Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

On reservation

This refers to Infosys chief N.R. Narayana Murthy's observation that reservation in IIMs and IITs will not help the disadvantaged sections and that the solution to backwardness is not to reserve seats for low performers but to provide extra coaching, nutrition, and financial support at the primary and secondary levels (Aug. 4). True, reserving a few seats will not help all the disadvantaged in the long run but it will help at least a few. If his solution is complemented by reservation, it will produce good results in the long run. Mr. Murthy should appreciate the importance of quotas too.

D. Solomon Arulraj,
Leuven, Belgium

* * *

Mr. Murthy's theory will have sufficient takers in his class. Conveniently the group he belongs to ignores the fact that meritorious candidates from backward communities were deprived of selection in all elite departments till the Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented. He should look into the selection list of IIM-B since its inception and please find out how many OBCs have been selected over the years. In the progress of any society, anthropology and history have their own lessons to tell. Unfortunately, Mr. Murthy knows only the science of bits and bytes.

V. Praveen,
Bangalore

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