National security

The excellent article “Questions of real national security” (Aug. 11) presents the image of present-day India. Education, which has become a commodity, is out of reach of the depressed and deserving sections. Agriculture, our mainstay, has been virtually taken over by MNCs. Politicians, the root cause of the state of affairs, are busy making policies that can return them to power. Worse, we are plagued by a flu called corruption. No one cares about bribing any more. The widespread worry seems to be that work is not done even after the offer of a bribe.

M.S.R.A. Srihari,

Khammam

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The article rightly calls for de-commercialisation of education. The nation is preoccupied with the needs of the defence sector at the cost of agriculture, education and health. But the conclusion that if the prevailing conditions continue, there could be a civil war in the next 10-15 years is exaggerated.

Vaibhav C. Ghalme,

New Delhi

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Of what use can a nuclear submarine be if we fail to check the falling standards in the fields of food, education and health? Multinational food companies will not save us from the impending ruin if we do not pay heed to the basic well-being of our country. Our concept of nationhood starts and ends with a farce called general elections and that’s about it, as far as the role of citizens is concerned.

Shubham Ghosh,

Kolkata

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I congratulate the author on making a realistic assessment of the situation prevailing in the country. He has rightly pointed to the three fundamental issues that need our utmost attention. The growing infiltration of MNCs in the agriculture sector is a genuine cause for concern. Today, the greatest challenge is food security. If we are reduced to depending on the MNCs for our agricultural inputs, all our earlier efforts at self-sufficiency will be rendered futile.

Nasir Ehsan,

New Delhi