Monday, October 20, 2008

From Indian Railways to UP-Bihari Railways

Lalu Yadav has been passed around as the "greatest Railway minister India ever had” by many… Harvard case studies and IIM lectures thrown in for good measure! No doubt that the Great Indian Railway Turnaround is not short of a miracle.



But hidden in this success is a tale of “Bihari Parochialism”… A systematic process of UP-Biharisation of the Indian Railways. When railway recruitment exams are conducted in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, ads are not given in the local language papers but this news gets extensive coverage in the Hindi papers in UP & Bihar. In both these states, government jobs are still coveted. (Private sector dreads to tread here). Most Bihari kids are brought up with the aspiration of becoming “Diptykalektar”! Obviously, thousands Biharis travel to these peninsular states to appear for these exams. The locals feel cheated that they were not aware of these exams. Those few locals who do manage to give the exams have to face an “Uttar Bharatiya” filter during the interviews. I am sure this mechanism must have existed in pre-Lalu days… but probably got “institutionalized” under his blessings. Results… over 80% of the guys recruited in these exams are from UP & Bihar. All this gives MNS a ready playing field for violence.

Sadly, National media just sensationalises the story without trying to understand the root cause… The most prejudiced headline over the MNS violence was in Economic Times… Can’t beat them in exams, so beat them up… Guys do you think all non-Hindi people in India are bird brains?

3M says those who do not agree with the “statistics” given above should provide concrete evidence to prove it wrong!

1 comment:

The Lone Wanderer said...

hmmm....i take the statistics to be true on face value.....

by the way privates are making their presence felt at quite a rate atleast in UP im not sure about Bihar....

the entire north fixation with civil services is true. U ll find more people in civil services from UP and Bihar because more people give the exams compared to other states and its even allowed to take the exam in ur mother tongue. So i guess its fair to say that UPSC cannot be adjudged as partisan.

about the railways...well i have to agree with u..the dominance is prevalent...and its high time things change...

the non notification in regional languages is a serious issue. i am surprised that no one has cared to move court against this. I am absolutely sure the court will take care of this unfair discrepancy....

i mean we have notifications in Marathi for the bank jobs ..y not the railways.....i remember my brother and sister had filled RRB forms quite few years back. No reply came from them whatsoever even though i have Singh for a surname. Maybe The Mumbai address didnt work for them.

media huh well.. dont even get me started man on them. That headline is absolutely prejudiced.

p.s by the way congratulations on ur blog making to the mirror editions of mumbai and bangalore....
its always good to find a sane voice amongst incoherent slogans

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