NEW DELHI, March 13 -- Dear Shri Mohan Bhagwat Ji,

I was happy to hear your views on health and education, as expressed during a talk you gave in Haryana recently. There is a need to increase the government spending on public health and education and I know you have the power to have your wish fulfilled. If you monitor the figures, you will realise that India spends a lesser percentage of its GDP in these sectors than Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The government seems to think that the private sector should step in to fill the gaps little realising that even in the Mecca of capitalism, i.e., the United States, the government spends heavily on education and public health. In the US, an overwhelming majority of the students are enrolled in sc...