• Instead of making reservation for minorities in IIMs and IITs, as has been suggested to the HRD ministry by a committee, the government must address the root cause of backwardness of minorities, SCs, OBCs. This is the state’s indifference to primary education. Primary education is the arena where scholarships and incentives are most required. Even where schools exist, the deficiencies in infrastructure and shortages of dedicated teaching staff must be addressed. — C.R. Bhattacharya On e-mail Undignified quota • It’s preposterous to even talk about reservations based on anything other than economic status of the social group concerned. Reservations to minorities in a secular country like India will therefore be a grave injustice to the majority. I belong to the minority community and I am opposed to any reservation that compromises merit. This is only petty politics. It undermines the dignity of the communities it ostensibly seeks to benefit. — Shahid Kolkata Bad recipe • It is ridiculous of the RSS to advise people to bear more children to keep the population of Hindus in the country high. As it is, the country is suffering from over-population, unemployment, poverty. — Hima Chandrashekar Bangalore Why no outrage? • The recent bomb blasts in Delhi have proved to us once more that our ‘‘friendly’’ neighbour openly buoys up terrorism in our country. Yet, our honorable ministers want to continue with peace talks. For how long must we suffer? Where were these peace talks when Parliament was attacked? What about the people who died during the recent bomb blasts? Every one of them was a part of India and all of them represented India. Why was the Parliament attack considered to be such a big issue which led to deployment of our armed forces on the borders? Why doesn’t the attack on common people evoke the same outrage? — Sumeet Tayal Delhi Marxist madrasa • Your editorial, ‘Little Stalinists’ (IE, November 16), is a bold statement of the truth about JNU. This was a gift of Indira Gandhi for the services rendered by the communist party and Marxist journalists, writers and intellectuals who supported Indira Gandhi in her hour of greatest challenge, namely, when she split the Congress in 1969. JNU is nothing but a Marxist madrasa or seminary. Every department there is devoted to the teaching of Marxist dogma. — T. Mani Chowdary Secunderabad Can I walk? • Pedestrians in Mumbai, as in most of our cities, are given scant respect. Are they not paying taxes? Are the roads meant only for the vehicle owners? Why this discrimination? Why won’t the government provide proper footpaths on both sides of the road without encroachment of any sort, for pedestrians to walk freely? Perhaps we must form associations of pedestrians, in Mumbai and elsewhere, to fight this callous attitude of the authorities. In coming days, it is going to be more difficult for pedestrians as the number of vehicles on the road multiplies. Citizens, pedestrians beware! With due public support, we can take up this footpath issue at the appropriate level. — C.R. Ramakrishna On e-mail
