Nobel Laureate Prof. Amrtya Sen has summarized the debate on merit in his chapter "Merit and Justice" in the Book "Meritocracy and Economic Inequality" as follows:
First, the rewarding of merit and the very concept of merit itself depend on the way we see a good society and the criteria we invoke to assess the successes and failures of societies. The "incentive view" of merit competes with the view of merit based on "action propriety", but it is the incentive approach that tends, with good reason, to receive attention in contemporary justificatory discussions.
Second, the incentive view of merit is underdefined, since it is dependent on the preferred view of a good society. The theory of merit, thus, needs to draw on other normative theories. The rewarding of merit is, to adapt a Kantian distinction, a "hypothetical imperative" that is dependent on the way we judge the success of a society; it does not involve a "categorical imperative" on what should in any case be done.
Third, the contingent nature of merit also indicates that its relationship with economic inequality would depend very much on whether an aversion to economic inequality is included in the objective function of the society. If it is included, then merit for reward would have to be judged in an inequality-sensitive way. Despite the inclusion of inequality aversion among the criteria for judging a society, however, merit based rewards may, in fact, generate considerable inequality, since there are other criteria as well (or other aspects of the combined objective function). The presence of inequality and other drawbacks can lead to some psychological tension, especially since the rewarding of merit is not directly valued under the incentive approach.
Fourth, even though the incentive-based argument for rewarding merit tends to be, in principle, accepted as the main justification for such a reward system, some of the particular interpretations that go with the championing of the merit-rewards are unnecessary and, in some cases, inconsistent with the incentive approach. The common additional features include: (1) confounding merit of actions with that of persons (and possibly of groups of people), (2) overlooking the instrumental nature of the incentive argument and seeing the rewards of merit as intrinsic entitlements of deserts, and (3) ad hoc exclusion of distributional concerns from the objective function in terms of which merit is characterized.
Each of these departures makes meritocracy more prone to generate economic enquality, but they are in no sense part of the basic incentive approach to rewarding merit. Perhaps the most fundamental problem with conventional understanding of meritocracy is the distance that grown between "meritocracy" (thus conceived) and the foundational idea of rewarding merit.
Her home and school are in Kandi area of Punjab, which is synonymous to backwardness, and she comes from a scheduled caste family. "I did expect to be among the top five rankers in Punjab as I had worked very hard and was sure of my attempts in examinations," an excited Nancy told TOI. She hails from Hajipur village and is a student of Government Senior Secondary School, Ghagwaal, in Mukerian sub-division of Hoshiarpur district.
"People think that those who study in government schools can't score high, but I would want to break that perception, which is making people rush towards private schools. I am very happy studying in a government school. Our teachers have been encouraging and helping us," said Nancy, who has decided to go for medical in Class XI.
Her father, Shiv Kumar, teaches Punjabi in the same school. He said her daughter's achievement makes him and the school proud.
Principal Shamsher Singh said that while the school's overall result was 100%, another girl, Neha, from the institute had figured at the 18th position on the merit list. He said that his students had fared well in class XII exams also with one student securing over 91% marks. "Our teachers have been working hard and Nancy's result would encourage others," he said.
The school doesn't have full strength of the required teachers as posts of three lecturers are vacant.
The Times Of India
Dalit girl from remote Kandi 2nd in State
HOSHIARPUR: Nancy Bhadiaar broke many a myths as she stood second by securing 98.92% in Class X exams of Punjab School Education Board.
Her home and school are in Kandi area of Punjab, which is synonymous to backwardness, and she comes from a scheduled caste family. "I did expect to be among the top five rankers in Punjab as I had worked very hard and was sure of my attempts in examinations," an excited Nancy told TOI. She hails from Hajipur village and is a student of Government Senior Secondary School, Ghagwaal, in Mukerian sub-division of Hoshiarpur district.
"People think that those who study in government schools can't score high, but I would want to break that perception, which is making people rush towards private schools. I am very happy studying in a government school. Our teachers have been encouraging and helping us," said Nancy, who has decided to go for medical in Class XI.
Her father, Shiv Kumar, teaches Punjabi in the same school. He said her daughter's achievement makes him and the school proud.
Principal Shamsher Singh said that while the school's overall result was 100%, another girl, Neha, from the institute had figured at the 18th position on the merit list. He said that his students had fared well in class XII exams also with one student securing over 91% marks. "Our teachers have been working hard and Nancy's result would encourage others," he said.
The school doesn't have full strength of the required teachers as posts of three lecturers are vacant.
What Merit? In Punjab, Class 12th, Dalit Girl got 7th position and a Muslim Girl became topper
In the latest declared result of class 12th by Punjab School Education Board, in which more than 3 Lakh students appeared, a Dalit girl, named Namrata, from Jalandhar has 443 marks out of 450 in the medical stream and overall got 7th position in the merit list. Also, she is topper in Jalandhar. (Merit list is made combined of different streams such as Commerce, Non-Medical, Medical etc) Namrata achieved this position despite having poor family background and without any coaching. Read more about her from Lokleader [in Punjabi] and here.
Namrata on left (Photo Credit Lokleader)
Further, overall topper in class 12th is Saima Rashid, (as name suggests she is Muslim girl), she got perfect 100% score!
When toppers are from Dalit-Bahujan communities, what merit so called Brahmins and upper castes talk about all the time? Few years back, V. T. Rajshekar had said,
Quotas do not hurt efficiency, says study - The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/
A first-of-its-kind study of the impact of reservations in public sector jobs on productivity and efficiency has shown that the affirmative action did not reduce productivity in any sector, but had, in fact, raised it in some areas.
Despite being widespread and much-debated, India’s reservation policy for the educationally and socially backward classes is poorly studied. While there is some research into the impact of reservations in politics and in higher education, there has been no study yet of its impact on the economy.
In the pioneering study, Ashwini Deshpande, Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, and Thomas Weisskopf, Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan, measured the impact of reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) on productivity and efficiency in the Indian Railways between 1980 and 2002. The study was published in the World Development journal.
The Indian Railways is the world’s largest employer where affirmative action applies, Ms. Deshpande said. It employs between 1.3 and 1.4 million people at four levels of employment — Group A to Group D, with Group A employees being the senior-most. There is 15 per cent reservation for the SCs and 7.5 per cent reservation for the STs at all levels, with additional reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The study looked at SC and ST employees in Group A and B only, since people from marginalised backgrounds would have been unlikely to reach high levels of employment without reservation.
Since an individual’s impact on productivity is impossible to estimate, Ms. Deshpande and Mr. Weisskopf compared zones and periods of time with higher numbers of SC and ST employees with those with lower numbers, keeping other variables constant. They found no negative impact on productivity and efficiency in any area, and some positive effects in some areas of work.
“Beyond the numbers, we can speculate about the reasons for why there might be some positive impact of affirmative action,” Ms. Deshpande explained. “Individuals from marginalised groups may be especially highly motivated to perform well when they attain decision-making and managerial positions, because of the fact that they have reached these positions in the face of claims that they are not sufficiently capable, and they may consequently have a strong desire to prove their detractors wrong,” the authors suggested.
This is a possible explanation which rings true for Scheduled Caste employees of the Railways whomThe Hindu spoke to. “At every level where there is discretionary power, SC/ ST employees are systematically discriminated against,” said B.L. Bairwa, the president of the All-India Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Railway Employees Association.
He cited a number of cases from across the country that he was battling, of deserving backward caste railway employees who had been passed up for promotions, transferred arbitrarily or given adverse records. “When an SC or ST employee rises, he has to prove himself and work extra hard. I am not surprised the efficiency goes up,” he said.
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