Ms. Kalita, You are correct in saying there has been a boom in education in Tamil Nadu. You have however, failed to mention the boom in capitation fees and in generation of quotas - NRI quotas, Telugu minority quotas and God knows others - established to admit people unable to enter through the existing system owing to its bias against them. Higher education in Tamil Nadu is a nightmare - financial and otherwise - to anyone who cannot affix a backward label to him/herself. And in regards your conclusion of people not knowing each others' caste, you have only seen two students for a short period, as opposed to studied in an Engineering college for an extended period. Everyone KNOWS theirs and the others' castes, for the simple reason that their caste - if not religion, but that's another story - is why they are there. If anything, this system increases animosity. Why should I have had to sweat blood in an exam and/or pay 5+ lakhs to get what XYZ has acquired for free and with no sweat ? Lastly, I would request you to compare the academic performance of reserved and non-reserved students. You will see a gap that the college or University was never meant to rectify - the gap that primary education has to fill