Definition of merit

There has been intense debate about reservations and we do have majority of people voicing their opinion strongly on this topic. It is nice to see that the politically disinterested age group of 18-28 also coming strongly either pro or against and have their presences felt. Though this is mainly because that the reservation issue affects this group the most, this is a sign of the things to come where debates will be online and dispassionate enough not to cause violence but meaningful enough to cause changes in policies i.e. exclusion of creamy layer.



But this is not what this blog is for. This is for contribution to defining what merit means. Because that is the most important criteria on which the opposition against reservation base their reasonings. The merit as stated is the marks obtained in JEE or CAT or medical entrance examination. This view though prevalent is a very narrow perspective towards a question of high importance. And I am surprised that so many well qualified people in this debate also hold this view.


My definition of merit is the transfer function as it is called in the case of a filter. Output/Input is the merit where output is the marks obtained in entrance examination and Input is what everything a person is when he is appearing for examination.
Here is a list of factors that may go as input:-



a) Economic Condition: Whether the candidate is studying in the candlelight or in an air-conditioned room with all his needs taken care by a servant does matter what marks do one get. The availability of required books, personalized tuition does matter.

The logic of giving scholarship is a bogus one since the difficulty lies in entering these institutions of high learning more than paying for the tuitions.


b) Primary and Secondary Education : It does matter where the candidate has gone through his primary and secondary education. A person who has studied in village in the midst of mediocre teacher and competitions when compared to people who are taught in best schools in cities is certainly at a disadvantage. Vernacular education compared to English one will always be disadvantageous in competition for top seats.

c) Home conditions : Conditions at home i.e. abusing or uneducated parents, non-culture of education at home, need to contribute to family revenue by working or in business does play an important role in psychological development of a child and certainly that is an important factor in any competition.

d) Caste: This the tricky one. How does caste can play an important role? It is very difficult for city living people how could this play any role at all. I am also not clear about the significance but I would like to state a way how this plays an important role. We human place a very important bond to the social structure that we live in. This structure can be world that is earth, country , region, religion or caste. Ideally we all shall place that importance to the earth or the country but in reality majority of Indians do place lots of significance to caste. How does this work a sociologist may explain better but in my view, this is what people relate to, where the help comes from , where they find their ideals and hope to emulate them.

An OBC person will see his ideal as Lalu Yadav or Mulayam not Manmohan. He will find that all his relatives, friends or the people that he meet are not high flying engineers or doctors but farmers or shopkeepers. A very bright OBC may think that as Manmohan singh has achieved success in this land, so can I if I put in much extra effort. But the mediocre OBC when compared to mediocre general category student will not have the same confidence in facing the world since he doesn't have enough examples to look upto. He neither has the exposure what being connected how feeble it may be to an IAS officer, an IITian etc brings that the general category student may(the emphasis is on may) have.

And this thing matters , a small bit:: a marks or two and is not only one or two marks is the difference in the competitive IIT and possibly other exams?


The list is not complete but does include the major factors.I am neither a supporter or in opposition to reservation. A hard thing to find as everyone is either one of them. My point here is just a discussion on what may be the definition of merit . Certainly it is not only the marks in the exam but a combination of many factors.