L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

Pay attention to rural education

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rightly debarred some Punjab colleges from raising the fee for MBBS and other courses (editorial, “Education as business: Private sector too has a role to play”, Apr 5). 

The High Court has judiciously debarred the private players in the education business whose mission is not to educate but to earn money. The ground reality is that a majority of Indian students cannot pay market-driven fees and as a result those coming from families with modest means are being deprived of college and university education.

Education is an important pivot around which all development activities revolve. The state must be duty bound to provide education to its people as it would impact future generations of the country. However, the truth is that the educational infrastructure in government schools in rural areas is in a complete mess. A close look at the facilities and infrastructure available in rural schools, the quality of teachers and teaching methodologies would reveal that these stand nowhere compared to good schools in the private sector. There are no proper buildings, no furniture. Students still sit on ‘tappars’. Often there is no electricity, no teaching material and modern aids for teaching in government schools in rural areas are completely missing. In the prevailing circumstances, how can the child of a farm labourer dream to join a medical or an engineering college?

T S SHERGILL, Chandigarh

Loss of mother

Jupinderjit Singh’s middle “Mother” (Mar 30) was touching. I join him in wishing long life for all the mothers. The pain and agony one goes through at the loss of one’s mother is insurmountable. Life can never be the same again because a vacuum created with the loss of mother can never be filled.

Dr PREMILA VERMA, Chandigarh

VC’s selection

Mr Harish Dhanda has no right to interfere in the affairs of PAU (news report, “Now, PAU on politicians’ radar” by Naveen S. Garewal. Apr 1). The university belongs to the people of Punjab. Mr Dhanda’s self-centred approach amounts to political interference in the academic affairs of an autonomous body.

Universities ought to be places where excellence is nurtured and rewarded. The ranking of PAU as the top agricultural university of India is an achievement of the Badal administration. VC Manjit Kang ought to be honoured for engineering the resurgence of PAU. Top-notch international universities are signing MOU’s with PAU for collaborative research and joint degree programs. As the old saying goes, ‘don’t fix it if it aint broke!’

BIKRAM S GILL, Professor. Kansas State University, US

Money for cricketers

The editorial “It’s raining crores” (Apr 5) rightly says that giving huge doles to the already loaded with funds cricket team by various governmental agencies in fact “is an exercise in self-aggrandisement.”

The self-seeking politicians do not realise that the money that they would be giving belongs to the public exchequer and needs to be spent judiciously. Most importantly, there should be no discrimination between one game and the other.

BALVINDER, Chandigarh

World Cup victory

Hats off to the Indian team for lifting the World Cup. The most heartening aspect that has emerged from this tournament is that the team is not dependent on any one player alone.

Any player can turn the table and surprise the opponent team. Team India has snatched many victories from other countries by their superb batting quality. Indian cricket has united whole of India with its victory.

ADARSH KAUL, Patiala

II

I was in California on the day of India’s triumph over Sri Lanka in the final of World Cup Cricket 2011. The spirit of patriotism among the Indian Diaspora has not diminished even after living for decades in the US. Skipper M. S. Dhoni’s performance deserves accolades and was much appreciated. Yuvraj Singh made the Punjabi diaspora proud.

HARJAP SINGH AUJLA, California, US

Rape cases

The conviction of Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja by Mumbai fast track court is commendable. Rape is not just a heinous crime against women, but it is a crime against society. Few rape cases are reported and even if these are reported the victim often turns hostile due to fear of muscle or money. But the court in this case has relied on circumstantial evidence and has given a praiseworthy decision. The decision will not only act as a deterrent but also help the fair sex to come forward and report such cases.

AASTHA BAGGA, Hoshiarpur

Don’t ban books

I fully agree with the views expressed in the editorial “Brooking no dissent” (Apr 1). There should be no ban on any book. Much hue and cry is made about certain books when in reality there is nothing objectionable in these books.

Dr AMAR JIT SINGH GORAYA, Griffith NSW Australia

Need for simple living The middle “A theme wedding” (Apr 4) by V K Kapoor aptly describes the present scenario of our society. Today in every sphere of our lives we find people going overboard in showing off. Some may argue that we should go with the tide, but extravagance has become a disease, which needs to be cured before it defiles our society. Ostentatiousness is the root cause of many problems prevailing in our society and it leads to traits like egoism, jealousy, tension, selfishness, corruption and a negative frame of mind. Not only in cities, in villages too people are falling prey to ostentatious lifestyle. Gone are the days when villages were an epitome of unity and simplicity. Today no matter how much land is owned by a farmer, he wants mobiles, cars, etc, to show off his acquired status. All this leads to indebtedness. Even death ceremonies are performed with much fanfare. Simplicity and satisfaction are hard to come by. No doubt, with progress a person acquires wealth and status and his way of life is affected. But when this acquired wealth is used to score brownie points over others and to play the game of one-upmanship, decadence sets in and corrupts our mind and society. It is time to recognise this negative aspect of our lives and weed it out of our way of living. AMANVIR SINGH TIWANA, Patiala