Merit Ideal Archives - understand-culture

The King’s Son

In Super 30 (2019), Hrithik Roshan plays Anand Kumar, a teacher in Patna who coaches poor students for the IIT entrance exam. Ab raja ka beta raja nahi banega. Ab raja wahi banega jo haqdaar hoga. Now the king’s son will not become king. Now the one who deserves it will become king.

The film is based on the real Anand Kumar. His results have been disputed. In 2018 he was accused of making “false claims about the success rate,” LatestLY reported. The accusers questioned his claim that 26 of 30 students had qualified.

Bundles from the Train

In his autobiography Wings of Fire, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam tells how he earned his first money as a boy in Rameswaram. During the war, newspaper bundles were thrown from the moving train. His cousin Samsuddin, “who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram,” needed “a helping hand to catch the bundles.” Kalam wrote: “Samsuddin helped me earn my first wages.”

The chapter is part of the NCERT English textbook for Class 9. Kalam later became President of India.

More Than Marks

On January 20, 2022, the Supreme Court gave its reasons for upholding the reservation for Other Backward Classes in the all-India quota of medical admissions. The case was Neil Aurelio Nunes v. Union of India. The bench was Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna.

“At the best, an examination can only reflect the current competence of an individual but not the gamut of their potential,” the court said. “The meaning of merit itself cannot be reduced to marks even if it is a convenient way of distributing educational resources.”

The Ticket Examiner

Between 2001 and 2003, Mahendra Singh Dhoni worked as a traveling ticket examiner for Indian Railways at Kharagpur station. He made his debut for India in a one-day international against Bangladesh on December 23, 2004. He later captained India.

Poor and Meritorious

Merit-cum-means. Merit together with need. The Merit-cum-Means Scholarship for minorities “aims to provide financial assistance to poor and meritorious students from minority communities.”

Applicants need at least 50 percent in their last exam. Their parents’ income may not be above 2 lakh rupees.

People’s Padma

In 2016 the government made it possible for any Indian to nominate a person for the Padma awards online, The News Minute reported.

“The government is committed to transform Padma awards into ‘People’s Padma’,” a later government appeal said. It asked all citizens to make “nominations, recommendations including self-nomination.”

Flag Bearer of Nepotism

In 2017 the actor Kangana Ranaut was a guest on Koffee with Karan, the talk show of the film director Karan Johar. On the show she called her host the “flagbearer of nepotism.” She also spoke of a “movie mafia.”

The phrase became part of a long debate in Hindi cinema about insiders and outsiders.

Canvassing in Any Form

Recruitment notices of the Union Public Service Commission, which selects candidates for India’s top government posts, carry a standard instruction: “Canvassing in any form will disqualify a candidate.”

Ekalavya’s Thumb

In the Mahabharata, the young archer Ekalavya outshines Arjuna, a student of the teacher Drona. Arjuna complains. Drona then asks Ekalavya for his right thumb as gurudakshina, the fee owed to a teacher. Ekalavya gives it willingly, and his archery is weakened.