As usual, Rajiv Desai has produced a well written and very interesting article. To me this is the first comment I have read that tackles this very important Indian issue.
The privilegentsia exists in Canada too but they are a dying breed. They come from the old Scottish financiers and builders of the Canadian Nartional Railways and the Banks and Financial Institutions that make up Toronto's Bay Street. There were challenged by the Jewish community but were able to withstand the assault. The latter now occupy the second rung of this priviligentsia in Canada. There are of course a few Indian lone rangers like Prem Watsa of Fairfax Holdings who are in the same league but kept at a distance from the Bay Street crowd. Nevertheless they occupy their niche and cannot be ignored due to their genius and financial clout. There are many capable Indian and Chinese immigrants who are well qualified and proven enough to get senior executive positions but are denied them. There is a sort of glass ceiling imposed. With some exceptions like Bharat Masrani of TD Financial Group who ranks along with the Chairman of one of Canada's big 5 banks, the ceiling for Indians generally remains at the Vice Preseident level. Not for long. Indians and Chinese are now the major enrollment at Canadian Universities and it will only be a matter of time that the Big Boys of Bay Street will die off and their children, unable or uninclined to keep their fathers' stranglehold on what used to be their family fief, will have no choice but to place the Canadian Indian and Chinese second and third generation in key positions. It's a matter of numbers and the Canadian system of student loans that offers every Canadian boy and girl who wishes to study to whatever level, the ability to finance their own education if parents are unable to afford it. It is mostly this taking of loans and repayment of them that engenders humility and respect and prevents occurence of the phenom of louts in India that Rajiv talks about. Roland. 416-453-3371 On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 1:19 AM, Rajiv Desai <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Tuesday, June 17, 2008 > Education: India's Achilles Heel > > Caught between Elitism and Crassness