Should we have quotes in pvt cos ?
By: Vilas Shinde
October 22, 2004
Im not in favour of reservations in the private sector. The whole concept of reservations came about because of caste discrimination. There is no economic basis to it.
The private sector has to be competitive and has to be an active part of the global economy.
Policies should be merit-oriented. India needs to be represented by its most able professionals. Thats how the economy will progress.
We need to create products comparable with global standards, and only professionals can ehsure this happens. Jobs cannot be given to people on the basis of class or caste. That will simply ruin the efficiency of the private sector.
The problem with reservations is that people take advantage of the protection offered to them. Generations of families continue to get employment in the same vein, whether they are qualified or not.
Reservations lower standards of work and production. People even prolong the protection offered to them after they have established themselves and done well in life, by creating backward class unions and committees like that.
The government can bear the losses in the public sector. But what about losses in the private sector? It is ultimately the taxpayer - the common citizen, who bears the losses.
Politicians are using reservations to create votebanks. The public sector has this kind of patronage and selective discrimination and that has led to its decline.
The main idea of reservations was to give the economically deprived classes a chance to come forward and create opportunities for them. If at all there are any reservations, it should be on the basis of economics, not caste or class.
Instead of moving ahead, we will simply be regressing if we allow reservations to take over the private sector as well. Employment and any kind of opportunity should be given strictly on the basis of merit. Only then will the economy benefit and the country progress.
Bandra reclamation resident Vilas Shinde is a retired Air India captain.
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