Vicious cycle

Vicious cycle

* Apropos 'Beyond sword and shield' (IE, November 10), the gap between the haves and the have-nots has pushed India's education system to stagnation. This is most evident at the primary and secondary education levels. At a higher level, although the IIT entrance exam is "inclusive", it is wrong to assume that no student gets admission on the basis of wealth or influence. When the author says "A bad school is better than no school", he resigns himself to poor standards of teaching in government-run schools. This attitude feeds into the government's reluctance to invest in and improve public education.The proliferation of expensive private schools has made it even more challenging for poor parents to provide their children with quality education and opportunities for upward mobility.

— Ganapathi Bhat

Akola

The way forward

* THIS refers to 'Calling on Pakistan' (IE, November 10). Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's visit to Pakistani Punjab is laudable. He has shown a keen interest in bringing the two Punjabs closer to each other by announcing various schemes like exporting surplus power from the Indian Punjab to the Pakistani Punjab in 2013 and setting up joint industrial sectors on both sides of the border. Similarly, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has extended a hand of cooperation from Bihar. Now it is up to the Centre to support these proposals and improve relations between India and Pakistan. Although there have been certain obstacles to Indo-Pak peace, such as the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, such incidents should not forever hinder the dialogue.

— R.K. Kapoor

Chandigarh

Imperfect RTI

* CHIEF Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra has shed some light on the implementation of the RTI Act ('Idea Exchange: There is a problem in demanding far too much freedom for our institutions...', IE, November 11). Although there are some officials who believe that they must transparently share information with the people, others have not always been cooperative. Despite the provision in the act that makes it mandatory to publish "16 varieties of information", not even a single government organisation has complied with this. Several ruling party spokespersons claim that RTI is the government's gift to the nation. However, it is widely perceived that the implementation of RTI is often flawed.

... contd.

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