• THE Bharti-MTN deal failed because of the myopic aspirations of the South African government. The deal was wrecked due to its protectionist attitude. Governments can no longer indulge in activities camouflaging inefficiencies of public sector firms. Competition today is intense, with every player planning to grow. Only a proper policy regarding competition, above political interests, can put the country ahead. The Indian government, through its telecom policies, has shown the way for healthy competition to build and sustain. The results are big infrastructure investments and inclusive growth in terms of rural reach. BSNL has learnt it the tough way; so will inefficient players like Air India. Protectionism can only jeopardise the interests of an economy.

— Nitesh Kumar

Anand

On native grounds

• INDIANS are proud that Indian-American Venkatraman Ramakrishnan won the Nobel prize for chemistry. In pre-Independence days, C.V. Raman won after having worked in India; since then, all Nobel prize-winning scientists of Indian origin have been American citizens, like Har Gobind Khorana, S. Chandrasekhar and, now V. Ramakrishnan. Monetary benefits, opportunities and working facilities attracted these scientists to the US.

Since the advent of IT and lucrative jobs in the field, the attraction of bright students towards the pure sciences has taken a back seat in India. The government must be aware of this and remedial actions should be taken, so that we will can encourage our scientists. A leading

country like India needs

to feel proud of its

... contd.