Reservation a historical reality, says activist [The Hindu] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/reservation-a-historical-reality-says-activist/article6668387.ece
The Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Lecture Series (BAL) was started at the instance of the noted Goan Dalit activist Dadu Mandrekar and a group of writers and academics who had got together and had written an Open Letter to the Goa University protesting the perverse manner in which reservations were being implemented there. Mr Yatin Kakodkar of ICG and the GALF team took the suggestion to host these lectures very positively and this is likely to be a regular feature at GALF although other lectures in the series may be continued at other times too. Dadu's contention was that the problems of the lower castes were confined to them and Ambedkar was an icon only of the Dalits. He felt that his ideas permeated through in the Constitution making process and the ideas of equlity and justice and secularism which are embodied in the Preamble of the Constitution in the practical form of fundamental rights to the citizens of this country. Anyway, GALF became an ideal venue where the ideas of equality which should be ingrained in all of us and not only Dalits, and problems relating to casteism which are just swept under the carpet in Goa could be brought into the open to an audience which facilely speaks of 'merit' although in reality they make sure by unspoken agreement among themselves to reserve all positions for their kith and kin. The Ambedkar lectures this year were delivered by Dr Varsha Ayyar (described in the Hindu report) but the one by Chandrabhan Prasad really took one's breath away with a rather controversial solution to the problems of Dalits. Not once did he mention the word 'reservation' but his panacea for solving their problems lay in Capitalism. He said that machines and urbanization would be the savior of the Dalits. He advocated mechanized large scale farming instead of the drudgery of manual labor they now are forced to undertake. Everyone learning English was another of his drugs for curing caste superiority. He says now people in UP where he comes from call him 'Uncle' not Mama. The FORCE people would have loved him. Whether he was right or wrong he certainly made everyone think in his bumbling fumbling yet confident English full of rustic metaphor - but which communicated wonderfully. I think that the BJP might find in him a great ally. Personally I went away promising myself to read Annihilation of Caste by Ambedkar and Hind Swaraj by Gandhi which are books which I know I have to but haven't been motivated to read till now. I'd suggest that somewhere in the future a BAL lecture should be organized focusing on the caste issues of Goa. Augusto
