SK Bhaumik has written succintly about the under-utilisation of the labour force in ‘Demographic dividend is not a given’ (April 21). When the abolition of archaic laws was taken up, addressing the issue of unemployment and under-employment among 20- to 30-year-olds was not on the agenda . Indian universities have produced several engineers; their services should be utilised. Let us Dalal Street, as the writer says, but also work on labour incentives to make the ‘Make in India’ story a success. Sitting on the fence helps nobody.

KS Raghavan

Mumbai

Reforms in education

This refers to the editorial, ‘A piece of paper’ (April 21). Indian education is one sector where huge cash transactions take place under the pretext of donation, capitation fee and so on. As there are too many regulators there is no common approach to screening, selection and curriculum, and many of the students thrive on private tuitions in the absence of intensive coaching in the institutions themselves.

The focus is only on examinations. And in the end, placements are not assured. Besides, campus interviews are restricted to only to cities.

In this context, opening education to foreign universities is welcome but it should be ensured that the cost of education does not go up substantially. Vocational training should also be given adequate importance.

M Raghuraman

Mumbai

There are three vital issues to be considered. One, infrastructure — ranging from proper buildings, power and technology, to well-connected road and transport facilities from rural areas to places where the institutions are located. Two, the faculty — most the educational institutions lack good teachers. In many schools located in villages, the teacher-student ratio is almost 1:80, even more. Three, the cost — this is an area of great concern.

The presence of foreign players will stir healthy competition in offering quality education but the government should not ignore the fact that the cost for rural people or the middle-class will be untenable. Even at a time when education is said to be a service, those at the bottom of the pyramid are struggling.

S Lakshminarayanan

Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu

The editorial reflects the lack of accountability and transparency in the education process, mainly due to an inefficient regulatory mechanism, given that recruitment is from the top 20 colleges in the country. Banks and other financial institutions should consider this before funding students for admission to these colleges. Opening up to foreign universities will serve as a boon to the economically weaker section with high aspirations. 

Vikram Sundaramurthy

Chennai

Window dressing

With reference to ‘No let-up in year-end window dressing by banks’ by NS Vageesh (April 21), it is a well-known fact that the balance sheet represents only the status or figures as on any given date, and does not give any information on overall performance.

In some banks, performance is measured by the annual average business level rather than on a particular day’s performance. Private sector banks can afford to measure on the basis of profits since they are mainly profit oriented. But public sector banks have a social responsibility and obligation to all stakeholders. It is time ratings and performance was based on continuous assessment and also some form of social auditing. Banks should be judged on how user-friendly they are and how they treat customers.

A well-structured social audit by customers should be introduced so that banks do not take them for granted.

M Sadashiva Rao

Mangalore

Erratum

b With reference to the item, ‘Srinivasa revises delisting schedule’ (April 16), Srinivasa Hatcheries Limited, in the delisting offer intimated to BSE, had stated that the last date for upward revision or withdrawal of bids was revised to April 23, 2015 as against April 10, 2015, and not as was mentioned in the report. The error is regretted.

Elitist attitude

This refers to your edit, ‘A piece of paper’ (April 21). We have a lot of talented students who score high cutoff marks and don’t find a place in the IITs and IIMs. This country and its hard working students need at least 100 IITs. The VIP culture makes sure that we don’t have enough IITs to give an elite status to the existing IITs. This should change. Inviting foreign universities is fine but education should be free for all and the quality world class. We have starved the elephant by way of cutting taxes for corporates and calling a Budget that drastically reduced corporate income tax a dream budget. The idea is simple, first starve the elephant (government) and eventually kill it, by private players taking over education and the healthcare system. We still have a overwhelming population of students who cannot pay for higher education; what will happen to them? Who is going to pay for their higher education?

CR Arun

Email

The edit should be treated as a call for a deep examination of what has gone wrong, and what steps are needed to be initiated to set the system right. At present the educational field has become a commercial area. The faculty are reported to be below the required standards. Banks offer loans for education but a lot needs to be done to improve procedures and make them easy to avail. The deficiency in skills is an area calling for attention.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Given the enormity of funds required for providing quality education which the government alone can’t provide, it seems pragmatic to attract more private capital to the education field by allowing ‘for profit” funding. However, this and the opening of foreign run colleges (involving high fees) would benefit the children of well-to do families only. Besides, the latter could lead to flight of faculty from Indian premier institutes at a time when we find it difficult to get good faculty.

The real focus of education reforms should be the cultivation of educated youth with a well-groomed personality, well-developed skills and high level of employability. Hardly 5 per cent of school educated youth have the requisite vocational skills and merely 33 per cent graduates are job-ready. Unless an integrated approach is adopted to modernise our education system, tinkering would be just dissipation of resources.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Old habits die hard

Window dressing is an age-old practice of banks, more particularly nationalised banks. It used to happen half-yearly and annually, now it happens every quarter. Now there are a number of options for the public to invest their money. Banks have no option to boost their balance sheet figures. Banks are not advancing to priority sector for fear of NPAs. The reason for mounting NPAs is lack of proper follow-up and delay in taking decisions. Banks are concentrating more on consumer loans. Though there are clear instructions from the controlling offices not to do window dressing, this practice has been going on even at the top level.

Sreedhara Murthy BN

Hospet, Karnataka

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