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Short Answer:The Caste based reservation system is a inconclusive debate with no clear cut lines. There is little evidence that it has made a difference to the poor over the forty years of practicing it, but the system cannot be scrapped or changed easily as the social disadvantages remain a contentious issue. There are no authoritative answers to this one.Long Answer:The Indian Caste based reservation system and the arguments related to it have been the subject of electoral promises, books, national debates, forum discussions and bar fights. Since the past (or finding whos to blame) is the primary focus, these exercises hardly result in anything productive. So, instead of talking about the religious past of the caste system, what could have been done by our past leaders, taking a personal or emotional view of this system, etc let us take an objective look at:What the Reservation system hopes to achieveEquality of opportunity & autonomy/social safety net Vs Equality of outcome debateWhat percentage of poor people (urban vs rural) are present in India and the number of disadvantaged people in this categoryNumber of disadvantaged people who have access to education/jobsHow many people benefit from reservation every yearDistribution of the reservation system - what percent of disadvantaged actually benefit from this system.How it has affected the demographics/income and society over the last few decadesHow poverty rates have changed over the yearsHas reservation changed anything in terms of caste distribution of the poorHas reservation system improved quality & educational performanceHow is the reservation system performingThe futureA brief idea can be formed from the Wikipedia article on this, I suggest you skim through it before continuing:Reservation in IndiaThis is a condensed statistical analysis in the absence of comprehensive literature and targeted at a very few people - so be warned that it is long and those not interested in Indian policies or hate long answers should bail at this point. Most explanations are using charts instead of statements. Emphasis is on education first and job sector second. The problems of reservation and the present solutions are surprising to say the least.Reservation system and its history:The idea of caste based reservation system was envisioned by William Hunter and Jyotirao Phule in various forms in 1882 and implemented by Chatrapati Sahuji in 1901. The term was changed to "Depressed Class" in 1932 by Ambedkar and later to "Scheduled Caste/Tribes" during the framing of the constitution in 1950. The idea was that a vast majority of the poor were from a very small caste group and they needed a social net so that they can be accommodated into society as full fledged members. It is important to note that this part of the reservation was for electoral rights first (to guarantee political representation - Poona Act ‘35) and a education/job rights issue second. Also note that education was made free in these early attempts so that poverty does not hinder their education by these early efforts. If not for Dr.Ambedkar's efforts, even this would not have come through during Independence. Ambedkar remains an icon for minority causes even today and is revered because of this. Enough of history. Fast forward to today.Objectives of Reservation:Uplift lower strata of societyEnsure proper political representation of minority groupsEnsure that minorities are not discriminated in job selections and promotionThe caste based reservation system is built around these three objectives.Equality of Opportunity & autonomy/social safety net Vs Equality of Outcome:In an Indian caste context, what this ideally means in theory is:Equality of opportunity : If a member of lower strata applies to a job and has the right qualifications and is a better performer compared to peers, he should get the job. Ie, their caste/economic status should not decide which jobs they apply/get selected to.Equality of autonomy : If a member of lower strata wants to become a rocket scientist, and has the intelligence and is willing to work towards this goal, there should not be any barriers to pursuing this goal. Ie, they should not be at a disadvantage when choosing their course of life because they were born poor/belong to a particular caste.Social safety net : When certain members of society did not have these privileges earlier and the government wants to help them, certain non contributory (free) measures are taken to help them. Ie, members of a disadvantaged group are given free financial incentives so that they are not trapped in the present position/do not fall into a life of crime and poverty. In short, a mid life boost to success.Since the disadvantaged groups of India have been discriminated against for centuries, and are still not protected despite the numerous laws(40% of crimes are committed against this 22% of the population), before equality of opportunity and autonomy, a social safety net is needed - ie a boost or ladder is required so that the more advanced forms of equality can be introduced and society can be balanced.Contrary to popular opinion, a social safety net is the most effective way to raise the standards of disadvantaged groups - this has been proven using data from various countries. It is fair discrimination. The key point here in the practice of this is - there are no people from disadvantaged groups in the upper echelons of society, and as long as they do not have a percentage equal to their share in the population in these elite groups - administrative, education, political etc, these measures are necessary as they do not have the economic or educational resources to get to the top. In short -"Without access to education, the poor will always be poor"These things sound great in theory. Opponents of caste based reservation(myself included) have a valid opposing idea, which practically means:Equality of outcome : By helping people even though they are not have equal credentials/qualifications (reservation gives leeway of 10 - 40% reduction in various parameters in India) it is not equality of opportunity but an unfair playing field - there is no incentive for better performers and it becomes reverse discrimination.The catch with a social net is that it has to be done short term and reduced over a period of time so that the other forms - opportunity and autonomy can take root and grow. This never happened in India. Besides, reservation is not justified in niche fields and higher education when a graduation is already a requirement - ie how many time should a person get these life boosts when it they are already have the same qualification and reached a level playing field? At this point, a loan to fund education makes more sense than a free pass irrespective of performance. In short -"Reservation system based on a social net contradicts itself"“Government should not play Robin Hood”I will leave applying these concepts to job/education sectors to the readers imagination, as it varies by sector and locality. Done with philosophy of reservation. On to real world data.Demographics related to Reservation:The statistics for India related to reservation are:Population of India, split up by caste:Reservation percentage, split by caste:Population Split by Religion (religious minorities are given quota in certain states):Distribution of SC population, by state:Highest incidence is in Punjab - 28.9%.Distribution of ST population, by state:The highest incidence is in Lakshadweep islands - 94.5%.Percentages are almost the same when it comes to reserved percentage vs population statistics.Number of people with educational qualifications, by social strata:Graduates are 3.6% of the general population (including SC and ST), whereas it is 1.4% and 0.9% in SC and ST categories.We are getting more kids admitted into schools (85% is really good) , but only 60% make it to 5th grade and 52% to high school. Only 7% of those admitted into the school system finally pass. Final graduation rates from colleges are close to 3.6%, as mentioned in the previous chart. This is not because the kids are not able to perform academically, but because of simple reasons like no teachers, financial dependency, etc. The relative percentage of kids making it to secondary school and college has not improved over the past 30 years.Ie, admissions into primary education is increasing, but drop out rates and final graduate output is almost the same. The number of graduates has increased, but not as a relative percentage - it merely represents the increase in population.Number of people who benefit from reservation every year:Education : India has about 436 universities and 25938 colleges with about 2-3 million graduates(if non technical diploma, etc are included) a year as of 2010. Educational institutions are required to surrender 50% of their seats to the government and very few minority run institutions are exempt from this. From that, 49% of the graduates benefit from reservation, so about 25% or 0.75 million people are direct beneficiaries of reservation in education. This percentage however varies between states and type of study (medical vs engineering vs arts vs law etc) and type of institution (deemed, private, minority run or trust run, government run colleges have 49.5% of their seats under the quota).Jobs :The GoI (state,central,panchayats,etc in the same order of number of employees) employs 17.8 million people or 3.6% of the total workforce of India (487 million workers) and 8% of them retire annually (because a vast majority of them were hired during the ‘82-’93), so that is 1.4 million vacancies. Because of this, 0.7 million people get jobs under reservation quota annually. There is no data related to economic standing of students, job seekers and their future income, but a fair argument can be made by comparing wealth distribution over the past 40 years.Distribution of Wealth and poverty rate:Poor, in an Indian context implies absolute poverty - can't buy the next meal poor or the person is unable to make Rs.20 (36 cents) a day. By international standards, it is $1.25 a day and 32% of Indian population is poor by that definition.Over the past 40 years, the reservation system has hardly changed anything in terms of wealth distribution (one of its objectives) - the upper 20% of the society controls 40% of the wealth, while the lower 20% is left with 7%.This is the distribution of poor people by caste, accounting for split between rural and urban population and normalising:It is to be noted that upper castes account for 36% of poor people and backward classes account for 16%. This 36% of poor people do not benefit from any of these “Welfare Schemes” when it is based on caste.The official numbers are always disputed by other agencies which say that poverty is reducing by 8-12% annually like clockwork and Indian government is cooking the numbers related to poverty. This deserves a mention here - according to them,(Economist)(Center for global development)Performance of the Reservation system when compared to its stated objectives:Though “lower strata” term is relative, the reservation system has not changed anything drastically when comparison of poverty rates and income of the bottom 20% of society is relatively the same compared over the last 40 years. This is more evident in rural areas. There are a significant portion of upper caste (6% of national population) who are poor and do not benefit from reservation. Cost of education has increased 12.5X over the previous decade - even the cheapest institutions have five percent inflation a year. Overall, the Caste based reservation system has achieved very little for the rural poor and has mostly fallen flat on its face in most of the metrics. It has failed because (unfair debate left out, as what's fair to me may not be fair to someone else) :It has not improved dropout ratesIt has not improved income share of poor peopleIt has not performed in terms of quality of education (India ranks 72nd in the world by PISA scale - pls comment if you want more details)It is not inclusive of all the poor sections of society (poor upper castes are left out)It is based on fixed percentages creating selection bubbles ie, there is no incentive to perform for those with reservation and there is no motivation for those without reservation as competition is higherThere is no data to support reservation based on caste has met any of its objectives after 4 decades of practicing itFuture:The caste based reservation system is a part of the Indian Constitution and unlikely to change. The window of opportunity to make effective long lasting changes to any Indian system is 10-15 years, and the political landscape is too busy on other things rather than trying to wrap their wits around this. It has affected who we are as a society and it will continue to affect future generations to come. The changes to this system can only be made by a bold government prepared to take action with a long term vision and goals, and that is not going to happen anytime soon.“There is no accountability in Indian politics”My take on this:Reservation of any kind will not work 100% efficiently under the current scenario. I am all for competing with a peer group which is fiercely competitive (I guess most Quorans would agree as most of us would have done just that) and leaving a portion of opportunities for poor people without resources, but in the current conditions it is unfair to people competing in general quota and poor people - the data proves it. While reservation is necessary for social good, I believe that in its current form it is not helping the majority of the targeted audience and unfair to the others. Without bringing poor kids who are out on the streets into a educational setting and retaining them, reservation hardly justifies the negatives it has. It is archaic and should be dispensed with in favor of a income based reservation system, where quota percentages are determined based on poverty levels, say every 5 years. Long term efforts (spread over 20-30 years or a generation to take root) should be to phase out reservation entirely in certain segments like higher education as equality of opportunity is provided from primary education onwards. Same can be argued for the job sector.Fine. After writing the income based reservation part, I got thinking that this measure deserves to be scrutinised as well. Is it truly a good way to go about welfare schemes? So I proceeded with some calculations to see if this argument has any reasoning behind it. Implementing a income based reservation system is tougher than most people think:Current public (read popular) demand:Income based reservation, below poverty line with 49.5% quota:If a reservation by income scheme is implemented retaining the 50.5:49.5 ratio of open vs reserved quota, giving 49.5% for poor people below the poverty line, then all castes are represented across the board:(this is just to contrast caste split between the existing and proposed system - ST category is actually under represented in the existing system)This system would ensure that people who deserve the social net benefit from it while relatively rich people compete among themselves as they have access to facilities etc. Seems fair to everyone right? poor people get their quota irrespective of caste. Smiles all around.But there is a practical problem why this cannot be implemented - only 3% of poor people make it to the stage where they can avail reservation - meaning even with 100% enrollment rate in primary school, 47% of the 49.5% poor do not make it to high school. There are no poor people below poverty line reaching high school to give away reserved seats to (30% of engineering seats reserved for SC/ST students lapse in certain states already, without this system). So, this scheme cannot be implemented without 47% of seats lapsing to general students anyway.Alternate Demand:Income Based reservation, with relative income as a parameter between students:Implementing this system is dumb too. For instance, what really is the handicap that a student with parents of income say Rs.400K a year have compared to a student with parents having income of a 5 million rupees? Maybe in ‘70s, the rich parents hired a super cool tutor, but in a digital world, the advantages are close to none - a broadband connection makes these students even on access to resources and study materials as textbooks, tutorials etc are available for free. This system, if implemented, would be a farce on so many levels.To conclude, we are back to where we were 60 years ago - there is a very poor, highly discriminated section of society that needs help and we have no well defined educational policy in practice on a national level that helps them.So, what’s the final solution?I do not have a clear answer to this nor the expertise, but my take would be:education reform spread over at least 2 decades is necessary, as there is no silver bullet to this problem. The only way to help them is to improve the education system so that more students are retained, and provide students with access to internet so that there is equality in access to information.Education:A income based reservation system with reduced quota (30% among students below poverty line) along with increased retention of students in terms of access to education should be the priority short term. Long term, mainstream primary education sector should be focussed on socialistic public education (public schools mostly suck today), compulsory and partially free (retaining mix of private and public schools with elements of Germany(Gymnasium system), China and UK education systems in the same order) and higher studies should be capitalistic (elements from USA, China and UK education systems in the same order). Private schools for the gifted and differently abled should be allowed - with regulations. India can take a lot of inspiration from China in this - these problems were faced by China 3 decades ago. China opened up its doors to foreign universities and collaborations, which we have not done yet. Chinese schools are ranked as the best right from primary education in terms of science, math and reading skills. Instead of trying to write history books with an agenda, both state and central governments should get started on these short term and long term changes on a war footing.Jobs:While quota in job selection can be justified to a certain extent, promotions should be left out of it. Quota in promotions is a rude joke when so many quantified evaluation models are available to ensure fair assessments during appraisals.Let us hope that future measures are taken in such a way that benefits really trickle down to those who need it instead of playing the caste card in every election. Reservation debate has implications in multiple fields ranging from social justice and economics to future standards of living. While this short answer is by no means complete in scope, it should provide pointers to form an informed opinion on this controversial policy of our country.Trivia:Constitution of India guarantees free education for every child till the age of 14. This was the only directive that Dr. Ambedkar set a timeline to - the deadline for implementing this was Jan 26, 1960. Today, the average family spends 20% of its income on primary education. Was this part of the constitution a forgotten promise?Disclaimer:I do not accept responsibility for errors in the calculations as this is casual run done in a single sitting from data which I already have, not a real study (every source and result is audited by a neutral party in such case) which normally would take a very long time. Recheck numbers yourself before using it any study or decision making.Census data inaccuracies:http://censusindia.gov.in/data_products/library/post_enumeration_link/eci6_page2.htmlData source for my calculations:Demographics:‘01 - Census Data of India - http://www.censusindia.gov.in (2010 audit has not completed yet)Poverty and timeline statistics:‘60 - ‘11 World Bank datahttp://data.worldbank.org/country/indiaCaste split:Sachar Committee report for proportion of Upper Caste poorhttp://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/sacharEducational spending:Personal experience. I do not have data for this on a national level as fees in private schools is unregulated.Alternate sources for poverty:Economist -http://www.economist.com/node/14979330?story_id=14979330Center for global development-http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424922/Update:Sundaravathanan EkambaramYou are welcome to review my numbers, and refute them from another source if necessary. They are prepared from census and World Bank data, and quoted for their respective categories, without mingling data from one source with the other. The charts are not goggled, they are from GoI sourced from the above links, and prepared by me. The spreadsheet is below, please do go through it. And the question does ask for my view. Talk numbers. I have said that reservation so far has not reached those who deserve it, and that is why we need a income based reservation. I have also said that many poor Upper castes are left for dead. Is the efficiency you mentioned really worth the 25% of poor people? I disagree.Reservation_IndiaAfter you go through the numbers, please let me know how a balanced solution can be arrived at, I am open to better alternatives.

In my opinion, it is a very good move that came out of this pandemic situation. The entire economic ecosystem around the IT hubs is actually the cancerous uneven growth of the economy coupled with unhealthy lifestyle. Because these IT companies have presence in select few cities, they have become overcrowded and overpopulated. Consequences are:Excessive pollution - Land, water, air, sound and light pollution.Unchecked population concentration in and around IT hubs.Build up of a toxic nexus of Netas, Builders, Brokers and Landlords who fleece IT juntaa on the presumption that they are rich elites who earn in tons. (Virtual inflation in IT hubs) - The cartel of unscrupulous landlords, builders and brokers have built their own by-laws like “10 month rent as security deposit”, “Non-Refundable nature of security deposit”, “Collecting rent only in cash” or “non-disclosure of landlord PAN for tenant claiming HRA exemption on rented property” simply owing to the monopoly arising out of demand supply economics in IT hubs. This monopoly needs to be demolished for the greater good so that the cartel starts the art of respecting laws of the land. If permanent WFH is doing that, then what’s the harm in it ? (Unless people opposing this very point under other empty rhetoric are the very beneficiaries of this organized loot and plunder)Unchecked abuse of natural resources in IT hubs - Depletion of water table in Chennai or encroachment of lakes in Hyderabad leading to recent flooding proves this point.Unhealthy lifestyle - Imagine the frequency of junk food consumption along with inhalation of toxic petrol fumes in snarling traffic.Time loss in commuting to and from work - Not only driving at peak traffic hours is stressful, but it adds up to the existing stress at office. The time lost in commuting also robs off the time to socialize with family and friends.Slow death of Tier 2 and 3 cities - The cities like Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Kharagpur etc which were established during the Nehruvian Socialist era are dying a slow death due to decline of PSU culture along with rampant migration to IT hubs. There are hardly any economic opportunities in these cities which would generate the revenue to convert them into smart cities. Now with WFH, many people from IT hubs have come back to their hometowns, and, along with them opportunities like online grocery, broadband internet etc are also growing. (WFH spurring rural buoyancy: Cisco)Practical Issues to get smart cities and benefits of good ideas like Udaan Scheme - The PM conceptualized the idea of smart cities. But without the revenue needed to transform a Tier 2/3 city into a smart city, it is as good as a paper tiger. Likewise, small tows like Jharsuguda are given airports under Udaan Scheme. But, without people traveling in and out of these cities and utilizing the airport, it is going to be a ghost relic. That means, reverse migration into the Tier 2/3 cities, small towns and villages is a necessity to create the demand for all round even development.Rise of anti- migrant sentiments and fringe elements in and around IT hubs - Since a majority of people in IT hubs are migrants from Tier 2/3 cities and small towns, there is a rise of anti-migrant sentiments among the local people. Not to mention, fringe political entities like MNS or Shiv Sena derive their political clout by playing these linguistic identity politics. Without migrants in these cities, these fringe elements would lose their fuel to play identity communal politics. They would be forced to either focus on development agenda or shut shop for the better.Ghost Voters in Indian Democracy - This is a byproduct of the above point. Everybody blames the educated people for not casting their votes during elections. But, the reality is that, the educated lot are migrant employees in other parts of the country. It is really impractical to expect an IT employee working in Bangalore to take leave, come to Bihar and exercise his democratic right. Of course, the other point is manually filling up the Form 6 to change the location every-time there is a change of location. But that is hardly a solution as IT people are more prone to change of location with job change/transfers/on-site opportunities. If an IT employee is able to retain his hob while working from his hometown, he can easily exercise his democratic privilege of casting vote. But, with migrant IT employees being ghost voters, the electorate is left at the mercy of hordes of hungry/poor people who would vote in exchange of free booze and chicken. That degrades the quality of leadership and the politicians we get.Law & Order issues - Overcrowded and overpopulated cities have excessive dependency on the area's natural resources. Logically, that creates unnecessary law and order problems. (IT city is now India’s cybercrime capital), (Crime up 3.6% in India; Bengaluru tops in cyber crimes)Unnecessary petroleum import from Oil Exporters - If a major chunk of population doesn't commute to office, then that reduces the demand for petroleum products by a good fraction. At least, the nation can save money and tons of petro dollars by reducing the consumption of petrol. Meanwhile, we are also buying time to start R&D and large scale commerical development of electric vehicles providing similar experience of petrol driven vehicles.Advantages from a company’s point of view:Elimination/Reduction of variable costs like reliable electricity, internet, cafeteria and transportation facilities - Whether employees utilize the existing corporate buildings or they remain vacant, the company has to pay the lease/rent every month/year. The only scope of cost cutting is the variable costs which depend upon the number of people utilizing the company’s premises.Enhanced Business Continuity Plan — A location based decentralised workforce is more capable to ensure business continuity in case of exigencies. In my organization, our Hyderabad team was able to meet deliverables even during the recent floods in October 2020, because it was business as usual for people remotely operating from locations outside of flood impacted Hyderabad. Had it been the other way round (entire team working out of a dedicated office space), business continuity would have gone for a toss as it happened with many IT companies in Pune during 2019 floods.Growth in newer opportunities like cyber security as each and every home has to be converted into a secure workstation - That is a huge opportunity to build up new skills and take the IT industry to the next level. As such, the cost arbitrage business model is 20 years old as admitted by TCS CEO (TCS CEO says the business model is 20 years old — hinting that it may be time to go employee-lite)Opportunity to build up a universal consensus for data privacy and protection laws and much awaited labour laws - Data Privacy and Security laws like HIPAA, GDPR do not exist in Indian context. This is a major point of concern for IT employers who deal with such client sensitive data on a daily basis. From the employee’s standpoint, there are no labour laws in Indian IT industry that protects them from overworking and exploitation. WFH is a scenario where everybody seems to be feeling the heat of enacting these laws which have been taken for granted by the lackadaisical political class and corporate class alike.Advantages from Employee’s Perspective:Ability to spend more time with family and friends - Improvement in social life.Lesser time in traffic woesCut-Down of Junk Food consumption and chance to enjoy healthy home cooked food.Emotional and psychological well being of those people who are more attached to their hometowns rather than being attracted by the blitz glitz and glamour of huge IT hubs.More focus more on getting the job done - With no chai-sutta breaks, office politics/backbiting and bitching in office is almost zero. The day starts with the focus to deliver the job by the end of the day and enjoy the remaining half-day with family and the “me time”. Kind of Naveen Polishetty’s viral Half-Day rant video.Greater Financial stability and ability to save in Tier 2/3 cities - As such IT sector doesn’t have the concept of Dearness Allowance in pay structure. This means, a software engineer working in Mysore gets the same pay as his counterpart in Bangalore. But the cost of living in Mysore is way cheaper than Bangalore. Extending the same analogy, people working from their hometown’s will save more money while living in Tier 2/3 cities than spending a considerable chunk of their hard earned money to live a dignified life in an IT hub.Some cliche arguments against permanent WFH are:Lack of Networking & Team-Bonding in WFH - Networking & Team-Bonding is not a function of virtual modes of communication, but it needs mutual trust between an employer and employee/manager & reportee. Earlier, in usual business from office scenario, there was networking and face to face communication. The point being, no business can survive without mutual trust. If there is trust, then the business relationship flourishes. With lack of trust, the relationship degrades. Meeting Rooms or Cisco Webex meetings are just a medium for the exchange of trust.People are getting overworked in WFH and the boundary between personal and professional life is diminishing - It is because our people have imbibed the slave mentality and do not know how to say NO. Conversely, our IT sector does not thrive on ownership of the work assigned, which makes the WFH flexibility untenable. Besides, the absence of proper labour laws that clearly define the working hours and wages is the cause rather than WFH itself.Lack of socialising/social capital in WFH - The people who give this vague argument are usually the same ones who wouldn't leave a second chance to indulge in backbiting/bitching about their same colleagues during the next appraisal discussion. No company pays it's employees to socialize; and office collegues are not the best friend forever, with whom everything can be shared. They are called teammates/co-workers for a reason. Besides, family, relatives, school friends are more than enough to fulfill the social needs.Employees would get reduced to commodities - In an industry where supply exceeds demand, the employees are very much commodities. Hiring and firing in Indian IT Industry existed even before COVID-19 pandemic as well. It does not depend upon WFH or Business as Usual from Office.How would freshers work without networking - Gone are those days when one would join as a fresher and climb on top of the corporate ladder by building networks. In today's cut-throat competitive corporate setup, networking without skill development won't cut it. On the contrary, those who are skilled enough and are communicating correctly using all possible communication channels to showcase their skills, the network automatically builds up around them. As a matter of fact, many people who survived in the IT industry by solely building corporate networks and connections, rather than building on their skills, they are the first ones who are getting axed during economic recessions and cost-cutting initiatives. Besides, the post COVID world would be a very different place as we know it. Not every engineering graduate would get the opportunity to be a fresher in the IT industry. Those who have thought of building careers out of fluent English speaking skills owing to the cost arbitrage business model of our IT industry will have a tough time to get a job in the IT sector.Possible implementation idea(s):Permanent WFH shouldn’t be made compulsory for everyone. There are people who perform their best while in office. Hence, this flexibility can be provided to all those people who can give their best while at home, with certain tweaks in the attendance, working hours and leave policies for such permanent WFH employees. The idea is, if a salaried class employee has the flexibility to pay taxes based on the old tax regime or new tax regime, then permanent WFH can also be implemented on similar lines of flexibility.Hybrid WFH - Rather than providing every employee 3 days WFH and 2 days working from office, it would be great if permanent WFH is provided to only those people who opt for it, with certain tweaks in leave/pay/attendance/working hours policies. The idea behind WFH is not only to reduce footfall in office buildings, but also to decongest selected few IT hubs by facilitating reverse migration. Growth of the economy needs to be decentralised to Tier 2/3 cities and small towns/villages. The current economic slowdown coupled with the migrant worker crisis happened only because all development and economic opportunities were concentrated in select cities only. As wise men say - “Don't put all your eggs in one basket”, economic growth when restricted to select few cities would always get hit during moments of crisis like this pandemic.The entire point of the discussion around IT hubs and their economic impacts centers around economic growth in IT hubs. Even cancer is a type of cellular growth (albeit an uncontrolled one). That doesn't mean, for the sake of growth we should inject malignant cells into our bodies. In the same way, job creation and economic growth cannot be restricted to a select few cities while other parts of the nation are left to decay.For the greater good of the society, country and environment as a whole, this remote working culture is a welcome step. It is a second chance to create economic development in cities where the political atmosphere was initially hostile to the creation of SEZ's and industries (UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh etc).N.B.: The question and the answer is purely based on Indian IT industry and impacts of WFH model. It is not remotely linked to the other heavy industries and associated sectors. Hence, flawed comparisons with other industries, comparing IT employee to a doctor/nurse/manual scavenger and giving them a guilt trip by tagging them as “Privileged” or “Elites” who should be thankful for getting a job in IT are totally unwelcome and irrlevant to the context. People commenting on similar lines are expected not to abuse the comments section and rather vent out their negativity on appropiate relevant threads that are intended for such types of comparisons. As always “Be Nice, Be Respectful”.

Please note, this is very much my personal opinion, based on my truthful analysis!Elite private schools offer world class quality education! In plain words, undoubtedly the quality of a star hotel versus a budget hotelSince, I’ve got the dual experience as a public and private school parent, I can hit the nail right at the wall.If someone asks me about the best thing we did as parents, ‘r answer would be putting our daughter to an ELITE private school (I highlighted elite, ‘coz private schools vary with less expensive ones, religious ones and the elite expensive ones with boarding and day school)I’m leaving the money part here, as the question is what do private schools offer that public schools don’t!I just cannot answer this question in a clear-cut precise way. I’ll lay out examples of both private and public schools approach towards students (‘coz that breaks or makes them) and explain.My daughter was raised in a public-school system till middle school. Right now, she entered a private school for High School, literally her dream school of arts where academics and arts are given equal priority. So I’ve just got l’l over two weeks of her private school experience to share, but trust me, it’s a groundbreaking experience for her, compared to her old public school system.Our kid was supremely creative since toddler days! But her public-school system drastically failed to notice that creative spark in her. A major flaw of a public-school system! Every kid will have a natural spark, which public schools are rarely bound to tap. I’m not getting into the reasons, there may be several. Since our kid is born to us privileged (please do not contemplate it’s just money and education, but all the qualities that make good parents) parents, we recognized her talent, guided and supported her till today, her works are in New England Galleries now, and she recently signed an agreement with a NY gallery for marketing her works, which are a few among her several achievements made till middle school, with zero to nil support from her public school system.Question?? What could be the fate of another child with not much privileged parents like us, who might come from a broken home, who had this very same talent, happened to be in a public-school system? Where could he or she end up in life?Public schools other than greater school districts at times can even dishearten or demotivate your gifted kid, with a different skin pigmentation, no matter how well-behaved, talented or charismatic your child is, ‘coz the thought process of some of these adult school figures can be shallow, mean and petty. At the same time, there are few amazing touching educators too, who are the real good appless, unfortunately the bad ones, overpower them. Well, at the same time, I’ve heard candid stories from my devoted friends, whose kids are in the best school districts, where Asian parents frequently get engaged in the hectic rat race, eventually burning their own kid’s future. So that was an absolute no, no for us!Public school system has a bunch of awful adults in positions of authority. Our child may have to interact with them during their long hours in the school environment, which obviously will have a significant effect on the kid. Creativity and critical thinking may be totally devalued in this kind of authoritarian school system, where one could only expect a moderate thinking and standardized form of education. It’s an environment of unpleasantness and uncertainty for gifted kids, where you may be singled out if you perform above the boundaries, singled out if you perform bad, teased if you don’t look a certain way, teased if you don’t do certain things. Nothing matters, except how your kid takes it all, how they view themselves, what they learned in school about groups, grading, exclusion, inclusion, the mean popular girls, bulling, differential rewarding and so and so forth. Since we were her rock pillars, nothing much affected her, except some minor heartaches due to her creative psyche which yearns for more softer emotions. The limitless love, support and encouragement from her art admirers, supporters, curators and organizations made her resilient and flawless moresoever.Towards the end of her middle school, my daughter got invited as a guest by YWCA for one of their luncheons in honoring women. Since she had to attend this luncheon on a weekday, she refused. But YWCA director assured her she will send a letter to her school principal and homeroom teacher, on behalf of YWCA for taking special permission for an early dismissal, not to mark down her absence due to her philanthropic efforts to the community. She sent in a beautiful letter, ccing me and her homeroom teacher and principal gave their consent in writing back to me, but at the end of the school year, records of her attendance showed the particular day marked down as unexcused absence, though all the records can prove them bluntly wrong. Just a specimen of a public schools negligence, careless and callous trait!Now I’ll explain what my daughter’s private school is offering her! Magic, yes it’s pure magic, a magical place, where she is getting what she needs, to make anything possible! Firstly, she got the right school environment! Her school welcomed her with open arms seeing her incredible portfolio on audition. It's not just a place for learning academics and art, but stems a universal formula for making school ‘fun, creative and a happy place to hang out’. This school is an epitome of Virtues, right from the director to the security guy. The noticeable factor of this private school is a culture of mutual respect, kindness, understanding and acceptance, that elevates everyone’s thinking. Obviously visible an engaging community with extraordinarily high standards and a level of high maturity. Resources are vast, and smaller class sizes makes student teacher ratio appreciable.The motto of her school is-Non Nobis Solum; "Not for ourselves alone", they literally mean it in every way! The School does so in a diverse, humane and ethical community. Being international, kids come from all four corners of the world, diversity at it's best! Here kids evolve together, learning from each other, helping each other, being kind to each other, being there for each other, discovering their SELF, developing as leaders for themselves and for the world. And the splendid faculty, teachers and staff, hear them, guide them, enlighten them and get them evolve as human beings in a real sense. Her regular school hours are from 8 am to 6:10 pm, at times going beyond that time, having their breakfast, lunch and dinner served with several different cuisines for both boarders and day schoolers (school being international boarding and day).Still at the end of this extended stretchy hours, our daughter is in her la-la land…the power of natural drive through inspired learning, a truly-truly, ground-breaking experience for her!! While, I recall her coming back at 2:05 pm from her previous public school, it appeared her little shoulders were carrying the burden of the whole world! Now when I drive her back home at early evenings around 6:30 pm, she is at the height of contentment humming and smiling, still bursting with the whole world’s energy!!! A world shattering difference between her public school and her private school! This private school is offering infinite satisfaction to our child, and that is what every parent craves for!I realize when creative people are happy, sky is the limit!Meghana AKA Meghan Basi - Artwork for Sale - Norwood, MA - United StatesMEGHARTZ - Meghan Basi's Portfolio