Express your voice

8226; Sudheendra Kulkarni8217;s citing an example of his batch of IIT Bombay collecting money to clean up the Powai lake is hilarious. And I don8217;t think it can be called philanthropy at all. You see, another IIT alumnus, the famous Mr Nandan Nilekani, built the two 8216;great8217; new hostels for IIT right on the lake. The hostels go against the hydrology of the area and have aided to the lake8217;s rapid deterioration in the past few years. The hostels are known to be too close to the lake. So what your alma mater has contributed to is not cleaning of the lake but cleaning up behind Mr Nilekani. I wonder where the philanthropy in that is. He would have saved a lot of money by just thinking about small things like the environment. I am disappointed that these monsters are being heralded as structures of significance and joy.

8212;Ramya Swayamprakash

8226; I am currently teaching at IIT-B, EE Department. It was heartening to read Sudheendra Kulkarni8217;s article on Gurudakshina and the others he has been writing on various issues. The proposed contribution for Powai lake clean-up by the batch of 1980 has indeed come as a breath of fresh air to all of us who are worried about environmental issues on the campus. Having witnessed mutilation of greenery by often completely unnecessary measures such as road widening, creation of parking space, this looks like a chance to turn things around.

In this context, I have a personal request for Kulkarni. Unless this initiative involves a major role by individuals sensitive to environmental issues and organisations such as the BNHS with relevant expertise, we are afraid that, at the end of the day, we may only see some cosmetic changes in the name of lake beautification, and the effort may not adddress the most important issue: conservation.

8212;Mahesh Patil

8226; Soli Sorabjee is one of my favourite columnists. As usual his 8216;The Quattrocchi Coup8217; January 15 was well written and the point raised by him hits the nail on the mishandling of the case. We now expect Sorabjee to shed some light on the CBI8217;s role during the NDA regime.

8212;Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee

8226; The Government8217;s policy of reservation on caste lines 8216;Caste in class8217;, January 15 has brought misery more than comfort for people. The reservation system has further widened the divide between communities, with political parties only bent upon their narrow interests.

8212;V P Damodar

8226; Whatever claims we may make about socio-economic progress and the political awakening of our people, the harsh truth is that the untouchables of pre-Independence days have neither achieved economic upliftment nor have they experienced any upward social mobility. But more painful, rather retrogressive, is the belief that reservation even in private educational institutions could help the backward people gain equality and acceptability. Reservation on the basis of caste is no more than a dirty political move to consolidate a particular vote bank. One only wonders whether we are working for a society free of caste and religion distinctions or trying to ensure a water-tight division of the society worse than even in the pre-Independence days.

8212;Ved Guliani