The Education Racket

The fatal quota cum reservation system in Education has given the politicians a huge money making machine. It is an open secret that most engineering and medical colleges are owned by politicians who auction the seat to the highest bidder. Land for the institution is given away as a freebie by the state, nationalised banks give loans for construction (with most loans having gone bad, except for progressive businessmen who have built a chain of educational institutions) and the upper middle class and the NRI who are denied seats due to the quota system are easy targets for these temples of learning. It is a well known fact that you can end up having to pay any where between a couple of lakhs of rupees to fifty lakhs to 'buy' a seat in a medical college. This is payable in cash, with no receipt issued. So, if you think that any politician has a noble objective in setting up a school or a college, think again. The Return on Investment is enormous, since land is virtually free and construction loans seldom get repaid.