M A I L B A G

Wheat trade won’t help poor farmers

Wheat trade with Pakistan augurs well for India, but it may not help Indian Punjab farmers much. The benefit will mainly go to the traders and government agencies because export shall be made from the stocks held by them. The government has consistently discouraged good infrastructure for the farmers to stock their produce.

The farmers are forced to dispose off their produce soon after the harvest, because they are at the mercy of the trader till government agencies come to their “rescue” at the support price (fixed by the government) which is hardly remunerative. The government is always anxious to keep the prices of the farm produce low to keep inflation to the minimum and make food products affordable for the poor.

While the Supreme Court had ruled long back that the government must ensure a minimum profit of 16 per cent for the industry, no such luck for the poor farmer. Even the Left parties are unable to help the farmers from indebtedness and suicides while the industry and trade are flourishing under the management of financial wizards like Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr P. Chidambaram.

ARIDAMAN SINGH DHILLON, Chandigarh

Not in the right spirit

The news-item, “No invitation for promotee officers” (July 23) marks an unsavoury episode in the Haryana administration. The Chief Secretary’s clarification for this discriminatory attitude to promotee IAS officers shakes the confidence of all other senior state officers in the impartiality of the high office.

I am sure, many directly recruited IAS officers would not endorse this partisan conduct even in extending personal invitation for a social get-together at his residence. As the Chief Secretary had invited some IAS officers of a particular seniority, he cannot say that other officers of the same cadre and seniority were unfit to join the party.

If a good Chief Secretary is fond of socialising among serving officers, he should invite senior officers from all other cadres too as the Governor and the Chief Minister occasionally do.

R.S. MALIK, IAS (retd), Panchkula

VCDs on Parliament

The government’s decision to relay the entire parliamentary proceedings and make it mandatory for the cable operators to beam them on Doordarshan channels is commendable. It will give the people across the country a real insight into the functioning of Parliament.

It would have been better if measures were taken to record the proceedings and sell these through VCDs in the open market so that people could watch the proceedings at leisure.

GURPREET SINGH JOHAL, Ludhiana

Favourite teacher

J.L. Gupta’s middle “Then and Now” (July 28) remindes me of our favourite Prof. Mahesh Chander as intensely as Mr Gupta. I still remember his locks of hair falling stubbornly on his forehead, and his unique and impressive way of shaking them off with a gentle jerk of his neck. Besides, he was an excellent teacher whom I miss.

KAILASH AHLUWALIA, Mohali

Lessons from Gurgaon For an objective analysis of the Gurgaon incident, one should get to the root of the problem. A police constable allegedly pays nearly Rs 1 lakh for recruitment. The amount increases proportionately according to the rank. So, most of them are corrupt. Once recruited, the man in khaki wields a danda to scare the people so that no one raises a voice against his misdeeds. People fear police for they are ruthless in their dealings as also in asking for chai pani. Once in their net, wrong or right, you have to suffer, physically, mentally and financially. So, no one wants to go to the police station. If this is the state of the police, how can it be a disciplined force? Who will check whom? Unless you are upright, you can’t check your subordinates. Then, what lessons one can draw from Gurgaon? It may have short time impact in controlling the danda. But the evil will continue as long as corruption thrives with the connivance of politicians. Here is an opportunity to the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government to prove itself. MADHU R.D. SINGH, Ambala Cantonment