India Inc146;s burden

8226; The prime minister has given valuable advice to India Inc. As wealth in this country grows, and continues to be restricted to only the middle and upper classes, a disaster looms. By giving the economically weaker sections of the population a better life, a huge market can be created. If Corporate India realises this, it would not only do great service to society, it would also maximise its profits.

8212; Ramesh Lahoti Mumbai

8226; As the prime minister of a nation on the verge of breaking with the past, Manmohan Singh should be more responsible in his signals to the business community and society at large. As an accomplished economist, he knows better. Investment in primary, secondary and vocational education along with careful nurturing of the systems would hold the key to alleviation of poverty and oppression. Quotas and reservations will only exacerbate the situation. The prime minister should ask the private sector to invest in education and training.

8212; K. Narasimha Rao Hyderabad

Politics, not police

8226; The views expressed in your editorial 8216;Police, not army8217; October 8 lead to the conclusion that lack of proper policing is the cause of the problems in the Northeast. However, one needs to ask why the police should be called in to start with? The seeds of the rot are planted by poor politics and governance and that is where the solution also lies. A demoralised, ineffective police force is just a symptom. Unless politics itself is cleansed, India will continue to fumble from one politically instigated crisis to another. It is unfortunate that the remedy lies in the hands of the very people who created the problem 8212; a case of 8220;physician heal thyself8221;?

8212; Dara Cooper Pune

Rural resolutions

8226; The burden of the Oxbridge set8217; by Sagarika Ghose IE, October 4 points to how Stephanian and Oxonian brothers-under-the-skin Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Mani Shankar Aiyar are facing fire from, respectively, the Left parties and the Sangh Parivar. From this, Ghose concludes that relying on the same 8216;8216;scotch and tikka8217;8217; set is a political mistake. Years ago, former prime minister Charan Singh, in his 8216;8216;India8217;s poverty and its solutions8217;8217;, cited British economist Michael Lipton8217;s emphasis on the 8216;8216;continuing urban bias8217;8217; in Indian planning. This was in 1980 and nothing has changed. 8216;8216;India8217;8217; and 8216;8216;Bharat8217;8217; have two distinct identities, with most of our ruling elite paying only lip-service to the latter. Bringing in grassroots workers will certainly help correct this distortion in our governance and planning process.

8212; Vinod Chowdhury Delhi