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This refers to 8216;The Last Refuge8217;. India has many refugees. Although our record as host has not been bad it has not been good either.

8226; This refers to 8216;The Last Refuge8217;. India has many refugees. Although our record as host has not been bad it has not been good either. Not only have we not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention but we have also not made a

domestic refugee policy. Other south Asian countries are equally guilty, but they are mainly refugee-exporting countries. But India needs laws and refugee tribunals. As of now, we don8217;t have a mechanism to distinguish refugees from illegal immigrants. Everything

depends on the government8217;s will: we can turn out Chakma refugees one day, and admit

Tibetans the next day. And we can still ask the Tibetans to leave any time. The way India treated Bhutanese refugees and threw them into Nepal was cruel. Not having a refugee

policy and refugee laws is the biggest hindrance to a rights-based approach.

8212; Pranav Sachdeva

New Delhi

Opposing truths

8226; The idea that the implementation of OBC reservations would adversely affect merit in educational institutions is

totally misplaced. Entrance tests to professional courses in Tamil Nadu would be a good case study for the entire nation. The OBCs, by topping the rank lists year after year, have in fact raised the bar of performance for others and thereby raised the excellence levels of their

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institutes. The result would be the same in the IITs and IIMs

after 10 years of reservations. The impact of quotas must be assessed in the long term and not in the short term.

8212; S.A. Nasser Khan

Chennai

Look twice

8226; The 8220;creamy layer8221; consists of people who may earn a taxable sum as small traders or shopkeepers, but they are educationally backward and hence socially. It is important for these sections too to avail themselves of the educational opportunities to come out of their backwardness. In India, people

often tend to continue with their traditional and hereditary occupations. Thus governmental intervention is necessary to educate them. The Supreme Court could have scrutinised the drawbacks of a blanket

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exclusion based on the income criterion before imposing a ban on the creamy layer.

8212; Shiv Nadar Karthik

Chennai

Lighter shade of red

8226; There is merit in your editorial 8216;Himalayan task8217; pleading that the Maoists should be given a chance in Nepal. Their astounding victory seems to have surprised them as much as it has the rest of the world. The initial indications about the Maoists8217; commitment to multi-party democracy are positive, and only time will tell whether they can achieve a smooth transition to a mature political party. Given that the mandate in Nepal is largely the result of people8217;s frustration with existing parties, the Maoists need a course correction.

The security considerations for India are significant since there is considerable Maoist presence here. Hopefully the foreign

policy planners are not wasting their time while new strategic concerns assume Himalayan proportions.

8212; J.M. Manchanda

New Delhi