Reservation in Private Firms

(This speech was given at the Microsoft Speechweavers Club.7-9 min speech followed by 2-3 min discussion)
Men are made equal but they are born unequal. And as they grow the inequality grows along with them. In India to cut down on this cancerous growth, we need to introduce reservation in private firms for backward class people.

Fellow Toastmasters, a warm good evening.


A 30% reservation should be introduced to the backward class population representing 40% of the population. Currently it has to go along with the existing caste system based reservation till a point in time when the economic state can be rightly determined. Then this can act as the criterion for reservation.

We, who works in private company, would be dead against reservation as we are proud that we got through by sheer merit. Once reservation comes we feel threatened.
Let’s consider this. There are 50 job opportunities and 100 students are vying for it. Assume among this, 30 are very poor people and hence their educational standards tend to be low. Now for the regular students it’s easy as they would easily edge out those 30 poor people in the job contention .Effectively 70 students are trying for 50 seats which give disproportionate advantage to the regular students. What I suggest is let’s divide the seats and students into 2.groups i.e 70 regular students vie for 35 job seats and 30 reservation eligible vie for 15 seats. The ratio is the same as the original 50 seats and 100 students .The undeserved advantage regular students get levelled out in the process. When we play football it should not be like one team’s players have boot and the other players play with bare foot. Let the teams with boots play against each other and the let the teams playing on bare foots be pitted against each other.

There is a general notion that not the eligible one gets the reservation. Till the economic survey is conducted and proper segregation is done based on the economic status the caste based reservation has to go on. But as an immediate remedy we can set an upper limit for wealth like say 2 lakhs per year. Understandably it’s quite difficult to get this working perfectly but striking contrasts can be obviously be screened--- like the son of the chief secretary though he belongs to scheduled caste it can be denied. With the existing background verification of the company it wouldn’t be a big headache to verify the economic claims of the applicant. The provision also helps companies to completely shed the caste based reservation and depend purely on economic status based reservation.

Another prejudice held is that reservation would make the eligible lazy. This argument does not hold since there will be competition within the group eligible for the reservation. The people below the poverty line (BPL) make about 40% of the Indian population and if someone says there wouldn’t be any competition within 45 crores people its hard to comprehend.

People already get reservation during their studies .Then why again reservation for job is a seemingly genuine concern. Given its prior low performance on account of poor opportunities, the backward class will be easily edged out by the regulars. So if the reservation is not given in job hiring the reservation given for study will be rendered a waste As such the country will be successful in creating lots of engineers who don’t have a job.

One of the other vehement opposition raised is that the quality of the organization would go down. And the less eligible people will push the company into loss. Companies involve themselves in charitable activities like raising poor children and age old home. In a way it covers up the Shakespearean Shylock who wanted a pound of flesh from the heart of the person who wouldn’t get his money. The companies should dare to go beyond these social facelifts. If the company is genuine in their verbal exercise let them dare to induct the people who may be little less effective from the rest .This difference will be very less only practically. Think of anyone in your college who passed the course. Won’t they be also able to do the same job as you do given the same step of trainings in this company? I am not denying the uniqueness of each individual and slight performance slack may be expected in the initial years – at the max 2 years and not beyond. I don’t think the same course will produce intellectual elephants and intellectual ants. Difference would be there but that is minute .Only thing is the difference appear magnified for us because of the fierce competition. The margin of selection is very small like in a 100m race. The runner who comes last is not a bad runner by any means.

Examples of people who already have made it big from poor background are often sited. Even without reservation they made it big then why others can’t is the logic. We may want to talk about Abdul Kalam who emerged into the echelons of power from his poverty ridden days in childhood. Anyone would be easily able to give few more examples. But it must be remembered that these are not examples – but exceptions. Because some exceptional people fought their heart out to emerge successful should not be the reason to deny opportunities for backward people. How can we even think of the hard fought struggle of Abdul Kalam and the like as pitfall for the poor and the aggrieved?

Reducing the gap between rich and the poor which is getting widened day by day is mandatory. Reservation is a way to do it. We need to make sure that the each section of the society is carried along with the bandwagon of progress. It will reduce the unrest among the common population and also reduce the antagonistic feeling they have towards rich .It will generate a feeling among them that they too have a chance to make it.

There are brilliant people who provided an opportunity can make it really big. Many talents in India are wasted on lack of opportunities. Many more Abdul Kalams are there in the corners of India carrying big boulders on their shoulders. We should help them realize their dreams as India’s dreams will never be fulfilled with their dreams unrealized. I don’t think anybody is sadistic to see more people as poor in the country which already homes one-third of the global poor.

As a point to ponder over, I want you to think whether you would have made into this company if you were born into an impoverished family.

Microsoft has shown many ways in their commitment to society and you are the leaders in it. I call upon all the Microsoft employees to put this case before the management to achieve this glorious milestone .Lets hope a new beginning will dawn upon this country.

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(The below snippet was delivered after the 2-3 min open house discussion)
The urge and the idea of equality shall remain forever. Let’s help India become a country that offers equal opportunities to its children. Let’s agree to give a helping to those people who are denied all fortunes in life by giving them reservation in private companies.
Over to you toastmaster.

Clues to Cool Deals of Higher Magnitude

(3-4 min Speech.Project 2 of Persuasive Speaking-Making a Cold Call .This 3-4 min speech was followed by 5-6 min role wherein I made a cold call to the President of the Bangalore Toastmasters club to sell a projector to the club)

I still remember the cold stare on my friend’ face when he got a job as a salesperson. He was afraid to make cold calls. A cold chill went down his spine when he thought of instances in which he himself shoed away salespersons. In current circumstances, it’s potentially dangerous to make a cold call. However today I shall suggest a method to make cold calls become cool calls in perspective of making a deal of higher magnitude.Toastmasters and distinguised guests a warm good evening to you.

It’s not rocket science but a simple 3 step approach – Rapport Building, Trust Building, and Value Building.

1) Rapport Building-The first is to be sensitive to the customer. Like barging into the customer room asking for an appointment when he is the middle of something can frustrate the customer. The best to building rapport during an appointment is to start off with a smile and exchanging pleasantries. We must be cautious to keep the time in accordance to the level of the customer and the circumstance we are in. We cannot spend much time exchanging pleasantries with a company CEO. May be for them just a smile is required for rapport building as they are not too much concerned on this aspect.

2) Trust Building-Being open and being knowledgeable are the tools of trust building. These tools of trust building should be used to solve the problem of the customer. Analyze the problem of the customer objectively and never try to fit in your solution to the customer’s problem. The objective analysis of the problem will gain us the customer’s trust and then he start considering you as resource whom he can fall upon to solve his problem. In such a scenario if you product solves the customer’s problem he will definitely trust your product.

3) Value Building- Tell the customer in detail the benefits our product will bring the customer. We should explain in details the specification of the product how it functions and the like. All the facts that are need by the customer should be given to him in this stage.


If we follow this simple 3 step it is highly likely that the deal will be successful. Even if you are unable to sell the product ensure that you sell yourself to the customer.

Over to you toastmaster.

After Effects of Lunch.

I remember one of those days in which I had a very heavy lunch .Oops , I forgot that I had it even today.Heavy lunch can have problems.For instance , our attention span is reduced after that.I vividly remember those after lunch times when my teachers shouted at me as I mumbled irregular syllables when surprise questions were thrown at me.However , this reduced attention span as an after effect of lunch is not all that bad.I used to get promises for my parker pen,cricket bat and the like from my papa when he was in such a state.

Its not that its reduced attention span alone which is caused by heavy lunch.I had numerous instances when my architect shook me awake while dozing off in office chair.Nowadays I even feel proud that my architect wake me up from sleep just to hide to myself the embarrassment caused.Inspite of all these hiccups, I see a positive side for this dozing off after heavy lunch.Give your spouse a heavy lunch and see her sleep.It would be the only time when you would be able to see the innonce in her face.It may noted that night sleep does not provide this spectacular vision.

All in all,lunch is a necessary evil.Having lunch is like having children.We should have children , but we should not have too many.

Involve Yourself

{ Below is the text of the initial few minutes of the speech as Master of Ceremonies in Bangalore Toastmaster Club.The text may vary from the actual speech given :) }
Centuries ago, a bow and arrow session was going on.A model of bird was made and kept on top a tree .As each disciple took aim to shoot down the bird, the master asked “What do you see?”.The answers were like, the bird, the tree, the sky beyond...But for Arjuna, the answer was “The eye of the bird only”.Needless to say, he was the only one to hit the target.Arjuna was focused; he had no consternation, only concentration.This is the way we too ought to involve ourselves.

Having come into this room in Brigade road surpassing theatres, coffee days and pubs, I would consider us as involved.But is such bare minimum involvement sufficient so as to just reach our aims? In 1924 in Santa Anna California, in the basement of YMCA, Ralph C Smedely started toastmasters movement.His aim was to make his fellow members in YMCA raise toast better.But as the wheel of time around, this movement spread across 110 countries and millions of people benefit from it.Ralph would not have, even in his wildest dream , hoped so. But as he was fully involved in the activity it took an amazing growth.Same case applies here for us in Bangalore Toastmasters.Our slogan may be to improve our comunication and leadership skills.But we should involve to the highest degree as possible so that we can attain even unprecedented results.Cant we become the powerhouse of idea generation which this country badly needs.This is the prefect place where the intelligentsia of the city should get groomed. This should be the place where the rest of the people should look for inspiration and innovation to flow from.Yes, we should be the powerhouse of idea generation.Its not that such a thing is tangible.Almost all radical changes the world have witnessed happened through committed people who met and exchanged their ideas. In the 1960s, the French cinema was rotten by the cliched movies.Then a group of men met together- their initial intention was just to see movies and pass critcisim.But this group evolved to bring about the most radical change that ever happenend to the field of movies.They gave rise to the French New Wave cinema.Our case too is not much different.We have the platform of toastmasters.We can and should become the powerhouse of inspiration and innovation which our countrymen need.

The first step in attaining any noble aim is to get the basics right.Let me tell you how this toastmaster meeting would be so that you can be fully involve.First would be the prepared speech session, where you would get the inspiration and innovation we all need.Next would be the table topics sessions in which we have to think on our feet and speak im promptu.Finally we will have the evaluation session when each participant in the meeting would be given constructive feedback.Today to lead the evaluation session we have a gentleman,who mesmerizes us with his overwhelming presence.A man with dove’s heart but today he shall be around here with hawkish eyes.Lets put our hands together for Arun John Mathias.