Quota will divide country: Tata

HYDERABAD: Mandal II promises not only to polarise the student community but also pitch the entire industry against the UPA government. "It is not right to divide the country on these lines", Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Group said. "According to me, it tantamounts to taking the country backward," a more forthcoming Rahul Bajaj said while talking to the media after the ISB convocation here.

Both the industry captains are signatories to a communication to Meera Kumar, Union Minister for social justice, venting their ire against the move and suggesting affirmative action making the backward communities employable.

The proposal to increase the reservation quota to 50 per cent will hit higher education institutions like IIT, IIMs and the central universities the hardest. ISB dean M Rammohan Rao felt it was not a cause for concern in the current form as policy applied only to aided colleges. Rahul Bajaj, the Chairman of the governing board of IIT Powai, said the various managements will be meeting on April 21 to discuss the matter and decide the future course of action.

Taking the affirmative action proposal further Ratan Tata felt the alternative could be to create small enterprise which could employ backward classes with the rider that the large industry should buy from these units. "The need is to create equal opportunity, not reservations", he said.