Opinion Academic enclave
I do not agree with the argument that by granting minority status to Jamia Millia Islamia,a ghetto will be created in the educational space.
Academic enclave
* I do not agree with the argument that by granting minority status to Jamia Millia Islamia,a ghetto will be created in the educational space (No Jamia ghetto,please,IE,March 15). It is rather confounding to first talk about the need for reservation and affirmative action and then oppose when something is done to that effect. It is poverty and lack of opportunities that often lead to ghettoisation. Reservation has bettered the position of SCs and STs. Such opportunities do not arise out of a vacuum for Muslims. If Delhis St Stephens College can reserve seats for Christians,why is there a hue and cry when a similar provision is made for Muslim students?
Manzar Imam,New Delhi
* Giving minority status to a university is not wrong,but the question is what purpose will it serve. When Aligarh Muslim University was set up,the sole aim was to educate Muslims. But now,with a big chunk of the educated people in the community unemployed,the approach needs to change. Granting minority status to a university could result in a slackening in the level of competition of its students,which will further increase the divide between the educated and the employed.
Shamael Jafri,Lakhimpur Kheri
Help East
* The editorial After the quake (IE,March 15) has highlighted the gaze of a concerned global community on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The resilience and fortitude of its people is praiseworthy and touching. Since the dropping of the atom bombs in 1945,this is another defining moment in its history. The loss of life,radiation threat from nuclear reactors and the dent in its economy have all plunged the country into a crisis. The rest of the world has to rally around the Japanese to help rebuild their nation.
John Alexander,Nagpur
Fund them not
* Increasing the amount allocated for MPLADS is both unwarranted and unwise (Splashing out,IE,March 14). Although a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the scheme,there have been reports of grave irregularities in its execution. Even successive CAG reports substantiate this point. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has scrapped a similar scheme,the MLA Local Area Development Fund. The Centre must emulate him in this regard.
Hemant Kumar,Ambala
Macro troubles
* The article Microfinance saint to blood-sucking sinner (IE,March 14) pointed to how Mohammad Yunus,Nobel laureate and messiah for the poor in Bangladesh,has been attacked by his government. The man who showed underprivileged people,especially women,the way to financially empower themselves has been reduced to a blood-sucker.
G. Bhattacharya,Mundra
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