The winner-takes-all society produces a few winners and a large number of losers who, in our perception, have lost the race of competitiveness. A person’s worth is not measured by his or her natural talents and strengths, but on the basis of his or her academic achievements and incomes. In order to stay competitive and win approval from peers, parents and society at large, young men and women pursue academic courses for which they have little aptitude and take up jobs where they end up as round pegs in square holes. It is we who are responsible for the invisible health risk that stalks India’s youth (June 22).
V.N. Mukundarajan , Thiruvananthapuram
It is surprising to learn that suicide is the second largest cause of death in India. The problem lies in making ostentation a virtue, on the one hand, and not caring about fulfilling the basic needs of most, on the other.
That is probably why the pangs of hunger become insufferable for people who see others having a 10-course meal, and exercising the privilege of wasting food.
Medha Arya,New Delhi
