Consequently if we need to, say, double the seats, that would require doubling the teachers and professors. But that is not possible instantaneously. We would need to double the PhD student base, which would mean improving and tightening the whole system of postgraduate research. This will take many years if we were to start now. There is another method, one that China has chosen. It has hired international teaching staff for many of its tertiary and professional educational institutions. Though a great idea, it would take a radical shift in our educational policy as well as a differential compensation policy. This appears unlikely in the near future.

All in all, therefore, it would take many years before seats are increased in the current set of higher educational institutions. We do need to allow and facilitate the setting up of more such institutions. This process would also take several years.

The Supreme Court has asked for a credible basis for determining the share of reserved seats for OBCs. The eventual number would be somewhere between 20 and 50 per cent of the Indian population. The large range is due to the fuzziness in our caste and jati boundaries. That will lead to another set of problems in the implementation of this act. But even if it is, it would not solve the real set of problems that the OBCs and all youth are facing.

The problem has to do with their employability. It is well-known that the more educated a person the greater their expectation and the lower their employment rates. Unemployment rates for the young graduates rule in the 30 to 40 per cent range. The problem is lack of a match between what our educational institutions throw up and what the economy can take in. To give an example from a forthcoming Teamlease study, 90 per cent of the employment opportunities require vocational training, whereas 90 per cent of our school and college output has only bookish knowledge.

... contd.