MyVoice: Views of our readers 13th August 2020

Congress should allow young leaders to perform

This refers to the report 'Pilot returns to cockpit' (Aug 12). In all likelihood, the estranged young Congress leader Sachin Pilot will move to national politics for now withdrawing his claim to the CM's chair till next Assembly election. However, Ashok Gehlot got a breather as the Gandhis prevailed over Sachin Pilot in dropping his demand for his removal as a pre-condition for a return. Ashok Gehlot has got a sort of assurance of completing his five-year term. The rapprochement also meant that the court's decision on the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress would not impact the health of the Gehlot government even if the ruling is adverse. Incidentally, the compromise between Sachin Pilot and the Congress came at a time when BJP leader Vasundhara Raje dashed off to Delhi for the first time since the political crisis began in Rajasthan for a meeting with the Central leadership of the party. It comes as a pleasant surprise that Sachin Pilot softened his rebellious position and dropped his demand for a change of leadership in Jaipur. Hope the Congress will bring young Turks like Sachin Pilot to the national leadership so that it can bounce back to its old glory. After all, country needs a strong political party to save democracy!

Avinash Kulkarni, Hyderabad

AP wants only its fair share of water

The Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme is going to be the lifeline of farmers in the region. Any attempt to stall the project is not justified as the project is not going to affect the water needs of Telangana in any way. The Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme is not a new project taken up by the State government. Andhra Pradesh is drawing only the share allocated to the State in Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal 1 (KWDT). Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) is implementing the same. If left unfinished, the project is going to hit six districts hard. The project will only supplement the existing projects through the same existing canal system, and no additional ayacut or canal or storage is added. Telangana does not need to panic as Andhra Pradesh is not drawing even its legitimate share of water from Krishna river. At the same time, the projects taken up by Telangana will adversely cut into Andhra's share of water.

P V Prasad, Anantapur, AP

Who will fund to implement NEP?

Volumes have been written about the Centre's new National Education Policy. Some States have openly come out against some of the provisions of the policy. Though they are making tall claims about how the new policy will change the face of education in the country, it is doubtful whether the States have the capacity to honour the commitment for greater investment in education made on their behalf by the Centre. They can be persuaded to adopt the policy only if the Centre supports a sizeable chunk of the additional outlay that they have to arrange for. But, has the Centre the ability and the willingness to do this? The Centre's own record of spending on education has been dismal. The current public spending on education by the Centre and the States is around 4.43% of the GDP, of which the Centre's share has been only about 1%. Further, the Centre's spending on education has shown a steady decline during 2014-20, as a proportion of the total government spending as well as of the GDP. The education cess is no solution since it has already been meeting about 70% of the expenditure on education since 2015. So, where are the additional resources going to come from? The policy gives us no clue. Let us not count our chickens before they hatch.

Nandini Rao K L, Visakhapatnam