The US has long been divided over what it calls "affirmative action," a system of racial preferences intended to overcome the lingering consequences of slavery and discrimination against black Americans. India is now becoming divided in much the same way, and for much the same reason -- the emerging system of "reserved places" aimed at redressing centuries of caste discrimination. But India's good intentions, like the US' affirmative action policies, are misguided.
The underlying question is whether merit as a criterion for advancement is doomed when legacies of racial and caste discrimination exist. Are those who agitate for affirmative action fighting for something that is more a quack remedy than a real solution?
In fact, India's "reserved places" scheme operates as a deliberate smokescreen, for it allows the government cleverly to mask the real issue, which is access to primary education for India's disadvantaged. Were adequate primary education available to India's poor -- or, for that matter, to the US' poor urban blacks -- there would be no need for reserved places in higher education and elsewhere.
Indeed, any Indian able to read this article should consider himself lucky, because India's politicians have succeeded in keeping a majority of the country's population thoroughly illiterate (as well as poor and unhealthy). Instead of providing quality elementary education for all, Indian policymakers are more concerned with enacting caste-based measures aimed at short-term political gains.
Since India gained independence 58 years ago, billions of rupees have been doled out in numerous educational policies, but general primary education remains abysmal. According to a report released by the National Institute for Educational Planning Administration last year, 8.1 percent of primary schools in India have no classrooms, while 17.5 percent have only one teacher. In addition, 76.2 percent of schools do not have clean drinking water, while 14.6 percent lack electricity. Less than 4 percent of all primary schools have computers.
Likewise, the Mumbai-based NGO Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report 2005 , which was prepared after a survey in 28 states and union territories, reveals that 35 percent of children in the seven to 14 age group are unable to read simple paragraphs, while 41 percent failed to solve a simple two-digit subtraction problem or a division problem. Instead of preparing a pool of educated workers for the future, the Indian government's policies have given rise to an illiterate and innumerate population.
These findings raise damning suspicions about the literacy levels that successive Indian governments have claimed to achieve. If the state of primary education is this bad, will the disadvantaged classes ever stand a chance? Moreover, according to Vinod Raina, a member of the Central Advisory Board on Education, 80 million of India's 200 million children between six and 14 years of age are not in school at all. Of the remaining 120 million, only 20 million are expected to reach the tenth year of school, with the rest dropping out along the way. Indeed, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently expressed dismay that "only 47 out of 100 children enrolled in class I reach class VIII."
The government has pledged in its National Common Minimum Program to raise spending on education to 6 percent of GDP. However, recent years have witnessed a steady decline in educational spending, from 4 percent of GDP in 2001-2002 to 3.8 percent in 2002-2004 and 3.5 percent in 2004-2005.
Quality education is the single greatest asset that a nation can give to its people. It also happens to be the least expensive and most cost-effective support that government can provide. But Indian politicians' interests appear to lie elsewhere. After all, with the rate of functional literacy at only 37.5 percent, they can easily manipulate the votes of uneducated people with alcohol, pop slogans and intimidation.
So the protests by highly educated Indians against "reserved places" is not only misguided, but dangerous as well. Unless India's highly educated stand up for better schools for all, protests against caste preferences will only succeed in heightening tensions and selling newspapers, rather than improving the lives of India's destitute.
The government is probably happy with these protests, for they divert attention from the real issue -- the authorities' utter failure to address the fundamental problem. As in the US, the issue is not racial and class reservations and preferences, but ensuring high-quality primary education for all, rich and poor alike. As India's educated revolt against preferences, they should not do so in a way that reinforces illiteracy.
Arindam Chaudhuri is honorary dean at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) and editor in chief of Business & Economy Magazine.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
In a world increasingly defined by unpredictability, two actors stand out as islands of stability: Europe and Taiwan. One, a sprawling union of democracies, but under immense pressure, grappling with a geopolitical reality it was not originally designed for. The other, a vibrant, resilient democracy thriving as a technological global leader, but living under a growing existential threat. In response to rising uncertainties, they are both seeking resilience and learning to better position themselves. It is now time they recognize each other not just as partners of convenience, but as strategic and indispensable lifelines. The US, long seen as the anchor
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
RSS