Thread by @just1doctorwala

After seeing so much "outrage" among fellow doctors about this issue, I was wondering what the division percentages were. 🤔

so out of 100 seats
60 are "reserved"
40 are for open category

seems fair for everybody in my view

so what's the problem?

why don't you ask for more colleges to be opened?

why change the ratio?

I don't see the people who avail reservation seats asking for a bigger share

i do see however is open category "unreserved" folks asking for a bigger share

empathy and humanity... what is that?

It is sad to see so many fellow doctors so easily forget our core principles when it comes to this issue
Bring out example of "rich IAS fellow who took reserved category sending his son to take reserved category seat"
Isn't that supposed to be checked by the "creamy/noncreamy"

but we all seem to forget

Affirmative Action or Reservation as we call it here IS NOT poverty alleviation

paradoxically

Nobody will question "management quota" seats by the way because it doesn't suit their narrative

but let's move away from that for a minute

whether it is open or reserved or management every single students HAS to pass all the exams every year to become a licenced doctor

there is no "reservation" there

That person is a DOCTOR

does anyone question think about that?

Do you as a patient ask your doctor "are you open category or reserved category"?

all you need to know is if your doctor treats you in a competent way or not

In my class i've had reserved category students score higher than me in the exams, i've had open category students fail years, i've had management quota students drop out of the course entirely
Anything is possible because the PASS MARK is the same for all!

Almost every country in thr world has some sort of similar programs
Australia has a program for their indigenous peoples
USA has such programs too
Ironically enough many Indians who live in USA avail of these programs but then turn around & deny a similar concept here in India

Another common trope I have seen

"I'm unreserved, I got where I am thanks to my intelligence alone"

Congrats!
Becoming a doctor is no small matter at all!
It is an incredible achievement no question and you deserve all the credit for it.

But what is intelligence really?

There are so many definitions to this.

The most common one is straight from Google
"the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills."
eg: "an eminent person of great intelligence"

We are all mostly born with this "ability" at roughly on average similar levels

yes there are extremes to this bell curve but let's ignore that for now and take the average

human beings on average are superior in intelligence compared to other living creatures on Earth

let's agree on that point

but such a definition of intelligence betrays it as well

How psychologists define intelligence

again talks about ability

but it is missing something don't you think?

similar
again something feels missing?

this is getting close now

"understand the worlds"
"use resources effectively"

in my view i think this is the best definition
it can apply to all forms of intelligence including artificial

any form of oppression negates the freedom of the individual

we cannot deny what years of caste based oppression has done during the history of our people

we can try and re-write history of course and there are clearly various attempts to do this but i won't go into that

Affirmative Action helps people
It uplifts them in a society where they don't get any other chance
Even after they become successful people still judge them

going back to my earlier point about the IAS fellow

you are still judging him and his family

so if you want to call yourself "intelligent" go ahead
you earned it

but you cannot deny your privilege which gave you "access"

i tweeted this the other day in context of men having privileges just for being men

but it holds true here too

https://twitter.com/just1doctorwala/status/1414502383913103362?s=20

"I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to ALL my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm."

Let us not forget who we are

redid this thread for the obvious calculation error 🙏

i'm no expert on this matter

in fact when i got to med school i was against the concept of reservation too

only when i met and got to know the lives and experiences of my colleagues who took up the option did i finally see

I finally learned what privilege meant

I was and am extremely fortunate to be as privileged as i am

took me along time to understand what that actually meant

Just some further news