The Convoluted Concept of Reservation

What's the one thing that  pertains in every part of the world  for decades and centuries long and changes form with time? It would be hard to dispute that this dangerously prevalent "thing" is stratification. We are all too familiar with stratification based on factors such as economic capacity, class into which one is born etc., so much so that the statement " All men are created equal" never seemed more obsolete. Even if they were, the present state of the world would ensure that they aren't treated as equals. As a consequence, we constantly find ourselves in pursuit of a social mobility, moving up the ranks to the superior, more dominant class. What intrigues me is how this idea of an existing social inequality, eventually leads to a desire to move up the social ranks has impacted several important factors; in particular, education.


The Indian higher education system has always been known to be akin to a rigorous rat race, where only the best of the best survive the onslaught of the many examinations thrown at them. With a system like this, anyone would expect to churn out high-achieving candidates year after year. Yet, what it doesn't take into account is the disparity in access to basic education for students. A significant portion of India's student population even today; either reside in downtrodden areas that have been overlooked or are financially incapable of granting themselves a good education, either due to monetary limitations or caste-based discrimination. Thus,  they might not just be spending nights under lamps  preparing for their exams, they might also have to take up odd jobs to make their ends meet. How about the wealthy, affluent kids then? They get to go to the best schools, get tutored in addition to regular schooling; can afford to buy more books and also have resources such as the internet to enhance their chances of making it big. Totally unfair right?


Reservation is the solution that the government proposed  to quell this conflict between the privileged and the under-privileged students. In other words, it is that missing link in the system that would finally even the field.  The following table reflects the typical caste-based reservation profile for entry into institutions :

SC and SC Converts to Buddhism	13.0%
STs	7.0%
Vimukta Jati	3.0%
Nomadic Tribes (NTI)	2.5%
Nomadic Tribes (NT2)	3.5%
Nomadic Tribes (NT3)	2.0%
OBC(Other Backward Castes)	19.0%
Total	50.0%

What this table essentially represents is an opportunity for students from the repressed groups to resume their career aspirations by earning a college degree. So, while this move by the government alleviates the issues faced by these students, it reduces the chances of those that do not belong to those groups. A direct consequence of this stand taken by the government has been insane minimum requirements for students who aren't guarded by reservation. So a student not from one of the groups listed above would have to get a score of around 10-20% better than a student who was from those groups, to be admitted to the same university, for the same program! Is this not unfair to the students from the latter category?



The ideal question to ask is how one would deal with a double edged sword like the reservation policy being implemented at present, in Indian education. Amidst all of the debate regarding this issue it is quite obvious that the central aim of improving education has been ignored. If for once, as suggested in the controversial movie "Arakshan" which translates to reservation; authorities looked at ways to improve the standards of education for the less fortunate students, the issue of unequal resources could be dealt with and so would the issue of unfairness. Be it by establishing remedial coaching centers, or providing cheaper computers to these students, the Indian education system needs to be rethought and planned with the best interests' of both groups of students in mind.


Here is a video of a debate involving the cast of Arakshan that explains the reservation system in Indian education  in a nutshell :

Here are some articles describing different opinions' on the same :

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/08/16/economics-journal-dont-scrap-reservation-improve-education/

 http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles/India-reservation.asp

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ncrschool2012-rte-topstories/What-s-so-bad-about-reservations/Article1-922892.aspx

A Tale of two Cities

Ever realized that you don’t see a Qatari citizen behind a counter in a supermarket or driving a Karwa taxi?

The total population in Qatar, as of October 31st 2011, is 1,722,516. Qataris are the minority of the population in their own country. Taking that into consideration, in 2009, figures show that over 94% of the working population in Qatar is non-Qatari. However, the general Qatari population that is above the age of 15 doesn’t find it hard to find a job in their own country. Recently, with Qatarization, rules and guidelines for all companies in Qatar entitle all Qataris an opportunity to work in all companies in the industry.

This leaves the rest of the population in Qatar as the working population, which is majorly made up of the labor force, who are the secondary labor force. These are usually the low-paid jobs provided to the labor workers who work on-site and in manufacture work.

Speaking of labor force, let’s take the example of two Sudanese expats. In my Eid Al-Adha break, I got the chance to visit Zekreet, a village out in a more deserted part of Qatar- I got to see a little of the real Qatari culture. Interestingly, my friends and I drove to the film city, which is a film set designed in the middle of nowhere to draw out the image of an ancient, Qatari village.



As we drove up to the film city, our friend told us that this “city” is supposed to be haunted, which naturally scared many of those in the car and discouraged them from entering the “haunted city.” As I started to walk towards the main door of the city, I started to think of what sorts of things I could find in there. As soon as I entered, BOOM there were two men sitting by the main door. Humans? What were they doing there?! Turns out, film city was literally a film set, not a horror movie. And we’re back to reality: These two men, Mohammed and Abdulrahim, were two Sudanese expats who sat by the main door to act as the surveillance of the city.

Mohammed and Abdulrahim have lived in Qatar for about a year now. To answer my question, they were in film city because they were asked by their Qatari sponsor to go out and live there by themselves to act as the security of the whole place. Not having a choice, the men moved out and find ways to entertain themselves as they did their job. The men live out in nowhere in one of the rooms in this empty city, one dressed in a Sudanese thobe and the other dressed in everyday casual clothes, jeans and a shirt. As I continued to speak with them I noticed all the references they made connecting back to Sudan. They always had a story to share with us about Sudan, or a comparison to make. Even though they are both Sudanese, they tried to assimilate to the Qatari society.






So as I mentioned earlier, even though the labor population might be the majority in the country, they are the minority group. Whereas the Qataris are the dominant group with the greatest power, the most privileges and the highest social status. In Qatar, it is fairly easy differentiating between the Qataris and non-Qataris, where the segregation of both groups could be clearly identified.

Michael Jackson Internalized Racism Misconceptions

“I’m a black American. I’m proud of my race, I’m proud of who I’ am,” states the legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in his Neverland ranch in 1993. If this was really the case, then why did Jackson turn himself white? Why did he modify his face with all of these plastic surgeries that made him look more like a White European? Why did he marry white women and adopt white children? Was Michael Jackson suffering from internalized racism?

To get close to the answers of these highly complicated questions, it’s worth knowing some of the popular stereotypes of African Americans. This ethnic group was claimed to be violent, poor, engaging in crimes, lazy and fat. Since Michael Jackson was in this minority group, he feared that he would be denied equal access to positions of power, privilege, and wealth. He appeared to assume that his dark skin and big nose would be perceived as stigmas by all of the upper class privileged figures in the music industry and therefore he would not be able to reach his full potential as an artist.

For instance, in 2002, the late pop icon made a very controversial speech at the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in New York's Harlem neighborhood accusing the Sony Music Chairman, Tommy Mottola, of being racist and part of a racist conspiracy against black artists. The following video shows Jackson’s speech against Mottola:



It seems that “absorption assimilation,” which is the process, by which members of a minority group adapt to the ways of the dominant culture, was the solution for Jackson’s own race embarrassment. But apart from simply adapting to the lives of the superior class, Jackson adopted much more radical means and that rests on his remarkable altered appearance through skin bleaching, a nose job, a forehead lift, thinned lips, a cheekbone surgery, a chin cleft and hair transplants.

One may assume that Michael Jackson was trying to distance himself from the African community. Nevertheless, after his physical transformation, Michael’s hits continued to call for equality, peace, humanity and love among all different races and ethnic groups. For example, one of his most powerful lines about this message is in his song “Black or White,” which says “It doesn’t matter if you are black or white.” Some of his tracks which contribute to these principles are “Heal the World, We are the World, and They Don’t Care About Us, Human Nature, The Earth Song and Man in the Mirror.”

Michael Jackson was deprived of his childhood, abused by his father, accused of crimes that he did not commit, had mean headlines in the tabloids and simply did not live a normal life. Considering all of these disturbing factors, we should really stop judging the man and appreciate the extraordinary music and fabulous dance techniques that revolutionized the music industry.

That leads me to leave you to enjoy Michael’s last rehearsal performance from his documentary, This Is It, which includes all the performances Michael was rehearsing for his comeback concert tour in London, which never happened due to his sudden death from an overdose of the prescription drug propofol on June, 25th, 2009.

Bombers, Belly dancers and Billionaires

Arabs have been stereotyped as sub-human throughout history and still are today to the west. They have been portrayed as barbaric, vicious and even as terrorists. Ironically enough, the power of the media industry still embraces these false mythologies. The power of both the media industry and Hollywood play a massive role in portraying these false images of Arabs to the western world at most times. Media tends to be a tool of propaganda as it is another means of expressing stereotypical and discriminatory views.


As a result of discrimination and stigma, Arab-Americans tend to be targeted the most. In this case, being an Arab is deeply discredited as it over-shadows all the other attributes they possess. In most cases, the stigma of being an Arab dominates interactions and the way others think of them. They are the minority group that are systematically excluded from participation in the American community and denied equal access to valued resources at most times. Sociologist Peggy McIntosh identifies a number of privileges that the members of the dominant group take for granted, however, the one that stood out the most was, “ I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race [or ethnicity].” This may be one of the greatest examples, as Arabs are stereotypically known for their bad timing, especially in the eyes of the west.



Racism against Arabs has increased along side the tension between the American government and the Middle East. Discrimination and racial violence increased towards Arabs following the September 11, 2001 attacks. The proposed development of building a mosque near Ground Zero of the former World Trade Centre site was another contributory factor that provoked the American community to anti-Arabism.



In reference to the documentary of “Reel bad Arabs,” by media analyst Jack Shaheen, Arabs have always been the “butt of a cheap joke.” Within the entertainment industry, Arabs have been looked at as the stupid but rich, wanting to buy chunks of American land. They’re often associated with not only living in exotic places where the men enjoy their time and money with the company of belly dancers, but also where the population is uneducated and surrounded by massacres. For instance, Dr. Shaheen insists in his documentary that the movie of “Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986),” portrays one of the worst images of Arab stereotypes. The movie represents Arabs as terrorists who want to set the place on fire, while killing millions of people and being ‘America’s most wanted’.



As once said by director of media relations for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, “ Arabs in TV and movies are portrayed as either bombers, belly dancers, or billionaires.” More often referred to as “the three B syndrome.”

Some Americans have gone as far as removing nine Arab-Muslim passengers from flying with AirTran Airways in 2009. Is this the real democracy promised? What happened to equal rights?