M A I L B A G

Bihar needs principled, durable govt

IN the editorial “Bihar suspense” (April 5), one point which has come out clearly is that a fractured mandate and a healthy democracy do not go hand in hand. Admittedly, Bihar deserves an elected government and it is better to wait till leaders reach a compromise which is ethical and durable.

Under the conditions that exist in Bihar after the elections, only a coalition government can be formed for which a number of compromises shall be required. That would amount to saying goodbye to ethics. For the durability of the government, more compromises shall be made leading to the erosion of the government’s credibility. It is a sad scenario for a right thinking person.

A coalition government may come up after some time but it would be bereft of any political ideology. Hard bargaining by leaders and shrewd independents may ensure that the Chief Minister is unable to govern effectively.

Dr B.R. SOOD, Khiala (Jalandhar)

Restore counselling

Counselling for admission to MD, MS courses in State Medical Colleges, conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, has been abolished. The eligible candidates have to send their preferences before hand.

This is against the earlier practice, where a candidate was made to choose from the available seats at a particular time. This retrograde step taken by the university will make the admission process more vulnerable to pressures from the high and the mighty. I request the university authorities to restore the counselling process for ensuring transparency in the admission process.

Dr SACHIN KAUSHAL, Patiala

Improve quality of education The report that teachers will be penalised for poor results in Himachal Pradesh comes as a surprise. It would create more problems than solving. These rules have been there but no improvement in standards. The government has failed to check the copying menace. With this penalty, this menace will flourish. Dishonest teachers may encourage copying for good results. In school exams, teachers can manipulate to increase the pass percentage. Ultimately, the students will be the losers, further reducing the standard of education. If the government is sincere, it should improve primary education. There should be one teacher for one class instead of opening more schools. Quality is all that matters. Teachers should have tenure of at least five years in a school. There should be no injustice to anyone. Officials must inspect all the schools regularly. Late comers and absentees should be suitably warned. Teachers should be recruited through competitive tests. If we want to make our nation stronger, we must have truly educated teachers to produce good citizens. KAMLA BHARDWAJ, Sabathu (Solan)

Lessons to learn

This has reference to the report “Pak to get F-16s: Offers co-production of higher model to India”. Three lessons need recalling. First, having barely survived the bullying in our very own indigenous permit, licence quota Raj, it could be folly to submit to the rules and whims of a foreign chief controller of defence production.

Secondly, Pakistan had to absolutely grovel before Ms Rice who finally cleared F-16s, an indicator to what is expected from us. Thirdly, way back we bowed to salt, textile and indigo control by another foreign clique (Ms Victoria et al) whose successors, fortunately, left beguiled with chicken tikka curry in their veins. Cowboys being more hardheaded are unlikely to let the Indian cow pasture easily, considering their burger preferences. 

Lt-Col PREMENDRA SINGH (retd), Nabha

Scrap PCMS quota

The decade-old policy of 60 per cent reservation for PCMS by the Punjab government is ill-conceived and hence must go. One who joined PCMS four or five years back is doubly blessed. While being in regular service, he is given further preference in getting admission to MD, MS or MDS courses. This is not the case with fresh medical graduates who are given a step-motherly treatment in Punjab.

Baba Farid University has further slashed a Punjab-domicile medical graduate of other states the basic right to appear in the test. What a mockery! If Punjab is unable to provide jobs to fresh medical graduates, it should at least do away with the reservation quota for PCMS and also get the seats to PG courses enhanced so that their energy is channelised properly. This way the doctors will do private practice with PG degrees. The people will also gain by this.

Dr CHEEMA Y.V. SINGH, Ludhiana

Poor services

The quality of GSM mobile services (Trump and Dolphin) being offered by MTNL in New Delhi is shameful. Since January 1, 2005, the users of this mobile service in Delhi/ NCR region have been facing numerous problems while making and receiving calls on their mobile phones.

Most of the time during the day, the MTNL GSM network is in such a bad shape that the customers are completely blocked from making or receiving any calls on their mobiles. The same goes for sending/receiving SMS too.

My e-mails to top officials in MTNL including its Executive Director have failed to evoke any response.

AMIT BATRA, New Delhi