If the West can persist with trade and investments worth billions of dollars why should it prevent athletes (who have been training hard for the event for years) from participating in the greatest sporting event on earth? If China’s human rights record and Tibetans’ rights are an issue worth disrupting the Olympics over, then they also merit cutting off economic and political ties with China. Why should an athlete pay the price of a political decision?

— Karan Thakur

New Delhi

Fair hike

• It is heartening to note that the IIM fee hike has been accepted by the human resource development minister. Scholarships are being provided to poor students with much higher household income as well. This is certainly the right way to proceed. Now, the HRD minister should also think of establishing more IIMs to meet the demand for quality business schools. Moreover, similar arrangements must be made for primary and secondary education.

— M. Shrinivasa Kamath

Bangalore

For their own

• After the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations — by and large a report of the IAS, by the IAS and for the IAS — would it not be a good idea to form an association of all the non-IAS Gr-A services to protect our interests?

— Anil Vadodra

The wrong age

•In Seema Chishti’s article ‘Empowered by another name’., I noticed the following sentence: “(Kanshi Ram) took her under his wings and the exercise resulted in Mayawati first taking oath as India’s youngest-ever chief minister (at the age of 39) in 1995”. This is not factually true. At least one younger chief minister was sworn in at the age of 37 in 1977 itself: A.K. Antony.

... contd.