Merit.

I am talking about reservations here. I hated reservations for most part of my life. Because I didn't have any. Is it so?
I was born into so called oc(other caste) /fc (forward caste)/ uc (upper caste) family. I studied in a pvt school. After my 10th class , I got into a govt institute based on "merit". Ofcourse I thought my "merit" wouldn't flourish there and hence settles for a pvt institute.
After 10+2, I got into a govt institute again based on "merit". I blamed reservations for not getting into Comp Science. I need some scapegoat, right. And after that, I got into a PG college (MBA) based on "merit".
Let's define "merit". Merit is being born into a family that can afford good schools for you. Merit is being born into family that had a tradition of literacy. Merit is being born into family with good awareness about career prospects. Being born into family with right connections...
And all hese are linked.
How does one expect somebody who is born into a family that had been suppressed for ages , that is poor, that is not aware to compete with somebody else born into exact opposite circumstances.
We definitely need to hold their hand to make them equal to us. How long? So long as they are not equal.
What happened when girls are given 30% reservation in professional courses from the year 1993. We had seen more and more of them do better in life. The did better than us in college.
Yeah, there is this argument about creamy layer. That is, only one generation needs to benefit from reservations. Fine.
Another solution recently proposed is increase in no of seats so that seats reserved for general categories doesn't decrease. Good idea.
But this isn't something that should have happened for this reason. Do we have an educational policy? I suspect. Govt collects 0.32% on almost everything that' sold as educational cess. Where is it being spent? We need a social audit. Why are we proud about handful of IIMs/IITs. We need 10 times more such institutes. We need regulatory system that monitors quality of education imparted in all colleges.
We need more schools, more colleges, more consistent, relevant curriculum.