The winners of Rs 3000 are...

The indian guinea pigs
In the article “A trial for clinical trials”, Prasoon S Majumdar has raised the crucial issue of drug test and experiment at the cost of thousands of innocent lives (TSI, Sep 12-18). The lower class of India which is generally illiterate and unaware of their rights has always been a soft target of exploitation and atrocities. The multinational drugs giants do the same with them in the name of research and development. The loopholes in our drug policy and corruption allow these drug companies to play with the lives of the poor masses and test all their new drugs without any kind of fear and legal complications. According to some agencies in 2010 more than 600 people lost their lives due to improper drug test but the number could be higher as many cases of drug test mishap do not appear in written records.
Gopal Jee Singh
Ballia, UP

Thorns to competition
It was indeed fitting to get the book “Thorns to Competition” authored by Arindam Chaudhuri and Rajita Chaudhuri launched by Badshah of Bollywood - Shahrukh Khan. The students of IIPM would sure feel inspired with this event as are the readers of the article “I’m the best” by Arindam Chaudhuri (TSI, Sep 5-11). The book detailed the competition beating strategies in the corporate world. And it is Shahrukh Khan who has made and remade the laws of celluloid success. Despite not having the cushion of a film lineage, Shahrukh Khan has made it to the top by virtue of his own steam. If one thing Shahrukh has never shied of, it is taking challenges head on. He dared to have three back-to-back releases as an anti-hero in the form of Baazigar, Darr and Anjaam quite early in career. Even his latest release My Name is Khan dealt on a difficult theme on the condition of a religious minority in US after 9/11. It is that spirit of adventure, the urge to take on risks and the constant striving to improve that sets Shahrukh a class apart.
Ila Das
Kolkata

Brilliant write up
Spriha Srivastava’s write-up “The divine bond” (TSI, Sept 5-11) was a thought-provoking and highly motivating description of what we may call reminiscence of salad days of scholastic life. Our biggest dilemma today is not the pedagogy, nor the pupil and never the predicament of present education system. We are being given fish for a day’s feed but not the know-how of catching it. We are expert in learning our lessons by rote but not at all concerned with fast diminishing moral, ethical and spiritual values in the society that we inhabit. Millions of degree and diploma holders are churned out every year by the so-called factory like production units of schools and colleges but what about the qualities of learning in them? Martin Luther King’s said: “The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at the time of challenge and controversy”.
Shreeprakash Sharma
Samastipur, Bihar