05-22-2006, 02:07 PM
<b>Quota issue: Two knowledge panel members step down</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille are the two members who have stepped down.
Mehta, member-convenor of the commission and president of the Centre for Policy Research, had earlier voiced his opinion against the central government's decision to implement quotas.
<b>He said that the government's measures were not based on an assessment of effectiveness and that the proposal was incompatible with the freedom and diversity of institutions.
In his reckoning, such a move would thoroughly politicise the education process, injecting an "insidious poison" that will harm the nation's long-term interests. The measures, he said, would not achieve social justice</b>.
<b>Renowned sociologist Beteille said in his resignation letter that the quota proposal was a cynical misrepresentation of the recent provisions of the constitution.
Pointing out that the caste quotas are not required by the constitution</b>, he said that any such policy would be unwise
..................
Only two members, <b>PM Bhargava and Jayati Ghosh</b>, supported extension of reservation to OBCs, subject to certain conditions, even as six members called for maintaining the status quo<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Mehta, member-convenor of the commission and president of the Centre for Policy Research, had earlier voiced his opinion against the central government's decision to implement quotas.
<b>He said that the government's measures were not based on an assessment of effectiveness and that the proposal was incompatible with the freedom and diversity of institutions.
In his reckoning, such a move would thoroughly politicise the education process, injecting an "insidious poison" that will harm the nation's long-term interests. The measures, he said, would not achieve social justice</b>.
<b>Renowned sociologist Beteille said in his resignation letter that the quota proposal was a cynical misrepresentation of the recent provisions of the constitution.
Pointing out that the caste quotas are not required by the constitution</b>, he said that any such policy would be unwise
..................
Only two members, <b>PM Bhargava and Jayati Ghosh</b>, supported extension of reservation to OBCs, subject to certain conditions, even as six members called for maintaining the status quo<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->