Carrybag ban and industry

THE Haryana government has banned the use of all types of polythene carrybags for packaging the goods traded/sold with effect from July 1. According to the notification the prohibition is upon the use of carrybags of all kinds being used by shopkeepers etc for the purpose of general packing and the material sold by them.

This prohibition does not apply to industries which pack their respective products with polythene bags; i.e. LDPE, HM and P.P. bags.

Surprisingly, local bodies are trying to enforce the ban on them also. Goods produced by milk plants, rice shellers, hosiery, handloom and carpet industries, paper industries, detergent powder and soap industries, salt industries, refined oil industries, namkeen and confectionery, and bread and bakery industries are under threat.

Use of polythene bags (other than carrybags) by these industries is unavoidable, since there is no substitute. If the above products are packed in any other material, they will go stale, deteriorate and moisten. Most of the products manufactured or produced by the industries are being exported to different countries and these are not allowed to be exported unless packed in plastic bags. Can the Haryana government afford to lose this valuable export business and foreign exchange revenue? Is it justified?

SUNIL DOGRA, SUNIL KAPOOR
Yamunanagar

Why equate India, Pakistan?

In her article, “A countdown to N-conflict?,” in The Tribune dated 14-8-99, Ms Tavleen Singh has ended with the prayer: “That our governments will discover how important it is to start talking to each other again.

A very good prayer, indeed. But why this advice to India, fully knowing that it was Pakistan which threatened India with N-bombing several times before we performed the Pokhran-II tests. Again, Prime Minister Vajpayee has unilaterally declared several times that India would never use the A-bomb against non-nuclear nations, and would never be the first to use it against nuclear powers.

It is said that a pigeon shuts its eyes on seeing a cat, and assumes that there is no danger. Does the writer want India to become a pigeon and refuse to see the reality?

Again, we know that Pakistan is a rogue State, and all the crimes its army and civilians commit are state-sponsored. Still the writer has made no distinction between India and Pakistan. This is crystal clear if we go through the article. We generally complain against the USA and other western countries that they do not make any distinction between India the victim, and Pakistan the aggressor. If our own writers and intellectuals do not make any differentiation, then why blame a foreign country?

ANAND PRAKASH
Panchkula

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Dues against MPs

In a recent public interest litigation, it was disclosed that an amount of about Rs 10 crore is to be recovered by the Department of Telecom from about 120 Members of Parliament, including 80 from the recently dissolved Lok Sabha.

The Election Commission should make it mandatory for all the candidates in the forthcoming elections to give a declaration that they do not owe any payment to the Department of Telecom or MTNL or any other government dues, and have not defaulted on loans from nationalised or cooperative banks.

In the case of company directors, even if by mistake they borrow some money from their company they are automatically disqualified. Likewise, unless politicians clear all their dues to the government or government-owned concerns, they should not be allowed to represent the people in Parliament or any other legislature.

M.R. PAI
Mumbai