Do India's Young Care About Others? (int'l edition)

I read with dismay about ''India's Youth'' (Asian Cover Story, Oct. 11)--bright-eyed with hope and enchanted by the Pied Piper of consumerism. But I fear they are fated to suffer an early loss of faith and disillusionment. The technologies that excite them--computers, the Internet, and communications--must rest on a foundation where basic needs are fulfilled.

For example, I failed to see any expression of concern for those less fortunate than themselves among the young people you feature. One shudders with apprehension.

A.K. Luke
Ahmadabad, India

Abortion Is No Way to Control Crime (int'l edition)

In ''Does abortion lower the crime rate?'' (Economic Viewpoint, Sept. 27), Robert J. Barro's numbers speak for themselves. In the time since abortion was legalized, the U.S. crime rates have dropped. By liberalizing abortion laws even further, one could eliminate crime altogether.

The idea of curing social evils by eliminating undesirable births or people is nothing new. It was practiced in the Middle East in ancient times; it is still practiced in parts of India. Some European states toyed with the idea of ''weeding'' out certain races. That was during the first half of this century.

It is hard to lay out a formal proof that human life is sacred, but faith in the sanctity of life has been the sheet anchor of our civilization. Why would a post-Holocaust generation--conditioned by indifference to human life--be less prone to criminal tendencies than its predecessors? One would have expected some insight and introspection in dealing with a subject such as abortion. Instead, the writer carefully avoids significant topics such as the role of recent socio-political changes or the progress in information technology.

The American penchant for the bizarre and the silly knows no bounds. Two years of probing into the close encounters between Bill and Monica have not blunted the nation's appetite for the morbid.

Shah Amm Siddiqui
Dhaka, Bangladesh