RESERVATION vs EDUCATION
Habib ur Rehman's note is refreshing because it makes the point that the conditions of life of the POOR must be improved and the opportunities of education and employment before the POOR must be expanded.

This is an important step forward. Are SC people to talk only about the SC poor, the OBC people only about the OBC poor, the Muslim people only about the Muslim poor, the Christian people only about the Christian poor, the Hindu people only about the Hindu poor? Must not the entire people of the country talk of the POOR, whatever be the birthmark? Otherwise shall we not be divided up into SC, OBC, Muslim, Christian, Hindu groups, mostly fighting each other, and ALL together losing the battle for the POOR. This is what the rich want and are getting.

Simple arithmetic tells us that if reservations are for the POOR (determined by economic indicators like BPL data), the poor of the SC, OBC, Muslims, Christians and Hindus will gain shares almost proportional not to their representation within the population but to their representation within the POOR.
For example, if community A makes up 5% of the population but 25% of the POOR of the country, a 80% reservation quota for the POOR, irrespective of community, will give A 20% of the total share of seats or posts or whatever, and a community B, making up 50% of the population but with only 5% of the POOR within its fold, will gain 4% of the reservation, and, even if it wins 80% of the non-reserved seats, its share of the total will be
20%. So, sufficient positive discrimination can be generated just by reservation for the POOR even without specifying community.
What is the fallacy in my calculation? It is just this: the calculation fails if the POOR of community A cannot reach the minimum educational qualifications for the seats or jobs or whatever, while the POOR of community B can do this. Here, also Habib ur Rehman is on the right track when he insists on expanding educational opportunities among depressed communities. Education, especially primary and secondary, is the key, not reservation. Reservation pampers the creamy layer of the depressed community, whose children gain the required qualifications to avail of the quota, while the children of the poor of the depressed community drop out and the quota cannot reach them.

So, the POOR of the country and the poor of depressed communities are cheated both by community-wise reservation and by the education policy of the government which is skewed against the poor.

The solution is not to fight amongst ourselves for a share in reservation but to fight all together for a government policy guaranteeing more and better and affordable educational opportunities for the poor and positive economic incentives against dropping out (what about REAL midday meals for a change?). A REAL policy is needed, not Sarva Seva Abiyan, whose eyewash Habib ur Rehman rightly spurns. Habib ur Rehman might consider drawing up such a document.

Finally, Habib ur Rehman is courageous enough to raise the question of a common civli code and women's rights. I salute him, because it is only from within the community itself can this sensitive issue be addressed. Any attempt to address the isuue from ouside the community will strengthen the hands of fundamentalists.