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To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (160566)7/26/2020 1:43:25 PM
From: arun gera4 Recommendations

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  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 218256
 
You may not have realized but you may not see the nuance in this case.

>Over 20 years ago, a student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay figured that a classmate was a Dalit. The discovery was made when the student didn’t see the boy’s name on the general merit list, and so figured that he had been admitted to the prestigious institution via reservations, India’s affirmative action programme.
Decades later, when both men made it to the Silicon Valley headquarters of the tech multinational Cisco, the “upper” caste staffer carried the knowledge of the other man’s “lower” caste with him and even passed on the information to colleagues at work. Last week, Sundar Iyer, the man who “outed” the other man’s caste, found himself at the centre of a civil rights lawsuit filed by the California government, which accused Iyer, his colleague Ramana Kompella and Cisco itself of unlawful employment practices.>

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is a brand name in Silicon Valley. Their alumni conferences in Silicon Valley are attended by big name CEOs and politicians. In Silicon Valley, if the applicant has a degree from the "Indian Institute of Technology", the resume moves up on the pile, and an interview and fair hearing is more likely. If it is a higher level position, the person's reputation is quickly scoured through alumni network and grapewine. Sometimes, people may suffer and get discounted by some stupid thing they did in college which some of their college mates remember. Unfortunately. But this is not based on caste. It is based on ability. For IIT graduates respect merit and ability the most. That is their creed.

To get admission into a good program at IIT, you need to be in the top 0.5% of the entrance examination takers. About 1 million take the exam every year, and about 10,000 get a seat, and about 5,000 get the engineering discipline they desire. Kids start preparing for the examination as early as 6th grade, with some cram schools really putting extreme pressure on the kids. Read this ndtv.com

>The innumerable blogs that coaching students write describe a grim Dickensian reality. ?A glimpse of this wretched life can be seen in the TV show "Lakhon Mein Ek" (on Amazon Prime). Hordes of students, many with no interest or aptitude for math or science, are crammed into small spaces, with a daily grind stretching to 16 hours of single-minded "studying". They are immersed in the tremendous stress of competition and keeping up with peers, battling the stigma of being left out of "elite" sections, and the mental torture of odious comparisons with toppers: "No one is gonna pay attention on you unless you're a topper or you commit suicide", says a student in an anonymous post on Quora.>

India has penty of affirmative action programs. IIT has its own, with somewhat relaxed standards for those left behind. Even these standards are high. See here

en.wikipedia.org

>The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) practices affirmative action and offers reservation to the "backward sections" of the society. SC/ST/OBC candidates are offered lower admission cutoffs for selection in IIT via reservations. However, all candidates, including SC/ST/OBC candidates, must meet stringent standards. For candidates in the general category, successful students must generally score within the top 0.25% or top 0.5% of all students to gain admission to the IITs, whereas SC/ST/OBC candidates must generally score within the top 2% of all students to gain admission to the IITs.>

There is a lot of meritocracy based hierrachy in IITs. People who are in top 0.1 percent being admired by people in 0.5 percent. And people in 0.5% being judged by people in 0.1%. IT IS NOT CASTE BASED.

So if one comes through the SC/ST/OBC category, there is a suspicion that they do not match the higher standards of those in general category. IT IS NOT CASTE BASED. It is because there are two different standards for admission. It is well possible that the victim may perceive it as caste based.

It is unfair to judge a whole career based on whether someone was in the top 0.1% in school or top 2%. But such judgements are made all around. Even though for someone with disadvantaged background to be in top 2% may be tougher than being in Top 0.5% for others.

In Silicon Valley, the pot of gold, is a super intelligent and extremely hard working person who can give the company products an edge. They find that they get their money's worth with many IIT graduates, particularly the general category ones. When someone is less than superintelligent, they may not want that person for certain roles.

So you have given the wrong example for caste based discrimination. There may be lot of other examples that are better.

-Arun