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The Lure of the IITs

Education provides a ticket to get out of the dehumanizing poverty which is still a reality for many Indians.

In the case of the IITs, it's a passport to prosperity for the vast majority of middle-class Indians.

Very few HRD ministers seem capable of resisting the desire to meddle with the IIT JEE.

The latest move to give more weightage to scores in Class 12 seems designed to reduce the role of the coaching institutes.

Teachers in some of these institutes get a whopping 2 crores per annum. That was quite an eye-opener. But, it's just capitalism at work - meritocracy in full bloom. So, nothing wrong with that.

Although, one might argue that the skill to enable someone to qualify through the JEE should not be valued so much.

It just shows how much competition there is in India to try and get into these institutions and thereby ensure a prosperous life.

It's a complex web of events indeed.

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