The world’s largest affirmative action project
India’s supreme court today gave the go ahead for almost 50% of places at the nation’s publicly funded universities and colleges to be reserved for lower-caste and other disadvantaged people.
In extending the world’s largest and oldest affirmative action system, the court accepted that higher education institutions had to reserve a quota of seats for untouchables, tribals and “backward classes”.
…
“For the wealthy they can simply buy their children seats at the top colleges. They have 100% quotas for the rich in private institutions. Merit is the first casualty in such cases,” said Anoop Saraya, a senior doctor at Delhi’s prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who supports the quota scheme. [Guardian]
Some people are not gonna be happy!
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Filed in: Current affairs, India, South Asia


I thought I should comment on thi slonley thread because I’ve been struck in recent years by demonstrations on Indian TV against affirmative action (generally by the already better off)
Alos, to advise the Dalit Solidarity Network is lobbying MPs next week on ‘Another Apartheid’ – Caste Discrimination – The Flip Side of India’s Booming Economy
DATE: Tuesday 22 April 2008
TIME: 14.00 – 16.00
Contact Meena Varma, Director Email: meena.v@dsnuk.org Tel: +44 (0)20 7501 8323