Bihar elections

In rejecting the Rashtriya Janata Party, the people of Bihar have conveyed a very important message to the State's leaders and politicians - that they cannot be fooled all the time with the caste/religion card (Cover Story, December 16). Development and the government's performance matter. The role of Election Commission adviser K.J. Rao in conducting one of the most `free and fair' elections in Bihar has to be appreciated. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar must remember that he has inherited a "crown of thorns" and that ruling Bihar will not be a cakewalk. While law and order need to be improved on a priority basis, problems such as illiteracy, the lack of sanitation, health care, safe drinking water and good roads and power shortage should be addressed. With Sushil Kumar Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party becoming the Deputy Chief Minister, the party should now play the role of a responsible partner of the Janata Dal (United) and not keep demanding its `pound of flesh' from Nitish Kumar.

S. Balakrishnan Jamshedpur, Jharkhand* * *

Nitish Kumar should be thankful to Governor Buta Singh for dissolving the Assembly instead of allowing him to form a ramshackle Ministry in February, which would have been unstable. He now has a big task before him. Administration in the State is a shambles, as the Jehanabad jailbreak showed. It is security and economic prosperity that people want most.

J. Akshobhya Mysore* * *

The National Democratic Alliance, which is expected to bring in the desired socio-economic changes in Bihar, is a bundle of contradictions. Nitish Kumar faces a daunting task.

Sudesh Kumar Sharma Kapurthala, Punjab* * *

Abuse of power, arrogance, gun culture, rampant corruption and nepotism were the chief features of the RJD rule in Bihar. Nitish Kumar has the task of reviving Bihar as a progressive and prosperous State.

K.C. Subhash Chandra Bangalore* * *

The open letter to Nitish Kumar by R.K. Raghavan (Column, December 16) could be addressed to the Chief Ministers of most other States because the criminal justice system in the whole country is in a bad shape.

Kangayam R. Rangaswamy Madison, United StatesBelgaum dispute

The people in Belgaum should decide which State is better for them, Maharashtra or Karnataka, both ruled by the Congress ("A dispute revived", December 16). The problem cannot be solved on the basis of the two linguistic groups of the population.

Shiv Shanker Almal KolkataJyoti Basu

It is rare to find a politician who says "We have not done this" or "We have not done enough". Jyoti Basu's plainspeaking shows that the Left means business ("The Left Front has provided an alternative model of government", December 16).

Hari Virudhunagar, Tamil NaduKolkata metro

It is a fact that Kolkata's metro railway is very clean and the traffic very smooth ("Metro matters", December 16). The utilisation rate of the comfortable transportation system can be improved by bringing the fares down.

T.V. Jayaprakash Palakkad, KeralaIT sector

The Left parties are right in asserting that the people working in the Information Technology sector should have the right to strike ("Not all sunshine", December 3). If doctors, municipal workers and railway employees, whose services are essential to the people and economy of the nation, are permitted to organise themselves and go on strike, I do not understand the rationale behind denying this right to employees of the BPO sector by terming it an essential service.

Since BPO employees are exploited to the hilt from sunrise to sunrise, it is essential to protect them from unscrupulous employers.

K.P. Rajan MumbaiPakistan-occupied Kashmir

I am Sardar Usman Ali Khan, grandson of Sardar Qayyum, former President and Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir. I have serious objections to the article "People speak out" (November 4). I have not written any article or letter to Pakistani newspapers under the heading "Plea from Azad Kashmir" as you have mentioned. I need to know the name of newspapers and the date when it was published in Pakistan. I am totally shattered by the way you have repeatedly referred to me as "letter-writer" and "he wrote". I categorically state that I have not written any article in any newspaper whatsoever. I strongly believe in the ideology of "Kashmir banega Pakistan" (Kashmir will merge with Pakistan).

Let me also tell you that this is the first time that the civil society segments who used to oppose and criticise Pakistan, the Pakistan Army and the ideology of "Kashmir banega Pakistan" are totally speechless. There is a strong recognition in the heart of Kashmiris for the role of Pakistan Army and the civil society of Pakistan in providing immediate relief and for persistent efforts to save and rehabilitate the earthquake victims. Azad Kashmir is open for all and you are more than welcome to analyse for yourself what I have just written.

I have personally met representatives of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and they said that "it seems that we are in the most civilised part of the world". They had worked in tsunami-hit areas and in many different regions of the world, affected by similar disasters. Almost all of them are convinced, like the United Nations, that the earthquake is much more severe than the tsunami.

Sardar Usman Ali Khan Azad Kashmir, PakistanB. Muralidhar Reddy writes:

Usman Ali Khan's anguished article was published in the English-language daily, The Post, of October 14, 2005. (https://www/thepost.com.pk/Arc_OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=8570&catid=11&date=10/14/2005&fcatid=14)

We have carried excerpts in good faith and without any motives. Mr. Khan had said much more. In fact, we did say it could be the lament of a concerned and traumatised citizen.

Change in dates: