Readers’ comments: ‘I too have struggled because my surname reveals my Dalit identity’

This article (“Why reservations matter: A letter to Justice Trivedi from an ‘untouchable’ ex-colleague”) was an eye-opener for me. I belong to a backward class, and I have struggled in the past because my surname reveals my Dalit identity. The reservations for the unprivileged should not be discontinued. However, I do believe that reservation benefits should be given in educational institutions, not in the public employment sector.

Rajesh Chavda ji (a corporate lawyer in the UK), other than writing articles, is there anything you can do for the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society? If not, then keep your biassed opinions to yourself. Don’t try to impose them on others.

Why are these people so fond of reservations? There are several millionaires who belong to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, and then there are so many upper-caste people living below the poverty line. This is the problem of those who get reservations. When you do them a favour, you are a good person, otherwise bad. Shame on this writer for blaming an honourable judge. – Sunil Kumar

Yes, I agree with the writer because there are some people who pretend to be our (Dalit) friends only because of our current social standing. Without it, they call us “achhut’ and so on. I have experienced it many times in my childhood. Because my mom is a teacher, people refrain from saying unsavoury things to my face, but that is not the case with some of my friends. Some people still talk about our caste behind our back. Just because there is some representation of the unprivileged does not necessarily mean that the whole community has been uplifted. – Nibedita Singh

Rajesh Chavda’s account truly reflects what goes on in the mind of a person from a Dalit background. My request to the author is to keep on writing. Thank you. – Vijay Vitore

I feel this guy doesn’t want society to move forward. Why is it that we only talk about reservations but never about merit? I can understand, and I do feel that they were not provided with equal opportunities till independence. In the last 75 years, they have been provided with more than equal opportunity. The writer mentioned some unfortunate incidents in his village and his neighbouring villages. What happened was undoubtedly cruel and the culprits should be reprimanded. He also provided some data on how the backward communities constitute 77% of the population whereas reservations being only 50%. Can he also provide the data on how much of that 77% people are underprivileged?

A big chunk of that population is economically forward and can afford the best education and the best medical facilities but still depend on reservations (I don’t understand why). I agree with Justice Trivedi that at some point we have to gradually move away from reservations based on caste to reservations based on underprivileged/underrepresented. There needs to be some corrections on the threshold for the Economically Weaker Section determination as well. – Anurag Minna

Courtesy : Scroll

Note: This news piece was originally published in scroll.in and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights .