makes some people better-off without making some others worse off. This Budget has precisely attempted to do that. Sir, I consider the budget "balanced" not in narrow, technical economic sense where revenue equals expenditure. It is balanced in the sense that it has tried to address the concerns of different sections of the society, focusing on Aam Adami.

Sir, the Opposition Parties, have argued that the Budget lacked vision and inclusiveness. Some others said that the Budget does not contain a 'big-ticket' item, and yet others have criticized that the Budget does not contain reforms agenda.

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Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar

(Maiden speech of Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar, Member of Rajya Sabha, delivered in the House on 4th May, 2010)

Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to speak on the Finance Bill in this august House.

Sir, it is gratifying that after the global financial crisis of 2008, the Indian economy quickly returned to the path of growth and registered 6.7 % growth in 2008-09 and 7.2 % in 2009-10. The credit for this must be given, firstly, to our regulated banking system, most importantly, our public sector banks for reducing the severity of the adverse impact of the global recession; and secondly, to the quick measures taken by the government, by resorting to financial stimulus packages, which helped maintain the level of aggregate demand for bringing back the economy to the growth path. For 2010-11, according to the recent World Economic Outllook published by IMF, the rate of growth for the Indian economy is forecast at 8.8 per cent.

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Vivek Kumar

This election is historical because, once again, upper castes have been kept out of power. This has been the trend in the state for the past two-and-a-half decades. Secondly, this election can also be seen as a backlash of upper castes against the consolidation of Dalit power in Uttar Pradesh. Dalit workers and a number of officials have told that upper castes were heard saying that, "anybody should win, but not the BSP; the Dalits have lost their sense and gone mad". But the irony is that they did not have any political party led and dominated by upper castes to which they could vote. Hence, wherever they found that someone is defeating BSP, they voted for the SP, BJP and Congress respectively. This is why we have upper caste votes spread across the upper caste parties.

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Dr. Udit Raj

(First published in October 2002)

Hindutva organisations are outraged over conversions, and their outrage prevents them from entering into negotiations with Muslim and Christian leaders. But have they ever bothered to understand the plight of Dalits?

Dalits and backwards consider themselves Hindus, but Hinduism does not respond to them; otherwise, there would be normal social behavior, such as marrying and dining, amongst followers of the same religion.

Whenever a Hindu inquires about other Hindus, what he actually wants to know is their caste. This isn't the case with other religions.

The Gujarat earthquake proved beyond doubt that even in that hour of crisis, the so-called upper castes didn't want to share their food and shelter, let alone joy and sorrow, with the Dalits.

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Sukhadeo Thorat

(First published in June 2004)

Given the range of economic discrimination against marginalised groups like SCs, STs and OBCs the reservation policy for the private sector ought to cover not only employment, but also markets, agricultural land, capital, consumer goods, education, housing, government contracts, etc.

Faced with caste related discrimination against and deprivation of marginalised social groups like SC, ST and OBC, the Indian state has used reservation policy in selected public spheres. Such concerns are, however, confined to the government sector and the vast private sector where more than 90 per cent of SC/ST workforce is employed, remains without protection against caste discrimination. While affirmative action policies in other countries, have been used both for private and public sector from the very beginning, in India the privatisation process concomitant with the withdrawal of the state from many spheres under the liberalisation regime, have further narrowed and compressed the little space that the discriminated groups had gained till now. If the societal discrimination in private domain is the justification for reservation in public sectors, why cannot such a policy be extended to the private sector? Precisely because of this consideration, the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA calls for a national dialogue on reservation in private sector. Maharashtra and MP governments on the other hand have already approved the reservation for SC/ST in jobs in private sector and in government contracts respectively.

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