Black money
Black money is much talked about, and despite umpteen commissions and committees being set up to deal with it, the menace is on the rise The political will to reduce corruption is absent because of the nexus between a compromised political class and corrupt businessmen and corrupt sections of the bureaucracy, the police, and, to an extent, even the judiciary. This unholy network works towards self-enrichment, forgetting the fact that the nation is deprived of development with the creation of a parallel economy. The neoliberal reforms since the 1990s have only strengthened the generation of black money. Law enforcement agencies need to be stern in rooting out this monster. India is lawless today because its very system permits the growth of illegality.
Parthasarathy Sen
New Delhi
THE Cover Story covered a wide range of issues. The SIT will need to be backed by rulers with a strong political will if it is to successfully deal with the issue of black money. Thanks to Anna Hazare and his group of agitators who kicked up a row with the then government on the issue of the huge amounts of money locked up by Indians in Swiss banks, the issue received wide attention. The Aam Aadmi Party made this an election issue.
G. Azeemoddin
Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Crimes against women
IT is worrisome that women in India continue to be subjected to sexual assault and torture even after the widespread agitations that followed the December 2012 gang rape in Delhi (“A cry from Badaun”, June 27).
It was heart-rending to read about the recent rape and hanging of two teenage girls in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh. In another shocking incident in the State, the mother of a woman who was raped in Etawah district was beaten when she refused to withdraw her complaint against the accused.
Such events make one want to hang one’s head in shame though the politicians seem least bothered. The Chief Minister should chalk out a plan of action as early as possible as law and order in the State is deteriorating rapidly. This is the only way the Samajwadi Party will survive in the next Assembly election.
Jayant Mukherjee
Kolkata
Article 370
A.G. NOORANI pointed out that the abrogation of Article 370, building a Ram temple in Ayodhya and instituting a uniform civil code are constitutionally impossible to fulfil (“Impossible agenda”, June 27). But nothing is impossible or cannot be changed over time. It depends on the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the statesmanship of leaders.
Jacob Sahayam
Thiruvananthapuram
IF Jammu and Kashmir can be given preferential treatment because of its Muslim population, why are there not similar provisions for Sikhs in Punjab and Christians in the north-eastern region?
Although leaders keep on declaring that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, they do not allow Indians from other States to purchase property and settle there. No State deserves any special status. Even B.R. Ambedkar was against the formulation of Article 370. It is because of this Article that the Kashmiri people do not feel that they are citizens of India.
Vote-bank politics makes politicians retain Article 370, and the sooner it is repealed, the better it will be for national integration. Jammu and Kashmir has to depend on the Centre for everything, its revenue is not sufficient even to pay the salaries of State government employees. The Chief Minister’s attitude is tantamount to saying “You should help us in every way, but we won’t be loyal to you”.
S. Raghunatha Prabhu
Alappuzha, Kerala
THERE is a real danger of the BJP trying to up the ante in respect of some of its long-standing pledges on Article 370, the Ram temple issue and a uniform civil code. The rise of the party in the political firmament after its spectacular victory in the general elections has only made the push towards some action on these issues that much imperative, especially with the larger parivar breathing down its neck. However, any rash or lopsided move on such sensitive issues will definitely have catastrophic consequences for the secular fabric of the country besides pushing it to the unseemly spectacle of communal disharmony. The common man voted for the BJP as an alternative to the scam-tainted Congress and not so that it could indulge in divisive politics.
J. Anantha Padmanabhan
Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu
Gopinath Munde
B. Suresh Kumar
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Judiciary
INDIA should have a judicial appointments commission to appoint judges to High Courts and the Supreme Court (“From Bar to Bench”, June 27). Nepal has a Judicial Council, which makes recommendations for the appointment and transfer of judges and for disciplinary action against them. It is chaired by the Chief Justice of Nepal, and its ex-officio members include the Minister of Justice, the senior-most justice of the Nepal Supreme Court, a senior advocate or an advocate with at least 20 years of experience who has to be appointed by the Chief Justice on the recommendations of the Nepal Bar Association, and a person to be nominated by the Prime Minister from the jurists. The Judicial Appointments Commission in the United Kingdom appoints judges for High Courts.
Deendayal M. Lulla
Mumbai
Railways
T.V. Jayaprakash
Palakkad, Kerala
World Cup
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee
Faridabad, Haryana
Narendra Modi
THE Cover Story “Right at the centre” (June 13) explicitly conveyed the disdain the magazine has towards the BJP, particularly towards Prime Minister Modi. From the opening article, which mentions the “serious implications” of his huge victory, to the last one, which referred to legislative priorities, Frontline left no stone unturned in its effort to persuade readers that the new government may not be as promising as the public expect it to be, given the fact that it has been given a “fractured” India. I feel that Frontline could have been a little more positive about a man whose initiatives in one State have had an impact across the world. So, let us have a better outlook and be hopeful that the man at the centre, who is fully aware of the “state of the nation” and the “hard reality”, will be able to put things RIGHT.
A.S. Nair
Puducherry
WE are living in a morally and politically turbulent world. There are no easy or quick ways to bring about changes. Running a homogeneous State like Gujarat was easy, but running India is altogether different. Modi will try certain things to show he has new ideas, but the complex global geopolitical reality will prevent him from effecting any major policy shift though his spin masters are trying to create a picture of him as a man of original ideas.
Santhosh Veranani
Puducherry
Rakhigarh
Suresh Nandigam
Jaggayyapet, Andhra Pradesh
Elections
THIS is with reference to the interview with Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu (May 30). The composure with which he dealt with situations during the elections is commendable. People would never have seen an election conducted in such a decent and strict fashion in the past 40 years or so in Tamil Nadu. On election day at polling booths, the atmosphere was calm, not emotionally charged, which made people enjoy voting as much as if they were attending some social function.
B.B.C. Chandrasekar
Madurai, Tamil Nadu
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