I wish writer had written a better article. It looks like she hasn't overcome her latest read book of Daniel Golden and writing a snapshot on that. IITs and IIMs have reservations - this is a fact. I am not sure about it, however, whether kids of Faculty members in IITs and IIMs do not have any kind of preference or a lower CAT? And, what is wrong with receiving donation from alumni? Many alumni do not give money to their colleges for admitting their kids but also as a respect towards their 'almamater'. Govt. cannot support all the institutions and donating to educational institutions was always considered respecful in Indian values (including religious values of Hindus & Muslims)- DAV movement is a live example. This concept is completely missing in India and IIT, as I know have started accepted donation from alumni - some of the publicly known exmples are Nandan Nilekani of Infosys and naming of Vinod Gupta School of Management. And, creating world class institutes takes year of hard work and they cannot be created overnight - I agree, Indian Govt. is slow, but the first step is to plan. Before 1991, who really cared about IIM's - they existed for 20 years. And, what about other renowned Universities we have - Delhi, JNU, Jadavpur, Shanti Niketan - they have produced winners of Nobel and other literary prizes. Its not only the technology or business which makes a successful society. Hope, an IIM Grad would be able to appreciate holistic view rather then concentrating on
