THE STORY OF THE AAM AADMI PARTY, SO FAR.

AAM AADMI. Never have such common words stirred such high emotions among the people of India. Already in turmoil, India was/is looking for a change. Hope that "A Change" will provide them solace from the wrath of the existing government. 

The Aam Aadmi Party started by Arvind Kejriwal and co, is merely a year old and has already managed to make a place in people's heart as the hope that they were looking for. With the recent Delhi election results, they have definitely made history. But how far will this dream continue ? Let us look at scenario so far and as of now.

One can simply not deny the level of success achieved by the AAP. Winning 28/70 in debut, stunning the Congress and giving a tough competition to BJP is no mere feat. The 2 giants of Indian politics already know what worked for the AAP, and this is what causes them more problems, it's Arvind Kejriwal's party connected to the people at the grassroot level. It's just that simple. They managed to find out the real problems faced by the "aam aadmi" such as high electricity bills, water shortage, lack of basic civic amenities etc. and they have taken oath to fix that. They did not stop there, but have also taken upon an ambitious plan to remove Corruption through a powerful Lokpal bill.

Out of the many promises made by AAP, let's see at the few challenging and interesting ones.

1. End VIP culture. No more politicians moving about in cars with red beacons on them. No bungalows for ministers.
2. Pledge to reduce water and electricity bills.
3. Vowed to provide 700 litres of free water to every household (This could cost up to 340 Crores)
4. A strong Lokpal with 15 days of power.
5. Concept of Swaraj or Self rule.

Now let us see the 5th point mentioned above. The idea of self rule. Recently, to form the government they reached out to the people and made their decisions based on votes through Sabhas and SMS.

As per AAP statement - 
Q. 
Will the AAP seek the opinion of people every time it takes a decision? 
A.
No, the AAP will not conduct an informal referendum unless a contemplated action deviates from its "core principles", as the acceptance of Congress support decidedly is. And yes, it will elicit people’s opinion, through public meetings, on the kind of legislation they should enact, to serve certain collective goals.

Now stop here and think. If the absence of these core principles the statement made has no stand. Even so,in a country where representative democracy exists, if every decision is going to be decided in this manner, it's clearly going to cause problems for obvious reasons. 
So, the AAP need to establish it's core principles, if it plans to establish power in other states.

So in all, it's good( tremendous start) by AAP and they need to keep the momentum going. The decision to form a Minority government and not a coalition, just shows the change that is already coming about.
The field is ready, Arvind will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Delhi any time, it's time for action. All the promises made by AAP, need to be worked on now. They have 5 months to show to the country their capabilities and show India that the change that they hoped for as arrived. The Aam Aadmi Party. 

This is an interesting video. 

THE STORY OF INDIAN RESERVATION

One of the most raging debates in our country and among the youth is on the concept of reservation. Whether to have a reservation system or not is a question that needs to be debated upon and answered. 

" Though the Article.15(1) of the Constitution says that the “State shall not discriminate any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”, it also provides for compensatory or protective discrimination in favor of certain sections of the disadvantaged people. Article 15(4) of the Constitution stipulates that notwithstanding the provision stated above, the State can make “special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes”." - NCIE

The following table reflects the typical caste-based reservation profile:

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	19.0%
Total	50.0%

So, we see that the Indian Constitution has a law, and by this law - 'Reservation was made to bring underprivileged classes on par with the general or privileged ones.
Our country now sees a variety of reservations, for women, physically challenged, based on economically backward status and most importantly, based on caste.

Scheduled Castes(SC) and Scheduled Tribes(ST) constitute approx. 22.5% of India's population. And a reservation equal to 22.5% (SC - 15% and ST 7.5%) has been made. On top of this a concession is made on the qualifying marks, by about 5-10%.

Though reservation clearly discriminates, it was once started with a good objective of uplifting the unprivileged section of society, so as to ensure equal opportunities. But due to lack of checks and effective measures, people have started misusing it. There are innumerable examples of students making fake documents/certificates just to get a seat in an educational institution.

Despite crossing numerous decades of independence, the condition of the people in 'reserved' category shows no improvement. The entire idea of reservation is proving counter productive for the nation. The system has caused the upliftment of one section at the cost of another, which is not right and unfair. Instead, the state should establish equal opportunities for all. And moreover, a candidate who is capable does not need any certificate of his caste to prove his worth. 

To look at this from another perspective, by this reservation system, India is creating a workforce for the world which fails to compete globally. The system is adding undeserving candidates to society, while the truly meritorious candidates are left out.

There was once a quota system in the United States of America, but it was abolished. Does this mean they are not working towards the upliftment of the under-privileged. No. They constantly asses the effectiveness of their measures and modify the reforms for a more effective upliftment.

Now, in what way can we change this ? The government should first abolish all rules relating to reservation and demolish the reservation system. The actual under-privileged sections of society should be identified. The level of financial aid/assistance should be noted. Then provide free education and other incentives. Once this is achieved, let them face the true competition that is out in the world. 

Making them capable and achieving success by the right spirit will infuse a fighting spirit in them.