Article 356 and political parties

Mr T.V.R. Shenoy has correctly exposed the opportunism and double standards of major political parties with regard to the use of Article 356 (“Misuse of secularism and majority”, Sept 27).

But while doing so he has shown that he himself is no different from those whom he criticises. He fails to note that those in power today (the BJP etc) too have shown in the past exactly the same traits when in opposition. In addition, Mr Shenoy, while declaring that in “Bihar the criminals are the law”, does not say a word about Maharashtra where the same is not only blatantly obvious but the Chief Minister has also declared in the state assembly that he will not act against Mr Bal Thackeray, come what may.

In a nutshell, it can be safely said that apart from a few regional parties (DMK, SAD, etc), all the major political organisations have shown double standards on the issue of Article 356, and many of the media commentators are no different.

JAGDEEP KHAHRA, U.K.
(Received on the Internet.)

CBSE explains

With reference to the news-item captioned "CBSE rides roughshod over visitors's feelings" and a subsequent "clarifications" published by The Tribune, I wish to state the following:

The following report was baseless. September 29 was a gazetted holiday which was mentioned as undeclared holiday in the report. We serve the community as an educational body of the government and we can never think of causing inconvenience to the public. Those who visited the CBSE office on Maha Ashtami Day came there by mistake. The reporter concerned did not check the facts.

The name of the CBSE and my name have been dragged into an unnecessary controversy. We had made a submission earlier — on September 30, 1998 — to you with regard to similar misreporting aimed at denigrating our institution.

Kindly clarify through this letter of mine that the CBSE is a responsible organisation, every worker of which is bound by Government rules with regard to work and holiday. We have great affection for The Tribune but we want misreporting to end forthwith. We have full faith in your judiciousness and we expect that exemplary action will be taken to prevent such happenings in the future. We regret the inconvenience caused to a few persons who happened to visit our office on a gazetted holiday.

Y.P. KATYAL
Joint Secretary,
Central Board of Secondary Education,
Chandigarh

Plight of passengers

Haryana Roadways is not running any local bus from Panchkula to Chandigarh. As a result of this, passengers have to face a lot of inconvenience.

All the local buses plying between Panchkula and Chandigarh start from Zirakpur and other nearby places. When these buses reach the Panchkula bus stand, they are generally full to capacity, especially in the morning hours — between 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.. Passengers, mainly employees and students, have a tough time to board these buses. One can see a large number of such passengers waiting for local buses at the Panchkula bus stand.

Keeping in view the hardships being faced by the passengers of Panchkula, it is suggested that there should be at least 10-15 minutes’ bus service for Chandigarh, originating at the Panchkula bus stand.

Besides this, the present schedule of bus routes No 82A, 83, 84 and 85 should also be changed in a manner so that they are available at the Panchkula bus stand after every 10 minutes.

V.K.KAPUR
Panchkula

The Bihar scenario

This refers to the editorial “But Bihar needs to be saved”, dated 28-9-98. On the one side the editorial criticises the BJP-led Central government for using Article 356 to save Bihar, on the other hand it accepts that unmaking of Bihar has been done by “Princes” like the two Yadavs — Laloo and Mulayam. What the Central government should do in such a situation has not been spelt out.

It seems that either the President is not convinced about the realities in Bihar, or his perception of Article 356 is limited to making use of it only when it is not possible to form the government as per the Constitution. The heading of the Article 356 is “Provision in case of failure of constitutional machinery in States”. There is no explanation of the term “failure” in the Constitution.

It is clear that all those, including the President, have no moral right to shed crocodile tears once they have opposed the Central Cabinet’s decision. Let the people of Bihar silently suffer. If this is allowed to continue, people’s faith in the Constitution and democracy would erode.

ANAND PRAKASH
Panchkula

New phone tariff

The telecom tariff proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is not customer-friendly. TRAI has proposed to increase the telephone rentals in the urban areas by Rs 90 — from the existing Rs 275 to Rs 365 for two months from August 15.

Further, it has been planned to scrap the existing system of tariff in the slab of Rs 0.80-Rs 1.40, and instead new charges for a five-minute local call will be Rs 1.40 flat, which was earlier for three minutes. Also, the free calls have been reduced from the present 150 calls to 120 on a bi-monthly basis.

The sufferer will be the middle class residential subscribers, who will have to feel the pinch in the shape of these hikes for providing some relaxation in the rates for business users.

Although, it is a welcome step to reduce STD charges, but it should not be at the cost of middle class subscribers. Are these hikes justified?

SANJAY KHURANA
Chandigarh