This refers to Kanika Datta's column "'West Bengal still on decline'" (Swot, January 15). After independence, Bengal was gifted with a bright chief minister, Bidhan Chandra Roy, who used to address the state as his "mother". He dedicated his life to the state, which was gripped with the insurmountable problem of refugee influx from East Pakistan.
Bengal had everything - good doctors, students, lawyers, advocates, economists, politicians and so on. The state was seen as a destination to learn something good in life. But then started the problem of creating opportunities. The migrants from East Pakistan were also talented and started posing serious competition to the aspiring youth in the state.
Then began an era of exodus of talented people from Bengal to other countries. Earlier, too, educated people travelled overseas, but with an intent to learn from the best in their respective fields and then return to their state. This was no longer the case with the new immigrants. So, the state started being gradually saturated with mediocre people at all levels, from politics to genetics.
A state can only prosper and sustain that prosperity when the sons of the soil are trained, dedicated and, most importantly, committed.
Ashok Chakrabarty Kolkata
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