Hurdle in the race

India8217;s victories in international sports have been sporadic, but sustained.

8226; India8217;s victories in international sports have been sporadic, but sustained. Shekhar Gupta 8216;One gold, two bronze8230;8217; does a good job of reminding us of an upswing in our sports fortunes. An individual8217;s self-belief and grit play a deciding role in success. As the victory of Usain Bolt suggests, it is the person and not the country he or she hails from that matters most. Our national attitude of easy acceptance of defeat or satisfaction with modest gains is our biggest hurdle.

8212; Y.G. Chouksey Punenbsp;

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Fundamental duty

8226; The three individual medals notwithstanding, our Olympic performance pales into insignificance against the imbroglio in Jammu 038; Kashmir. It is painful to watch how the secessionist movement has been allowed to gain momentum. On the pretext of freedom of expression, mainstream television channels are giving separatist leaders a platform to voice their dissent. In doing so, they forget that the bedrock of this democracy is the Indian Constitution, which unequivocally says that upholding the ideal of nationalism is the duty of every citizen.

8212; Manu Parnami Delhinbsp;

View from Valley

8226; The hitherto unthinkable solution of gauging the wishes of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, either together or separately through a plebiscite, is finding support from editors. There is also opposition to such a step as it could lead to the dismemberment of India. The fact is that a section of Kashmir has demanded separation, with varying intensity, since 1947. Unless we admit that Kashmir8217;s accession to India was circumstantial, we cannot find a solution except by rule of force.nbsp;Having nurtured strife for six decades, we should now have the referendum.

8212; P.V. Maiya Bangalore

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Time warp

8226; In 8216;Midnight8217;s grandchildren8217;, Y.K. Alagh has unduly glorified the NREG and the UPA. Neither provides permanent employment to villagers. It is not understood what this scheme has to do with the leasing of land. With infrastructural development, it has become more and more convenient for the village-level landless labour to go to towns and cities and earn much more. India may well be on the way to leading the world; but India has not changed for poor villagers in the past 62 years and may not change much even in the next.

8212; M.C. Joshi Lucknow

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Both sides now

8226;Maura Moynihan 8216;The other side of triumph8217; forgets that, while everyone can and does demonstrate freely in India, mere peaceful demonstration long ago ceased to make any difference to us. Unless the aggrieved party can pose a credible threat to the authority of the Indian state or bring some part of the country to a standstill, it is impossible to change the mindset of the government or society. In the competitive market for demonstrations, only chaos succeeds in gaining our concerted attention. The Tibetan exiles, with their limited numbers and refugee status, will find this hard to achieve.

8212; Sanjeev Prakash

New Delhinbsp;