salaries and benefits. One wonders
what is being done with the funds col-
lected through the education cess. An
investment in education is an invest-
ment for the future.Stop Ecocide Now!
LUCKNOW Arvind Mishra: Refer to
All Is Not Well (June 24), your story
covering the alarming drought in
Maharashtra. Fresh water is the
Earth’s single-most important reso-
urce for all life forms. The water crisis
in Maharashtra is a calamity of na-
tional emergency proportions. Then
why isn’t it being talked about enough
on the media and why is it relegated to
some state issue? We have an impover-
ished and brutish understanding of
non-human issues in this era no won-
der writers like Amitav Ghosh are
questioning modern progress for its
myopic vision of natural resources. A
part of being modern essentially lies in
one’s capacity to exploit resources.
Politicians exploit human and culturalresource while corporations exploit
natural resources. This attitude is so
deep seated in societies that we think
of calamities like drought as being only
a sad twist of fate. It is not just that
good folk, it is the result of decades of
exploitation of nature. And the people
of rural Maharashtra are the victims of
this. For those who think the political
narrative is lost to a right wing in
India, let’s consolidate politically for
nature, and we will get to the real cul-
prits. Fascism and anti-ecologism go
hand in hand, I strongly suspect.Expert in Saddle
AMRITSAR Lal Singh: This refers
to your story on the new external aff-
airs minister (A Spark Lit Externally,June 17). An expert in external affairs
has taken over as external affair minis-
ter. S. Jaishankar’s priority should be
to ensure that India gets a fair global
coverage, as India has not been getting
a good press in North America and
Europe. Jaishankar will have to be
concerned about why India got so little
hearing in the international media
after the Balakot air-strikes. Not even
in some countries with controlled
media, which otherwise are friendly to
India, was there any favourable cover-
age. Jaishankar, with his expertise on
Russia and China, should come handy
in getting to the roots of the reason
why the Modi-led Indian government
has been getting a bad press in the past
two years in some western countries.
It had become quite evident that Modi
was handling foreign affairs and policy
singlehandedly, and the previous min-
ister had hardly any say. Now, Modi
can benefit from Jaishankar’s expert
opinions whenever he needs it.Times They Aren’t A Changin
LUCKNOW M.C. Joshi: The cover
story What Youth Think (June 17) rev-eals startling facts about the Indian
youth. Two-thirds of those surveyed
say they visit a place of worship (obvi-
ously, that of the religion they belong
to) at least once a week. Interestingly,
the number of males and females who
go to a religious place daily is similar,
though the former are more likely to
visit multiple days a week. It is signifi-
cant that the role models of 75 per cent
of youngsters are someone within
their family. Eighty per cent prefer
marriage over other relationships and
a majority are not fine with premarital
sex. These findings contradict the gen-
eral perception that our youngsters are
westernised and detached from reli-
gion, relationships, roots and our cul-
tural ethos. If youth in the metros
think politicians are harming India
even more than terrorists, it is politi-
cians and their politics that are at fault.ON E-MAIL Nitin Lal: What beef
does the youth have with pornstars?
They are harmless professionals who
are making a living out of what is
surely a demanding job in an exploita-
tive industry with no pension plan.DRY CIRCLE In drought-hit PalgharA Protean Talent
FARIDABAD Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee: This
refers to Lilette Dubey’s tribute to Girish Karnad
(Boiled Beans on Toast, June 24). In his passing,
we have lost one of the greatest personalities of
our times. In our youth, Girish Karnad was a name
to reckon with—not only as a path-breaking mod-
ernist playwright, but as a powerful actor in some
of our best movies. Ankur (1974) was a landmark
in his career, and in Nishant (1975), he played
a part in a movie that took a step in the direction
of dismantling feudalism. In the unforgettable Manthan (1976) too, Karnad
played a fictionalised version of Verghese Kurien, the great architect of the
AMUL collective and the milk revolution. Then there was the TV series
Malgudi Days, still enduringly popular with the masses. To me, like many
others, the staging of his inimitable Tughlaq, staged against the impressive
backdrop of Delhi’s Purana Qila by the great Ibrahim Alkazi, remained
an unfo rgettable experience. Karnad’s invo lvement with cinema decreased
in later years, but as a playwright he was prolific—writing many plays in
a four-decade long career. Mostly taking off from history and mythology, he
used these entry points and backcloths to comment on contemporary India
and its manifold evils. Karnad, besides being such a towering literary figure,
was a man of steadfast morality. Many do not know that the Gnanpith,
Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee had to face the ire of violently
agitating Kannadigas when Karnataka and Tamil Nadu fought over the
Cauvery water sharing tribunal’s judjment. Karnad’s was a lone voice urging
Karnataka to gracefully accept the tribunal’s award. His house was not only
pelted with stones, but it also sustained damage. Still, Karnad stood his
ground and made everyone see reason. Such was the greatness of the man.INBOXED
letters6 OUTLOOK 8 July 2019