What is the point of our economy growing at 9 per cent annually for four years, as the Prime Minister proudly said in his speech, if we cannot deal with our basic problems? The Prime Minister is an economist so he should be able to explain why his government has done just as badly as those that went before. The only favour he did us in his speech was that by mentioning his seven sutras he reminded us of the things he did not manage to do. In his last few months as Prime Minister if he could just set in motion the process of making primary education compulsory he will be remembered with gratitude by future generations of Indians. Unless every Indian child is forced to go to school for at least long enough to learn how to read and write the future looks grim. Compulsory primary education shifts the responsibility onto the state. It will be forced to build those schools and with them will come playing fields without which there can be no gold medals.