Alternative to seat quota

ASKING for an increase in the reservation of seats in engineering and medical colleges for Chandigarh students to 85 per cent as has been done for Punjab/Haryana/Delhi students is, I think, in itself wrong. Instead of fighting for such a case, why not propagate an idea of reducing the reservation in other states/territories.

In fact, lesser the reservation more is the opportunity for development and national integration. When young people from various states study together and spend their prime age with students from different states and with different cultures, there is much of value addition to their character and personality, which is not possible by any other means.

Surely, holding proof of domicile of a particular state/territory should carry some privilege, but there can be some other ways also. In Western countries the universities have a different approach of showing their affiliation to the students from their own states. For example, in USA the fees for the students from the state of location of a university is much less than in the case of those from other states, but there is no reservation of seats for anyone. Such an approach should be more acceptable than the prevailing one.

Having studied in Chandigarh throughout and being an alumni of PEC, Chandigarh, I do have a personal affiliation towards the young people of the Union Territory. However, what I feel is that if the authorities concerned widen their perspective it will be much to the advantage of their respective states/territories and the nation as a whole.

Pankaj Bhandari
Helsinki (Finland)

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Brutalities in Kosovo

“No country can act as a global policeman”, says Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, admonishing the USA indirectly for its role in orchestrating the NATO attack on Yugoslavia (March 29). In our zeal to take the side of Russia and China we seem to have totally ignored the ground realities that triggered the air-war that NATO is now waging.

During Nehru’s time Yugoslavia was the co-founder of the nonaligned movement along with India. The country was then ruled with an iron hand by the late Marshal Tito who kept religious and ethnic animosities in the region firmly under control. There were no major uprisings in any part of the country during his reign. In this respect Tito can bear comparison with former Indonesian President Suharto who, to his credit, kept Islamic fundamentalists in his country under check during his rule lasting 30 and odd years.

Today’s Yugoslavia is a truncated country, like the USSR, divided mainly along ethnic and religious lines, but only after a lot of blood-letting, Bosnia being the more recent and classic example. The Dayton Accord, hammered out by the USA, brought the peace of sorts to the region after much strife, but the differences have now erupted again with the ferocity of a volcano in the Kosovo region of Serbia.

Let us be clear that Serb President Slobodan Milosevic is no match to Tito. He has been utterly ruthless and genocidal in his treatment of the Albanians origin in Kosovo province as evidenced by the following barbaric acts which have been well-documented by independent observers:

(1) He withdrew unilaterally Kosovo’s legally sanctioned autonomous status.

(2) He removed ethnic Albanians from most state institutions and put an end to the primacy of the Albanian language in educational institutions in the Muslim-majority region.

(3) His troops, 40,000 in number, supported by a lot of heavy armour, have indulged in the looting and killing of unarmed civilians and destroying their property on a mass scale.

(4) As a result, half a million refugees, the biggest exodus in recent times, shifted to Macedonia and Albania, the two least affluent countries of Europe.

I wish Prime Minister Vajpayee had also condemned the brutalities committed by the Serb forces.

KANGAYAM R. RANGASWAMY
East Hubler Road, PA (USA)

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War Museum in bad shape

I happened to visit my beloved Punjab last year. I wish to point out a few problems which I faced visiting the historical places. I found the Anglo-Sikh War Museum in a deplorable condition. Birds had built their nests on the upper floor. Paintings had collected a lot of dust. The attendant said he had no brochures, and advised me to go to Chandigarh to get the relevant information. It made me feel very sad to discern the destitute status of a temple of Punjab’s pride.

I also saw heaps of garbage in the pond around Gandhiji’s statue on The Mall in Patiala, especially in the corner next to the Kali Temple. It does not reflect good for the queen city of Punjab.

Lastly, is it possible to do something about the weapons of the Tenth Guru which are kept in the fort at Patiala?. The red valvet had fainted, and the paint of the display case was peeling off at many places. These artefacts should be moved to Dukh Niwaran Gurdwara so that pilgrims can pay homage to the weapons.

TARNJIT SAINI
Associate Professor
Creighton University
Creighton

(Received in response to the Internet edition.)

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DoT’s callous attitude

This is to bring to your notice the callous attitude of the authorities at DoT, Chandigarh, that they are not releasing any Internet connection for the past two months. Even though they are collecting money for the purpose, they are not giving any satisfactory answer regarding the likely time when such connections will be released. Being the only ISP in the town, their attitude seems monopolistic and insensitive to customer need. The behaviour of the staff at the commercial office in Sector 8 is also not pleasant.

(Dr) Sanjay
Chandigarh