Letters to the Editor — September 28, 2021

Marx and social justice

It is refreshing to find the Chief Justice of India citing Karl Marx and saying women have nothing to lose but their chains (Inside pages, “CJI backs 50% quota for women in judiciary”, September 27). Interestingly, E.M.S Namboodiripad was punished for citing Marx in justification of his statement that courts are instinctively with the rich and against the poor. The then Chief Justice of India, Justice M. Hidayatullah, said that EMS had not read Marx properly. The statement of the present Chief Justice of India has to be taken seriously and Marx’s works should be made a compulsory part of the legal curriculum so that courts become an instrument of social justice. The Chief Justice of India has made many more insightful statements in recent times which have to be read and implemented. This is the only way of breaking the shackles.

N.G.R. Prasad,

Chennai

Facing NEET

I would not go as far as terming Tamil Nadu’s case against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) as tilting at windmills because there is some merit in the argument that the test leaves out a large reservoir of poor students, especially those schooled in public-funded schools. At the same, the right diagnosis needs the right solution, and more so because other States also share the problem. Trapping the losers in victimhood or exempting them from the test will disempower future generations. Instead of demanding scrapping of NEET or diluting its standards, the Government should ensure that teachers walk the extra mile, raise their standards of teaching and equip the students to compete in the national test with confidence.

V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram

Candid Bishan Bedi

While the entire cricketing world knows Bishan Singh Bedi to be the magician of left-arm spin bowling, the spinner is equally well known for his candid views about the game. Even today, the genial spinner venerates cricket and feels distressed if someone tampers with the purity of the game. He has also had issues with the IPL.

R. Sivakumar,

Chennai