Lok Sabha election 2019
THE AAP government in Delhi has made stupendous strides in school education, primary health care, supply of water and electricity, and so on, in the short period of its tenure and would have done far more in many other sectors but for the hostility it faced from the Home Ministry via the Lieutenant Governor in administrative matters (“Uncertain advantage”, May 24). Actually, the Delhi government is a big joke as it is one without any control over the police, the foundational force of any justice system that is necessary to maintain law and order on a daily basis. Voters are put off by the BJP’s hostility and cheap gimmicks against its opponents, its pseudo-nationalism, its fake claims of development and for spreading hatred to polarise society to gain an electoral advantage. People are not happy with the Congress because Sheila Dikshit applied the brakes to Rahul Gandhi’s attempts to come to a seat-sharing agreement with the AAP.
M.N. Bhartiya
Alto-Porvorim, Goa
AFTER reading many stories in Frontline I have not understood why those who voted for the BJP or Narendra Modi in 2014 will not vote for the party or him again in 2019. Did people really vote for the promise of Rs.15 lakh in their bank accounts, smart cities, a clean Ganga, and so on? Of course not. At least the masses did not even talk about these things. Indians voted against corruption, price hike, minority appeasement, weak foreign policy and farmers’ distress.
And in this election, the opposition is not raising these issues convincingly so that they can be discussed. Instead, the opposition depended solely on rhetoric. It is to blame if the issues that concern people such as unemployment, health care and education did not come to the fore.
Sushil Kumar
Rajoi, Bihar
Supreme Court
RATHER than the allegation of sexual assault against the Chief Justice of India (CJI), it is the way in which the in-house disciplinary mechanism was conducted at the instance and direction of the accused party that has brought the Supreme Court into disrepute (“Not above the law” and “Justice on trial”, May 24). In 1733, Thomas Fuller coined an aphorism that is upheld as the benchmark of judicial propriety: “Be you ever so high, the law is above you.” It is disconcerting to note that this has been given scant regard.
Ayyasseri Raveendranath
Aranmula, Kerala
EVEN i f the in-house panel “found no substance in the complaint…” of a former Supreme Court employee, it should have provided her a copy of its report as she is entitled to it.
Ashok K. Nihalani
Pune, Maharashtra
Sri Lanka
NEWS of the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka sent shock waves across the world (“Attack and aftermath”, May 24). The terror attacks have left the country in the lurch. The international community and different political leaders have condemned the blasts in the strongest terms possible. The international community should help Sri Lanka come out of this crisis soon and to maintain communal harmony.
P. Senthil Saravana Durai
Mumbai
THE series of explosions in churches and hotels across Sri Lanka shook the conscience of the world. As the brutal attack was well planned after a thorough recce of the places where the blasts took place, it is clear that the local group that carried them out is backed by the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the carnage. What was really painful was the abject failure of the Sri Lankan government to take measures to thwart the nefarious designs of the perpetrators despite Indian intelligence alerting it about the impending disaster.
K.R. Srinivasan
Secunderabad, Telangana
The Maldives
THE result of the parliamentary election will help the Maldives turn a new page (“A new chapter”, May 10). It faced social, economic and political turbulence under former President Abdulla Yameen. The landslide victory of the Maldivian Democratic Party will strengthen the hands of democracy in the nation. The election result is a clear indication of the people’s wish for a democratic dispensation to be in power. One also hopes that India-Maldivian bilateral ties, which were thrown into disarray under the previous regime, will be realigned.
Vidhya B. Ragunath
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Manual scavenging
THIS is with reference to the article “Feet of clay” (April 12) and the interview with Bezwada Wilson (April 12). The “toiletisation” of India is the beginning of the end of manual scavenging. The community engaged in this work can rejoice now. A properly constructed septic tank empties itself. It has an outlet from which the sludge comes out and a vent for gas release. A septic tank only overflows if people put all kinds of stuff into it. The first thing to do in this situation is to open the outlet and try to unblock it. The tank can be emptied out with a simple tool: an aluminium pot (three litres) mounted on a long bamboo pole can be used to scoop out sludge without the need for anyone to get into the tank.
The alternative to the water toilet is the dry compost toilet. This is the solution to the issues of water shortage and environmental pollution. It does not cost much to construct, is environmentally sound, is easy to maintain and the “end product” is compost for the garden.
Govinda
Auroville, Tamil Nadu
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