"India is the only country where people fight to be called backward"

- N R Narayan Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor - Infosys Technologies Limited.

A sad but very true statement. We all know it. I felt it around two years back when the UPA government came into power (http://mukuldharwadkar.blogspot.com/2004/10/moving-backwards.html). I still feel the same way except its stronger and the fact that no one would care about what I thought. But coming from a industry stalwart and a person of international eminence does carry some weight. If NRN feels this way, there it's certainly a sad state of affairs. He is one of the most optimistic and positive persons I have ever seen.

There are so many consipiracy theories going around but the fact remains that this insane decision by the government of India has left India poorer. Why doesn't it dawn on the politicians and the people demanding reservations that you cannot achieve progress & development by protecting and creating reservations. These actions are not going to uplift the backward classes. In fact they are going to stymie their progress as the standards they have to maintain to reach a certain point have been lowered. It will put them into deeper rut and the sad part is that they don't realise. Maybe they do realise, but they don't care. If that is the case then it is even more cause to worry about. Apathy is more dangerous than ignorance.

Thankfully the private sector (one which brings in forex and FDI & FII) is still free from the clutches of reservations. But for how long? We must ensure that government does not impose reservations on the private sector. See, I have nothing against the uplift of the backward classes, in fact I am all for it and even willing to work for it. But not by creating reservations. Two things will happen if government imposes reservations on the private sector.

1. The capacity of India to compete in the global market will diminish because the people who make India's work force are simply not capable of competing against the best in the world.
2. The foreign investment and multinational will at best reduce their stakes or at worse, go away from India. The multinationals and foreign companies are answerable directly to their stock holders and not to any governments. If they don't have the freedom to choose who they can hire and that results in decreased productivity and profits, they will simply move out of India and go someplace where there are no such restrictions.

In the 1980's and years before that, India suffered massive brain drain, with many talented people immigrating to the US in search of better opportunity, lifestyle. Thanks partly to the economical reforms and partly due to the dot com bust, a reverse brain drain had started with many people coming back to India or being asked to come back to India because their employers had started offshore operations. But now with these policies, it appears the the Indian government is out to alienate such people along with the major corporations. If I cannot assure my child of a fair chance to get the best education, how am I going to justify going back to India to him? I am sure most of the expatriates all over the world are asking the same question to themselves.

At one end of the spectrum there is India Inc. The bullish and fast growing market and economy which is taking the world by storm. Around the globe India is now being respected as a major global power, both economically and militarily. In fact I have heard that Hindi is used more commonly in Dubai stock markets nowadays than local dialect.

I had a similar experience when I had come to the US 3 years ago. At the Washington Dulles airport I was standing in line for immigrations and waiting for my turn. The immigration officer over there looked at me, my passport, verified that everything is in order and greeted me by saying, "Namaste, Welcome to the US". This filled me with pride for India.

At the other end of the spectrum are these policies and the politicians who are determined to maintain their vote banks, even if it means that India remains in stone ages. More than the actual backward people it is these people who do not want them to progress and live with the crutches of reservations. These policies are firmly rooted in the years immediately after independence and are no longer valid. These must be abolished. If India has to make an impact on the world and gain a position of world dominance.