MyVoice: Views of our readers 15th January 2026

End outrageous religion-based education system

Education is a fundamental right, and it must be accessed by every citizen, irrespective of one’s religion, caste or creed. In this context, the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) decision to withdraw permission for the 2025–26 MBBS batch at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Jammu and Kashmir raises serious constitutional and ethical concerns. The withdrawal is deeply troubling as the institution had received approval just four months back for meeting all academic, infrastructural, and clinical standards. Such a sudden reversal, driven by protests over religious identity, cannot be defended as an academic decision. Incidentally, of the 50 students to get admission, 42 were Muslims, who had secured their seats on merit after having cleared NEET examination, a religion-neutral test.

Denying or disrupting their education amounts to punishing merit and rewarding prejudice. No individual or organisation has the right to obstruct education merely because students belong to a particular religion or community. Linking institutional funding to religious offerings is legally invalid and morally flawed. The medical college is not a minority institution, nor do existing rules allow religion-based allocation or exclusion of seats. Education is not a freebie to be distributed based on ideological preferences; it is a right meant for eligible and deserving candidates. The precedent is alarming: yielding to communal pressure erodes academic autonomy and violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equality. NMC undermines its own credibility and sends a dangerous signal that merit can be overridden by majoritarian pressure. Such actions weaken trust in institutions and betray the promise of equality.

Vishal Mayur,Hyderabad

India can take advantage of FTA deals

This is in reference to the THI (Jan 14) editorial, ‘Trade deals with EU, US; Govt. must not yield to pressure groups’. Despite getting a raw deal in the bilateral trade with the US, the country is in the process of exploring numerous other options to offset the imbroglio created by Washington, by way of irrational and irresponsible tariffs against India that seem to stem from whims and fancies of President Donald Trump.

India is in the process of extending a liberal and friendly hand to Great Britain, Canada, and Germany by way of a free trade agreement (FTA) that will prove quite beneficial to these countries in their fight against rising rates of inflation, and trade uncertainties with the US. India’s engagement with the world reflects its determination not to get entangled in economic isolation.

K R Venkata Narasimhan,Madurai

Promoting EVs makes for economic sense

Apropos ‘EV market getting charged up in India’ (THI Jan 13). India seems to be keeping her tryst with clean, sustainable and self-reliant transportation in a decisive manner. The most significant roadblock to the EV sector is a dearth of charging points. As this issue is being addressed in earnest, people’s reliability on EV has shot up significantly. After duly pursuing the ‘Aatmanirbar Bharat’ vision, especially in the manufacture of batteries, the government should have charging points across the country so that the automobile sector will be on the superhighway of low emission.

Dr George Jacob,Kochi

Scrapping 10 minutes ‘delivery’ is a welcome step

The Union Government scrapping the “10 minutes delivery” claims of e-commerce platforms is a welcome safety step given that the life of delivery workers, who race against time to honour the delivery deadline, is at constant risk on the road. I wonder why when everyone knows that “speed kills”, such a business strategy was allowed in the first place.

Sreelekha PS,Secunderabad-61