Written in the stars

Sir — The article, “Donkeys, stars, chief ministers” (Dec 20), by Khushwant Singh was delightful. It reminded me again of the unfortunate truth that even as we send the Chandrayaan-1 to the moon, we will not cease to believe in the stars. Many Hindi television channels devote a lot of time in the mornings to astrologers who make forecasts for the day. I wonder if any of these colourfully-dressed gentlemen and women had been able to predict on the morning of November 26 what awaited the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks.

Yours faithfully,
A.K. Ghosh, Calcutta

Value added

Sir — The report, “Tougher screening for PhDs” (Dec 24), regarding the tightening of rules for those doing research in India, raises many questions. More issues might be at stake here than what the officials of the human resource development ministry, which has allegedly received “a slew of complaints involving the grant of PhDs without adequate checks”, may have considered. It is true that the quality of research in the country has deteriorated over the years but a stricter screening process might not solve the problem.

It is because of the insistence on a doctorate degree for appointments in colleges and universities that there has been a sudden eagerness of students to be PhDs. As the number of students wanting to enrol for doctoral research has increased, there has been a decline in the quality of the work they produce. There has also been a flood of publications on research methodology in recent times but mastering the methods of research does not always improve its value. It is ridiculous to know that the HRD ministry feels that there can be a standard methodology of research. While some disciplines lay stress on qualitative analysis, other consider quantitative analysis to be of greater importance.

The new notification intends to prevent students from choosing their supervisors. But what is wrong with students wanting well-known teachers to be their guides? What is needed is a shift of emphasis from PhDs to quality teaching. There are many teachers who have earned the respect of their students without a page of published work against their names.

Yours faithfully,
P. Chattopadhyay, Calcutta

Sir — The editorial, “Down and out” (Dec 25), rightly points out that the policy of “educational populism” followed by the Centre has caused it to reject the “proposal to create an elite faculty post of professor of eminence in universities”. However, even if the post had come into being, who would have judged or selected the “professor of eminence”? Given the way education is politicized here, one would not be surprised if politicians of the ilk of Arjun Singh had been entrusted with the task.

Yours faithfully,
R. Subhranshu, Chandernagore, Hooghly

Ghost town

Sir — The majority of the tanneries that exist in Calcutta now are owned by Indian non-Bengalis. Previously, there were mostly controlled by the small Chinese community living in Calcutta. The government used the issue of pollution created by the tanneries as an excuse to drive the Chinese — who were a diligent and peace-loving people —out of India. It seems that the government’s sudden discomfort with the Chinese was the result of its electoral policies. Many of the Chinese have now left Calcutta, and the so called China Town is almost a ghost town. But the tanneries spread as much pollution as before, a fact emphasized by the recent Supreme Court directive demanding the closure of 68 tanneries in Calcutta (“Court deadline to shut down tanneries”, Dec 13).

Yours faithfully,
Asit K. Bhattacharya, Calcutta