The proliferation of medical and engineering colleges across India has made their ranking rather indispensable for the discerning admission-seeker; that way your July 17 issue was of great help to people like us. Nonetheless, it is worrying that the cream of those who come out of these institutions leave the country in search of greener pastures. Should the quality of life in our country improve, these students from the top colleges should stay back and work here.
K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
Your cover story (Science of the Times, July 17) was highly informative about the professional colleges in the country. However, it’s high time Outlook came out with an issue on the best colleges providing courses in biotechnology, considering the emergence of this science as a highly dynamic field.
Smriti Bhatnagar, New Delhi
I feel the methodology Cfore used to rank the colleges was flawed. I can’t fathom why the questionnaire relied on weightage to arrive at the results. You could have well found the actual figures for the number of campus placements for each discipline as a percentage of the total number of students. The budget of the college could have anyway given you a figure on its actual facilities. Similarly, the qualifications of the faculty would have provided a mechanism to quantify the intellectual capital. It could have made your survey results more objective than subjective.
R. Rajeev, New Delhi
How dare you exclude nit Silchar from the list when it has groomed so many talents placed in reputed companies! The institute may be located in a remote corner of the country but I know of its alumni who are managing biggish projects abroad as well as in India. The institute has also been an integral part of several leading projects in rural Northeast. And believe me, I have seen people who have failed to clear their nit Silchar entrance test, and reluctantly joined some of the top colleges you’ve mentioned.
Ashutosh Bhattacharjee, Tinsukia, Assam
Great to know that India has finally realised the need to produce engineers with the ability to survive in today’s global market (fiit Yes, But Fine?). I am a student of mit, and know many friends in India who started with "electrical engineering" but ended up working for some firm that has nothing to do with their subject. Here at mit, our practicals warrant a lot of intellectual or innovative ideas. Some of them have even been bought by mncs.
Arka P. Dhar, on e-mail
I have specialised in actuary recruitment, and reading your story Fermentation (Hons), let me tell you it’s wonderful for those who couldn’t crack iit to still be able to take up a knowledge-based career. As for actuarial science, it’s a good opportunity for those who enjoy maths. India has the potential to feed the global requirement of actuary in a matter of four years once the students stop adopting these "me-too" career paths. In fact, it’s more rewarding than B Techs and mbas.
R.K. Dhavada, Hyderabad
Could Outlook please stop whitewashing Tamil Nadu’s warped admissions machinery designed on hatred against one particular community?
Ramanan, Chandler, Uganda
India reacts to terrorist attacks just as the US does in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Americans blame their failure on the neighbours of the two countries rather than their own disastrous policies. So does India. In Balochistan, the agents of the US, India and Afghanistan (Northern Alliance) have been trying their best to sabotage the construction of Gwadar and other mega projects for development but Pakistan is dealing resolutely with them rather than crying hoarse against them. The government has not even named them publicly. Self-confident countries solve their problems, not blame others for their failure.
M.A. al-Hameed, Lahore
With the ISI determined to destabilise peace in the subcontinent, there’s no point in India retiring hurt and not retaliating. Benazir Bhutto shed crocodile tears for India the other day because she’s in the opposition. Who knows she may revert to the ‘Indian dogs’ theory her father propounded should she return to power. Pakistan condemns and distances itself from such incidents but has no qualms in letting LeT and Dawood use its soil.
J.V. Reddy, Nellore
Is Anybody There, asks the Pak foreign minister about a counterpart (Jul 17). Don’t know about the FM, but India certainly doesn’t seem to have a PM. What we seem to have is a peon flooded with orders from various masters. Karunanidhi really nailed the joke about Manmohan being PM when he said the likes of A. Ramadoss, Arjun Singh are probably more courteous to their chauffeurs than they are to him.
V.R. Ganesan, New Jersey
The PM’s Rs 3,750-crore relief package came as no cheer for Vidarbha’s indebted farmers as it wasn’t linked to the real issue of suicides (Promises of Satin, Jul 17). In fact, word is, two days prior to the PM’s visit, officials handpicked seven widows of farmers who committed suicide, a sarpanch and 10 other influential farmers and coached them to ask the PM, "When will we get a factory, a dam or employment?"
Raj Bharadwaj, Mumbai
Your report Anatomy of A Cover-Up (July 3) makes baseless allegations against our client Apollo Hospitals and its chairman Dr Prathap C. Reddy. A renowned cardiologist and a ‘father figure’ in Indian healthcare, insinuations like "He’s a past master in handling (controversies)..." are most offensive when made against an individual of Dr Reddy’s stature. You have been most unfair in subjecting Apollo Hospitals to a media trial in the Rahul Mahajan case, making a political issue when none exists. Apollo did everything to save the life of a critically ill patient, when under somewhat similar circumstances another patient did not survive. The hospital has always met its commitment in providing world-class healthcare, irrespective of a patient’s status. Dr Reddy did not take any personal interest in the Rahul Mahajan case as you suggest nor do Raji Chandru’s phone records show her to be in constant touch with Harish Sharma or Dr Reddy. Mrs Chandru is in charge of patient services at Apollo Delhi and it’s part of her duty to alert the medical team and other staff in an emergency case. In high-profile cases which may evoke media interest, she has to keep the top administration informed as part of established hospital protocol. Nor is it correct to say that the Apollo staff has not been cooperating with investigating agencies or that they have refused access to Dr Reddy on grounds that he is travelling. Dr Reddy has in the normal course of his work been attending to his professional commitments both in India and abroad. Outlook’s associating Dr Reddy with Chandraswami and his trust is also false and in complete disregard to pending judicial proceedings. You’re also wrong in alleging Apollo botched R. Kumaramangalam’s treatment when his family has publicly appreciated all Apollo efforts in treating him. You cite a few misplaced individual cases, but what about the lakhs of patients who’ve successfully availed Apollo’s treatment?
B. Kewalramani, Perfect Relations, New Delhi
While Dr Reddy may not be above board, we all know about the harassment of aiims director Dr Venugopal. Is there any reason why he should stay on in India? Not only will he earn more abroad but also command respect. Blame not brain drain but politicians.
Gayatri Gahlaut, on e-mail
Most times Bibliophile is fun. But sometimes the malice betrays its ignorance. The item on nbt delegates to the Frankfurt Book Fair (July 17) asks who Altaf Tyrewala is. Tyrewala’s book, No God in Sight, was published by Penguin and was among the shortlisted novels for the Hutch Crossword Awards of 2006. Bombay-based Tyrewala himself was shortlisted for the Little Magazine New Writer Awards this year. The bemusement over him is no surprise since it’s largely Delhi-based writers or those writing abroad who make news, others from elsewhere who do hit headlines are treated like poor cousins who have turned up at a banquet.
Anuradha Kumar, Mumbai
Dalrymple’s The Last Mughal will interest students of Mughal arrogance, complacency and decadence, but his research of the period may well force a drastic review of perceptions about 1857 (Rising, Falling, Jul 3). Anyone who’s read a wee bit more on the event knows that, apparently, a conditional ban on cow slaughter was the main sop in enlisting majority support for the uprising. Proclamations like ‘Fateh Allah’ had been drafted by mullahs. Notable leaders like Nanasaheb, Tantya Tope, Laxmibai, Kunwar Singh and Beni Madhav had never concealed their subordination to Mughal imperialism. In regions where the uprising succeeded, the rebels constituted governments which were mainly run by erstwhile Muslim royalty or nobility and participation of Hindus was minimal, if at all. As Dalrymple writes, "The Great Mutiny has usually been told by the Marxist historians of the 1960s and 1970s primarily as a rising against British economic policies." That simplistic—if not motivated—picture will be considerably altered, especially since the author claims to have used hitherto untapped sources.
Bhalchandrarao C., Patwardhan, on e-mail
I was relieved to see someone taking a neutral stand on the Indian cricket team’s Tests win against the Windies (Between Cup And Lip, Jul 17). Unlike TV channels, you didn’t start hailing them as winners of the next World Cup. Nor did you brand them as losers or ask whether the coach, captain, or some players should be sacked when India lost the odis.
Amon Anis, New Delhi
How could VM rate cricket above football (Delhi Diary, Jul 10)? Cricket’s a game played only in a few outposts of the erstwhile British Empire; football is something the entire world enjoys. Time we renamed the Cricket World Cup as the Commonwealth cup.
Kurien Thomas, on e-mail
Just wondering. Did the Sangh parivar congratulate Sonia for Italy winning the World Cup?
H.N. Ananda, Bangalore
While on the subject, wonder why her party had to push The Mute Button and bring in a media regulation bill (Jul 17), when it has such a friendly media on its side?
Navdeep Hans, Delhi
