Divide and rule - British tradition continues

As if politicians have not done enough to divide the country based on caste and religion, we now have an “expert committee” who is going to decide who will be below poverty line (BPL) based on their caste and religion.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=368335
So poor Brahmins who genuinely require this support will not be able to participate in this program. And those who were not SC/ST, but due to political push (e.g. a certain community from Rajasthan recently had Dharnas and engaged in violence to get themselves listed as STs) got themselves converted into SC/ST, will now benefit from this program.

High time India abolished caste, creed, religion and region. Even asking someone his religion and caste should be made a serious crime. If after more than 60 years of freedom, the reservation system has not been able to do anything for the betterment of the so-called reserved castes, it just goes to show the efficacy of reservation – that it does not work.
Tamil Nadu is a class example of how having 99.99% reservation in its schools and colleges did no good for those who genuinely required it. It only benefited the political class. And drove out the Brahmins from the state as far as education was concerned.

Clearly, the government is in no mood to take genuine steps to improve the reach of BPL. It is simply charting out the easy way which will also earn it the vote bank.

On pesticides and other related matters

I wonder why the fuss is being made over organic food’s nutrition quality
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/to-eat-or-not-to-eat/365594/
Per this report, some UK study suggests that organic food is not more nutritious than regular food.
No one eats organic food because it is more nutritious. People (like me) like to eat organic food because it is supposed to be pesticide free. Will someone please explain to the advocates of this study the complete futility of their expensive research?

On a different note, I recently discovered (much to my shock) that some people are using coke, pepsi and other aerated drinks as pesticides on food. It appears that these being more cost effective than regular pesticides, aerated drinks are preferred increasingly by households for domestic use. That certainly puts an end to my ever having any more aerated drinks.

Mr. Minister - I disagree with your decision

I was unhappy when the minister for education announced that class X students wont have to go through the ‘ordeal of Boards’. I always felt that Board exams were one great leveler for all kinds of students irrespective of your caste, region and extent to which you licked your teacher’s feet. Oh! And one more - irrespective of whether you were a teacher’s son/daughter.
In my 12 years of school life, I managed to study in 10 different schools – all in different parts of India. And I found that students who had been studying in the same school without having to undergo the torture of having to change schools, had significant advantage of having spent time in building a relationship with the teachers, of having convinced the teachers of a history of ‘good performance’ in their class.

One such incident happened when I shifted in between terms from one school in J&K to another in M.P. in class IX. My biology teacher decided to give us a surprise test in class. It so happened that a girl, who was sitting next to me, copied an entire diagram (which was the whole test) from my test answer sheet. In other words, she made the same mistakes that I had made in the diagram. But she was not caught. I, who was unaware of someone having copied my answer, was punished for copying. Not to be pushed back by such an incident, I told the teacher that she could re-take the test and check who was the culprit. By then the red-faced teacher realized it was a mistake but was unwilling to admit it. The incident created a rift forever between that teacher and I. I knew I would never get the best grades in Biology as long as that teacher marked my answers.

Another similar incident happened when I was in Class IV. My math teacher never thought much of my academic credentials and even gave me a '0' in the Math oral exam. Then, one day my dad got promoted. The teacher’s husband was working in the same organization as my dad. From the day the news of my dad’s promotion came, the teacher was suddenly very nice, polite and most understanding towards me. And I never got beaten by a cane stick for not being able to answer Math questions in class.

In the school in J&K, there were two teachers kids in my class – Jasmine and Sonika. Except for the first two ranks in class, the rest of the kids could choose any rank they desired. What shocked me when I first was admitted to this school was that Jasmine was considered the “English” topper. Ask her to construct a sentence in English and it would be the worst grammar you had ever heard. I am sure despite Jasmine and Sonika coming first/second in class throughout their school life, I am willing to bet that these girls have not done anything significant in their life with their education.

So Mr. Minister – scrapping board exams may make parents in Delhi happy (who crib the maximum), but it would make scores of students like me unhappy because now, for 11 whole years, the student will continue to be at the mercy of teachers and abide by their whims and fancy.