M A I L B A G

A foreigner should not become PM

Foreigners should not occupy constitutional posts of the President, the Vice-President and the Prime Minister. Is the Congress party so politically bankrupt that it wants a foreigner to become Prime Minister? If the Congress succeeds in this, it will tantamount to foreign rule and hence a matter of national shame.

India is a big country with a 5,000-year-old civilisation. It is not a country of immigrants. So let only natural-born Indians rule this country and guide its destiny. The US, which is a 200-year-old democracy, has debarred a foreigner to be its President. Under the US Constitution, only a natural-born citizen can become its President. Why can we not emulate this practice in India?

All patriotic forces in the country should unite to thwart this conspiracy to push India into a shameful spell of foreign rule. Parliament should amend the Constitution barring foreigners from holding any constitutional post and important government positions.

Wg-Cdr GURMAIL SINGH (retd), Chandigarh

II

Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her children, Priyanka and Rahul, are lucky as greatness is being thrust upon them whereas Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee has achieved greatness through a long and spotless political career. He has proved his worth to the nation in various capacities. He is also honest and hard-working.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi, however, is no match for Mr Vajpayee’s statesmanship and vision. She is inexperienced, immature and ignorant about the Indian culture and civilisation. She cannot express her views properly. As she cannot speak extempore and addresses meetings only by reading out prepared speeches, she does not know the significance of what she speaks.

After the fall of the Vajpayee government by one vote, she urged the President to instal her as Prime Minister without ascertaining whether she has the majority support in Parliament. Can such a person lead the nation of over one billion people?

VARINDER KUMAR, Mansa

Roots of crisis

I fully endorse the view in the editorial “Teachers as predators” (Feb 11) that “the Indian system of higher education in its present form simply does not encourage the blossoming of genuine scholarship”. Most Indian guides (except a few honourable exceptions) remain avuncular, feudal and domineering in their routine interaction with the research scholars.

Such mediocre scholars who happen to supervise the research work also derive a sadistic pleasure in harassing particularly those scholars who dare to adopt an original line of thinking and refuse to ditto their ideologies or basic convictions. Two or three decades ago, most university teachers were kind enough to encourage and help brilliant students and they gracefully allowed young scholars to differ with them. Now it is dangerous to argue with one’s teacher.

In such an ambience, Ms Puneeta Verma feels naturally cheated and humiliated. She has already published several research papers, yet she is waiting for her doctorate degree. This is really shameful and disgusting.

Dr R.B. YADAV DEHATI, Fatehabad

II

It is shameful that in a country like India, lady research scholars are harassed and exploited. A friend of mine, also a research fellow under the same guide at Punjabi University, Patiala, had been working for more than four years. He was senior to the harassed girl. Seven of his research papers in physics had been published in research journals of international fame. However, in spite of excellent research work, he could not get a Ph.D. degree because the guide was reluctant to accept his thesis.

The student tried his best to persuade the guide to cooperate, but in vain. He was very much shocked as his career was at stake. The guilty teacher has been penalised, but who can make up the loss incurred by the victims? The university authorities should take steps to compensate the loss suffered by the harassed research scholars.

KULWANT RIKHI, Patran

III

Whether Dr. Verma is guilty of misconduct or not would be decided in due course, but to cast aspersions on the entire teaching community is unwarranted. What is under scanner is that why it is only after the Supreme Court judgment in the Vishakha Dutta case of 1997 that such cases have dramatically increased. It is definitely not because of the media being alert and the teachers suddenly becoming predators and perverted.

Being in the thick of the system of higher education for over 30 years, I feel that when the scholar is not able to pull on well with the supervisor (academically), he/she resorts to such tactics.

Under the present definition of sexual harassment, it is almost impossible for the accused teacher to prove his innocence, however divine and irreprehensible he could be.

CHANDRA BALA K. MANKOTIA, Chandigarh

Bids for PACL

Apropos the news-item “Bids for PACL to be invited again” (The Tribune, Feb 10), I have been misquoted in this report as having said that “the Commission is expected to take a decision in this regard by month-end”. In fact, I had said that while the petition is being heard by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, no time-frame can be given as regards the final decision.

VINI MAHAJAN, Director-cum- Secretary, Department of Finance, Directorate of Disinvestment, Government of Punjab, Chandigarh