Letters on November 1 Issue

The article “Indecent Proposals in Economics” by Ankur Sarin (November 1, 2019), on Randomised Control Trials is brilliant. It needs to be sent to all functioning Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the country as also to all teachers of Economics.

This is an astoundingly frank and un-garnished view of the lengths of insensitivity and crudeness to which 'RCT-inspired economics research' can apparently be stretched. The author deserves to be congratulated for some salutary straight-talking.

This refers to the article by M.A. Kalam '’The Closed Nature of Indian Universities” (November 1, 2019). The writer provides no evidence for what he is stating. He has not named one Indian institution where what he states is prevalent. Such an article will have validity only if provides verifiable proof of what are essentially assertions.

There is absolutely no evidence of any kind at all of either the so called Varna system or Brahmins or the caste system having anything to do with what ails our universities. These are in my opinion completely irrelevant to the topic of nepotism and inbreeding in our universities. These references have  spoilt what would have been otherwise an excellent article. This is unfortunate. M.A. Kalam has indeed pointed out several important issues that deserve the reader's attention without being obfuscated by his bias and false assertions.

The piece on “Common Service Centres” in November 1, 2019 issue is truly eye-opening and alarming. The most outrageous is the extent to which the panchayat structure is being undermined (this being one among many endeavours to that end), not to mention the fact that documents and certificates ought be the right of any citizen and not a money-making exercise.