CNN-IBN on corporate participation in Anti-Reservation...

Corporates fear quota will sting them

Shreya Dhoundial

CNN-IBN

Posted Saturday , May 20, 2006 at 23:27

New Delhi: Thousands of anti-reservation protesters marched down the Parliament Street in the Capital on Saturday.

One of them - Saikat Chaudhary, an IT professional - is angry. Almost as angry as the medical students, he's supporting.

He fears after the 27 per cent quota is implemented in educational insitutions, the private sector will be next be on the government's hit list.

"Today, if it happens in the education sector, it may spill over to the corporate sector tomorrow. There will be a depletion of knowledge and no industry will come here," says Saikat.

Another demonstrator, Vivek Singh, a Banker says, "Politicians are doing nothing for the country, but they are dividing it on the basis of caste."

Saikat and Vivek are not lone voices. Almost 100 IT professionals from Wipro, TCS and Freescale have joined the anti quota stir.

Corporates feel strongly against the issue as reservations in the private sector are on the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA governement.

"Because of this, the MNCs are moving out. MNCs are only here because of our talent and if you ruin our talent, no MNCs would be here," says Sajwal Mathur, an IT Professional, Semiens.

The decibel levels are rising. But is emotion rather than understanding fuelling these raised voices? Ater all, the 27 per cent education quota is still not final, nor are reservations in the private sector.

As the corporates join the reservation debate the question that need's to be asked is are rallies like these moving away from reality and spiralling towards rhetoric?

Are the pro reservation voices fuelling a paranoia of things that might not happen?

It's probably now time for people on both side's of the reserrvation debate to pause for a moment, look at existing realities ane then work out a middle path - Buddha didn't preach it for nothing.