PH In India

[brian_matthewsbrian matthews]

I think someone needs to go see a few more Michael Moore films, or even read 
some of his books, at least before criticising India; most of the victoms of 
the Indian caste system believe it will be a thing of the past withoin a 
generation or two - how many years before the USA and/or South Africa get on 
board I wonder ?

regards Bri,





>From: "Johnson, Tracy" <Tracy.Johnson at meas-spec.com>
>To: <powerh-l at lists.sowder.com>
>Subject: PH In India
>Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 09:26:01 -0400
>
>Back to the discussion earlier this week ...
>
>Perhaps one needs to be in the right caste to be a PH programmer in
>India?
>
>Tracy Johnson
>Measurement Specialties, Inc.
>
>BT
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>NNNN
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: volokh-bounces at lists.powerblogs.com
>[mailto:volokh-bounces at lists.powerblogs.com] On Behalf Of
>notify at powerblogs.com
>Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 8:04 PM
>To: volokh at lists.powerblogs.com
>Subject: [Volokh] David Bernstein: Affirmative Action in India:
>
>
>Posted by David Bernstein:
>Affirmative Action in India:
>http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_06_03-2007_06_09.shtml#118126102
>7
>
>
>    [1]Taipei Times:
>
>      Enraged mobs from one of India's myriad lower castes blocked roads
>      with fiery barricades, stoned police and battled rival castes
>      across a wide swath of northern India for a week to make a single,
>      simple point: They want to be even lower.
>
>      With 25 people dead, the unrest spread to the fringes of the
>      capital before the Gujjars  a class of farmers and shepherds
>      called off their protests.
>
>      They did so only after officials agreed to consider their demand to
>      be officially shunted to the lowest rung of India's complex
>      hereditary caste system, so they can get government jobs and
>      university spots reserved for such groups....
>
>      Discrimination under the system was outlawed soon after
>      independence from Britain in 1947, but its influence remains
>      powerful and the government has sought to redress discrimination
>      against those on the lower rungs by setting up quotas for
>      government jobs and university spots.
>
>      But instead of weakening caste affiliations, the result has been a
>      fracturing of politics along caste lines, with each of the lower
>      groups vying for its share of the quotas....
>
>      "Nowhere in the world do castes queue up to be branded as
>      backward," [the Indian Supreme Court] said. "Nowhere in the world
>      is there a competition to become backward."
>
>    Affirmative action has its good points and bad points, but I think
>    it's undeniable that when government distributes benefits based on
>    particular characteristics, lots of people will want to be identified
>    as having those characteristics, there will be lobbying to ensure
>that
>    the relevant characteristics become legally immutable at a minimum
>,or
>    broadened, and people will organize and lobby around their common
>    claim to the relevant characteristic. This all makes it a lot less
>    likely that the relevant societal distinctions that led to the need
>    for the affirmative action policies to begin with will wither away.
>
>    Query: If the Irish, Scandinavians, and Italians in the United
>    States--all groups that were once suffered a great deal of
>    discrimination and were relatively disadvantaged compared to the
>    Anglo-Saxon/German majority (plurality?)--had been offered government
>    benefits based on their ancestry one hundred years ago, would these
>    groups be as integrated into American life as they are today? If not,
>    than this is a cost to such policies that must be weighed against the
>    benefits.
>
>    Thanks to my colleague Lloyd Cohen for the pointer.
>
>References
>
>    1.
>http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/06/06/2003364132
>


><< ATT42518.txt >>


>--
>= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>Mailing list: powerh-l at lists.sowder.com
>Subscribe: &quot;subscribe&quot; in message body to 
>powerh-l-request at lists.sowder.com
>Unsubscribe: &quot;unsubscribe &lt;password&gt;&quot; in message body to 
>powerh-l-request at lists.sowder.com
>http://lists.sowder.com/mailman/listinfo/powerh-l
>This list is closed, thus to post to the list you must be a subscriber.
>Add 'site:lists.sowder.com powerh-l' to your search terms to search the 
>list archive at Google.

_________________________________________________________________
Play your part in making history - Email Britain! 
http://www.emailbritain.co.uk/