Date:10/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/10/stories/2006051005751005.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Hollow argument

This refers to the article "Eviscerating a holy cow" (Open Page, May 7). It is evident that it has been written just to be on the politically right side of the debate on proposed reservation to OBCs in IITs and IIMs. The main argument that IITans are not all that they are made out to be and so there is no question of reservation diluting intellectual quality is hollow.

What is wrong if a student seeks the help of coaching institutions to get an edge in a highly competitive field? Surely, no coaching institution can make a horse out of a donkey. Only the `forward class' is complaining, the author laments. But it is also the one that is hurt most by reservation.

N.K. Raghavendran,
Bangalore

Any analysis of an issue calls for objectivity. The unilateral denunciation of IITs by the author exposes the article for what it is.

Sandhya Shekhar,
Chennai