Reservation in eligibility exams

Till recently I had trouble in wrapping my head around the reservation concept, though a lot had been said and refuted regarding this issue in the past. This might be due to my inclination towards Technocracy rather than democracy. But according to a Tamil proverb, the intensity of pain involved in a headache or stomach ache could be realized only when one gets it. As said by some of the reformists, I believe one of the possible vaccines for this chronic illness could be inter caste/religion love marriages. It has made the dawn of a new society inevitable where one can trace his ancestry just like Europeans and Americans do i.e. ‘I am one eighth Italian, one fourth French, etc.’ After a detailed discussion with my mentor at office, I got some perspective which helped me to put this issue to rest.

But this can of worms got re-opened again after the recent news about Tamil Nadu government’s initial hesitation in lowering the pass marks for Teacher Eligibility Test for specific sections of the society. My school of thought is – “Though not all good learners are good teachers, yet a good teacher has to be a good learner. Then how can a mediocre student be a good teacher?

“So teaching is very much a process of seeing 'through a glass darkly'.  Perhaps the best teachers are those who, while well-informed and well-trained, are also those best able to live with the unexpected? “

Arm forces, Teachers and Doctors – Do the people belonging to these fields do mere jobs, or is it a service to the country? They are not economic tools which help only an individual; instead they have the potential to mold fellow human beings. If we compromise in their quality, it will lead to irreversible damages. Just like some highest institutions of research are exempted from purview of reservation, so does this field too need to be exempted, in order to nurture a bright future for our country. Politicians have and are exploiting this situation for vote bank politics. It has aided indirectly to widen the gap between rich and poor, mushrooming private schools and their hefty donations, unattended government hospital institutions and stock market enlisted private hospital firms, finally brain drain. My simple question to them is this – Those who advocate these reservations, will they get treated by such doctors or get their children tutored by such mediocre tutors?  

Maybe, I believe in Spartan theory, yet it is better to have five Pandavas rather than hundred Kauravas!