EDITORIALS

Return of terror
Need for tighter vigil in Jammu and Kashmir

THE terrorists struck in a big way when they killed six civilians and a jawan in the Samba sector in Jammu and Kashmir. This happened just three days after the bid by heavily armed infiltrators to sneak in from the Pakistani side of the border with the active support of the Pakistan Rangers was reportedly foiled by the BSF. Sunday’s attack raises doubts about the claim that the infiltration bid was foiled. Even if the two militants, who were killed in the 12-hour encounter with security forces, came in through some different route, the revival of such incidents is a matter of deep concern. After all, this is the first major terror strike since the 2002 Raghunath temple attack in the plains of Jammu. Since it comes in an election year and close to the annual Amarnath yatra, the intention of the killers to spread fear and cause mayhem is clear. Among the persons killed by the militants were Hoshiar Singh, state general secretary of the newly formed Indian National Democratic Party and his wife. That points to a desperate attempt to disturb the elections and scare politicians away from the fray.

The Intelligence Bureau has reportedly blamed the renewed infiltration on the dip in the alertness of the BSF. After all, years of relative quiet can lead to complacency setting in. But experience has been that such deceptive calm is always used by the enemies of the nation to recoup and strike back exactly when everyone convinces himself that things are on the mend. Such attitude can be suicidal in Jammu and Kashmir, thanks to the mischief afoot across the border. Needless to say that the vigil has to be stepped up post-haste.

Even the Indian Army chief has pointed out that the infiltration bids are very much on. These can become all the more prevalent when the snow melts and the passes become functional. To avoid a repeat of Sunday’s brutal killing of soft targets, it is necessary that all possible precautions are taken even when everything seems calm and peaceful on the surface.

Babu vs neta
Governance becomes a casualty

POLITICIANS and bureaucrats trading charges against each other, that too, during the panchayat elections, typify their contempt for the established norms of governance and a steady corrosion of the system. Close on the heels of a complaint by SAS Nagar Deputy Commissioner H.I.S. Grewal that Kharar Congress MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu had abused him over the phone and threatened action, he had been shunted out hours before the commencement of the panchayat elections on Monday. The action followed a directive by the Punjab State Election Commission in response to the MLA’s complaint. An inquiry into the officer’s alleged misconduct would have been in order. At the same time, what is shameful is the fact that the legislator has hailed the bureaucrat’s transfer as “historic” and “long overdue”. What respect will the people have for the system if the officers are shifted suddenly, more so after a legislator’s threat?

What is happening in West Bengal, where panchayat elections began on May 11, is worse. Sealdah MP Lakshman Seth had challenged the authority of CRPF DIG Alok Raj in Nandigram and ordered him to leave the village on Sunday. The latter, however, said that the MP had no locus standi to issue such instructions and that he would continue to patrol in the area as directed by his IGP. He also complained that the MP had filed a “false FIR” against him charging him with molestation. While this complaint needs a fair probe, the MP reportedly wanted the DIG to be shifted so that he could help his Leftist cadres rig the polls with impunity. Indeed, the CPM supporters, armed with revolvers and bombs, managed to capture the ballot papers in Jalpai village where a repoll has been ordered.

Political interference not only impairs the electoral process but also the day-to-day administration. If the legislators and the bureaucrats don’t see eye to eye and indulge in mutual recrimination and mudslinging, what message will it send to the people? Governance will suffer and the people will also lose faith in the system. Why don’t they understand each other’s role and follow the rulebook? Clearly, part of the problem lies with the bureaucrats themselves who kowtow to the politicians for favours and plum postings.

Tigers for Sariska
Needed a holistic approach to save the animal

THE prospect of reintroducing tigers into the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan is exciting news for conservationists and tiger enthusiasts. Three tigers, including two females, from the Ranthambhore sanctuary, the other tiger reserve in Rajasthan, are to be shifted to Sariska. It became the symbol of the tiger crisis in the country when it was discovered a few years ago that Sariska’s entire population of 18 tigers had been wiped out. But the news of the decimation created a national outcry, spurring the government to augment conservation programmes, increase funding and constitute task forces and a conservation “authority”. It also resulted in a report that revealed the current dismal picture.

The report stressed that Sariska has a good tiger habitat, and was thus a candidate for reintroduction of the species. The obvious source is Ranthambhore, which now has about 30-35 tigers, itself lower than the earlier estimates. The ‘Status of Tigers’ 2008 report, by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), notes that the “possibility of natural colonisation of tigers of this landscape unit is remote as the closest source population of Ranthambhore does not have habitat connectivity with Sariska” -- that is to say, there is no natural corridor connecting the two reserves. Sariska has over 700 sq km of forests, parts of which have a good prey base, important for a viable population of tigers.

The reintroduction plan is being carefully carried out by wildlife experts including those from WII. Tiger managers should aim at more than just symbolic value, and look at creating a self-sustaining, viable population over the long term, for which several factors will have to be taken into account. Other recommendations of the report should be implemented simultaneously. For example, the report says that a corridor connecting Ranthambhore to the Kuno reserve in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, via the Kailadevi reserve, should be revived, helping disperse the population and make it more sustainable. Only a long-term, holistic approach will save the tiger.

Thought for the day

In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so ill-bread as audible laughter.
— Lord Chesterfield

ARTICLE

Inflation on the rise
Social tensions a natural corollary
by Arun Kumar

Inflation is suddenly big international news. Till the other day, in the budget in February-end and the RBI quarterly report in January, there was no indication that we were facing an impending sharp rise in the rate of inflation. Is this surprising nowadays, given that important functionaries in the government are like sales persons constantly praising their products and hiding its flaws. The Finance Minister giving a spin was happy to note that inflation rate is stable at 7.5 per cent. Credibility of senior functionaries is being eroded and that dilutes their policy making powers.

The Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, Chair-person of the Advisory Council to the PM, et al, have said that inflation would soon be brought under check but the public seems unconvinced even if that actually turns out to be true. One may expect a fall in seasonal prices and a good crop may help food prices to stabilise, if not fall. Other prices are likely to continue to rise. The rate of inflation coming down means the prices rise less fast. It is like a bus that is reducing its speed but still moving ahead. So, prices continue to rise.

The government has taken a slew of steps to control inflation but these seem to have had little impact as yet. The question is why all this has become apparent only in the last two months. Is our leadership so short-sighted that it cannot anticipate developments just a few months ahead? If that is so, how can the public trust the prediction that the steps now taken will bring down the rate of inflation; there is a contradiction?

Inflation in India is not high compared to, say, Zimbabwe or China. However, our situation is different from theirs. Several things need to be understood as to why at even low levels of inflation, political tempers begin to rise in India. First, since a substantial number of people live below the poverty line and have no inflation indexation or any kind of social security, they face a crisis in their lives even with a moderate increase in prices, especially, when these happen to be food prices. Secondly, the poor who live at less than Rs. 20 per capita per day (77 per cent of the population) find any rise in food prices hurtful. In a consumerist society where demonstration effect is strong, many among this section aspire to buy goods other than the most basic. They cut their basic requirements to do so. However, when basic goods prices rise, they see their aspirations evaporating and their dissatisfaction rises; they cannot cut their basic goods consumption any further.

Thirdly, the middle classes, aspiring to consume beyond their not inconsiderable means, are aggrieved. The upwardly mobile are in debt so that as prices rise, they find that they need to borrow more and are squeezed by larger installments of payments. Fourthly, the inflation rate does not represent the true effect of price rise. The services are grossly under-represented in the various measures of inflation — wholesale or consumer price indices. The well-off are consuming more and more of services whose prices are rising (like for education and health) or new services are being added to the consumption bundle (like telecommunication), leaving less for spending on the earlier consumption bundle.

Earlier there were no malls to indulge in impulsive buying. There were no credit cards that allow one to buy even if one’s pocket is empty. Where were the Baristas to spend Rs 30 or more on a coffee? Earlier a tea in a dhaba at Rs 3 was fine. One went to an IIM at Rs 5,000 per annum and not the current Rs 5 lakh per annum at the IIM-A. Going to a movie or the tariff of a hotel room are 500 per cent more costly.

Earlier few had asthma or cancer or diabetes or blood pressure and, worse, costs have risen with privatised health care. A middle class home with a landline now, perhaps, has an additional two cell phones so that bills have mounted even if the unit cost of the call has come down. Electricity rates are much higher and so are bus and auto fares. None of this gets counted in the inflation index. Thus, family budgets are being eroded much more than what the government’s inflation rate implies.

Finally, it is the businessman and the corrupt who benefit from the inflation. Their incomes rise at the expense of all the rest. Their collective profits and incomes have shot up in the last six years. They splurge even more than earlier. A middle class family whose child has not been able to join the corporate sector or it is not in a position to generate some illegal income, feels something is desperately wrong — others are marching ahead while they are struggling to retain their position in the pecking order.

Globally, crude petroleum prices have risen to $126 per gallon and affect us since we import 70 per cent of our petroleum requirement. The short-sightedness of our policy makers who have been propagating energy-intensive development is apparent. It was hoped that the rise of the rupee in relation to the dollar would help lower the inflation rate. But with the energy prices rising even faster, this effect has not been visible. It has moderated some of the rise.

Global food shortages are affecting international prices of food stuff. Our net imports are only 3 per cent of our consumption, but since we are much more integrated into the world food markets due to the WTO regime, we are also affected. Diversion of land to produce energy and drought have aggravated global shortages. Since the nineties the current policy makers have argued that food production is not critical since we can import if we have foreign exchange reserves. Today we have more than $300 billion of reserves but are struggling with food insecurity.

We have allowed our food security to be dented by going in for more of cash crops or by letting investments in agriculture stagnate/ decline so that we are unable to produce foodgrains faster than the increase in the population. Our per capita production has fallen after 1991. But the rich are consuming more indirectly through meat and poultry thus leaving less for the poor.

US President Bush spoke a half-truth that India’s (and China’s) rising prosperity is putting pressure on global food prices. As pointed out earlier, our net imports are not much higher; it is the supplies that are drying up. Further, our per capita consumption of cereals and pulses has dropped from 510 to 440 grams per day between 1991 and 2005 because the poor are unable to afford even what they were getting earlier. No wonder, malnourishment among children and women is rampant. If we are eating less of basics and importing a little more than earlier how can we be the cause for the rising shortages?

With elections approaching, businessmen have become emboldened to raise prices. They feel they can get away with speculation, hoarding, cartel formation, etc.

The government’s recent announcement that the food crop is a record one and that procurement is good will help lower inflationary expectations but that may be temporary. Further, while international reasons for the present situation are important, there are also strong internal reasons that are entrenched in our current development path. Global influences are aggravating small gaps in supply and demand and this needs correction. In brief, inflation in India is leading to rising social tensions and the government may do a lot more if it wishes to.

MIDDLE

A journey in time and space
by P.C. Sharma

After a brief holiday of three days in Greece I boarded an Emirates flight for my journey back home. The grandeur of Acropolis, goddess Athena, Delphi and Sonou was dominating my imagination. Life-size sculpted figures — mostly gods and goddesses are living examples of celebration of human figures.

Having ensconced myself in perhaps the coziest seat I have ever travelled in, I transported myself to 4th/5th century B.C.

The thought of sculptors and all those who contributed their sweat and physical prowess (mostly slaves) was overwhelming as well as disturbing . They had no cranes to lift the massive rocks, no tools remotely comparable to modern day tools to chisel them into the incomparable pieces of the ancient world. But, I guess, the human mind was at its best and imagination soared at its highest. Together they could achieve what perhaps modern craftsmanship, hugely aided by machines and tools, can achieve only scarcely.

Could the Greek sculptors with their imposing figures donning togas achieve what they conceived? Was it possible without the ill-clad, starved but sturdy slaves who wrote poetry in stone and marble? Never has creativity been so inextricably accompanied by pain. History has to record the toil and nobility of concept together.

As I kept touching the wonders in marble in my imagination, my mind remained disturbed. Finally it was calmed by the thought that the slaves must have been as much in love with their works as the sculptors who conceived them.

My mind teeming with life-size statues in the temples of Greece, was suddenly pulled back into the present with a thud. The partition designed to afford privacy to passengers seating adjacent to each other suddenly collapsed and I discovered a stunning beauty with Greek features sitting beside me. I could not believe my sight that there could be someone like a Greek goddess sitting next to me in flesh and blood. I could not help asking the damsel where she was from. “Athens”, she said in a manner which left a lasting impact. After a brief conversation — which was all Greek to me — my co-passenger pushed the partition board up and got lost in her privacy and sparkling wine.

I wanted to stay in my reverie. This time the airlines opened a new vista. As I pushed the button a sizeable screen came alive in front of me. It was their music channel. The music was enchanting; the singer, an ethereal beauty, singing with heavenly abandon. This beauty fully robed in Arabian dress which could be the envy of fashion designers. She was of stately height, lissom figure, husky voice, all of which can set the Arabian Sea on fire.

I felt impelled by curiosity to know all about the singing beauty. I mustered courage and hailed a charming airhostess. I insisted that she tell all about the singer and the language of her songs. I was informed that all the songs were in Arabic. I could not follow a word of it. I comforted myself with Aristotalian thought that music was the perfect art and can be enjoyed even without knowing the language. It touches the soul and uplifts the senses, I decided to enjoy the music and almost rose from my seat to join the applause that the mesmerised audience on the screen was according after each song.

When the plane landed I disembarked with the Wordsworth’s lines of the Solitary Reaper singing in my ears.

“The music in my heart I bore
Long after it was heard no more”

OPED

India’s ocean
Credibility of India’s regional maritime power at stake
by Premvir Das

There is something inexplicable in India’s interface with China that seems to keep us on tenterhooks all the time. Let us look at this new base at Hainan. Such complexes, even much smaller ones, are not built in a day; to build them in secrecy is impossible. The fact that the Chinese were doing this at Hainan has been known for some time so it is not something that has come as a bolt from the blue.

Since the Chinese are the hare and we the tortoise, their work has been done very much faster but when our own new base at Karwar is fully done, its facilities will not be far short of those at Hainan. As for submarine berths constructed in sheltered pens, the Germans were doing this as far back as during the days of World War II.

Similarly, the facility may be closer to the Bay of Bengal than other Chinese naval bases but their nuclear submarines do no need to come to our waters to target cities in India. They can hit every single Indian town, sitting just where they are. And, if they want to deploy in our waters they can do so quite easily from other bases as well.

The more important thing is that Hainan is part of the rapid modernisation of the Chinese Navy and that is the totality we must focus on.

At present, India is the most credible regional maritime power in the Indian Ocean (IO) littoral. The Americans, including their embedded and supporting allies are, of course, here too and in quite large numbers, but the local big player at sea is India. In the emerging security environment in which attention has shifted from Europe to Asia, the Indian Ocean has become a very important theatre.

First, most of the so-called trouble or troubled spots are here, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, to name a few. Second, energy has become a very important resource for everyone. As its consumption grows, and India and China will be the main growth countries, there will be a degree of uncertainty and concern as resources will not grow in conformity with the need.

Nearly half of this energy is located in the IO littoral, almost all of it in the Gulf region. Even more important, much of this oil and gas has to be moved in ships through the shipping lanes of this region which pass through very narrow choke points both in the East viz the Straits of Malacca and the West, Gulf of Aden.

Even miscreants with limited capabilities can interdict such traffic to the serious detriment of global commerce. Then, there is the threat from radical and fundamental terrorism. Much of it is spread across the IO belt. Possibility of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) falling into the hands of one or more of these groups can not be ruled out. In short, almost all global security concerns are presently focused in the IO region and this position is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

India is located right in the middle of the IO and sitting astride the main shipping routes. It is not only directly affected by the littoral security scenario but also in a position to play an important role. Since the sea is a major component of the concerns, power at sea is a consequent necessity. If we have it, we will be better able to secure our interests; conversely, without it, these will lie exposed.

It is for these reasons that India’s maritime power needs to be credible. As a corollary, it will add to the country’s total power in dealing with issues arising in the region. India must, therefore, do everything to create capabilities which will add to its stature as the preeminent regional maritime power. Completing the nuclear Triad by putting weapons in submarines, is an essential part of this process.

This is where China comes in. Its energy lifeline coming from the Gulf or from Africa must traverse the waters of IO and then the narrow and vulnerable waters of South East Asia before entering the South China Sea. It has no maritime capabilities in the region. It can, of course, send its ships off and on but this can only be cosmetic, not the same thing as having a permanent presence.

That can only be ensured through base facilities offered by countries so disposed. It is for this reason that China has given generous assistance to build ports across the IO region, in Myanmar, in Sri Lanka and in Pakistan. Approaches have also been made in Seychelles and in the Maldives.

This is sometimes referred to as the “string of pearls” strategy to encircle India but the real effect would be to get the Chinese into the IO as a player. This will, inevitably, have an adverse impact on the credibility of Indian maritime power as the dominant regional force. So, our strategy should be to ensure that this does not happen, both through diplomacy and by adding to our own capabilities. This is the core issue, not the base in Hainan.

Two decades from now, India, barring some unimaginable eventuality, is certain to emerge as one of the great Asian players. It will have to have increasing interface with other players, most importantly, with China. We can not afford not to engage with it; at the same time, a competitive relationship, often adversarial, in politics, in economic interfaces and in the energy sector is inescapable.

Add to this brew, the unresolved and festering border dispute, which the Chinese are content to leave in limbo, and the picture becomes clear. As we deal with that country, India must have adequate power of its own with several synergized components e.g. diplomacy through networking with others, economic strength through steady and inclusive growth, technological upgradation with indigenous and bought out mechanisms where the first is not possible, energy and food security, internal stability and societal coherence, soft power and, last but not the least, military capabilities.

As China seeks its own place in the sun striving to equal the USA, it needs two or three decades of peace and tranquility. We must use this same period to get our own act together. In everything that we do in regard to the relationship with China, our eyes must be set on the future, not on the present. As the Mad Hatter said to Alice at the crossroads, you will know which road to take if you know where you want to go.

The writer is a former Director General Defence Planning Staff.

Rising interest in the nuclear power option
by Joby Warrick

VIENNA, Austria – At least 40 developing countries from the Persian Gulf region to Latin America have recently approached UN officials to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend that concerned proliferation experts say could provide the building blocks of nuclear arsenals in some of those nations.

At least half a dozen countries have also said in the past four years that they are specifically planning to conduct enrichment or reprocessing of nuclear fuel, a prospect that could dramatically expand the global supply of plutonium and enriched uranium, according to US and international nuclear officials and arms-control experts.

Much of the new interest is driven by economic considerations, particularly the soaring cost of fossil fuels. But for some Middle Eastern states with ready access to huge stocks of oil or natural gas, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the investment in nuclear power appears to be linked partly to concerns about a future regional arms race stoked in part by Iran’s alleged interest in such an arsenal, the officials said.

“We are concerned that some countries are moving down the nuclear (weapons) path in reaction to the Iranians,” a senior US government official who tracks the spread of nuclear technology said in an interview. He declined to speak on the record because of diplomatic sensitivities. “The big question is: At what point do you reach the nuclear tipping point, when enough countries go nuclear that others decide they must do so, too?”

Although the United Arab Emirates has a proven oil reserve of 100 billion barrels, the world’s sixth-largest, in January it signed a deal with a French company to build two nuclear reactors. Wealthy neighbors Kuwait and Bahrain also planning nuclear plants, as are Libya, Algeria and Morocco in North Africa and the kingdom of Jordan.

Even Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, last year announced plans to purchase a nuclear reactor, which it says is needed to produce electricity; it is one of 11 Middle Eastern states now engaged in starting or expanding nuclear power programs.

Meanwhile, two of Iran’s biggest rivals in the region, Turkey and Egypt, are moving forward with ambitious nuclear projects. Both countries abandoned any pursuit of nuclear power decades ago but are now on course to develop seven nuclear power plants – four in Egypt and three in Turkey – over the next decade.

Egypt’s ambassador to the United States, Nabil Fahmy, told a recent gathering of Middle Eastern and nonproliferation experts that his country’s decision was unrelated to Iran’s nuclear activities. But he acknowledged that commercial nuclear power “does give you technology and knowledge,” and he warned that a nuclear arms race may be inevitable unless the region’s leaders agree to ban such weapons.

Many countries involved in nuclear expansion have stressed their peaceful intentions. Some, such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, publicly vowed never to pursue uranium enrichment or fuel reprocessing – technologies that can be used to create fissile materials for nuclear weapons. But some arms-control experts say the sudden interest cannot be fully explained by rising oil prices.

“This is not primarily about nuclear energy. It’s a hedge against Iran,” said Ploughshares Fund president Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear policy and author of “Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons.”

Although US intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran halted its research into making nuclear weapons five years ago, the Islamic republic still seeks to make enriched uranium with centrifuges at its vast underground facility at Natanz. It is now operating about 3,000 centrifuges, and plans to increase the number to 50,000.

The Middle East’s renewed interest in nuclear power is part of a global trend that began around 2004, as prices for fossil fuels began to rise. Before that, commercial nuclear development had remained relatively flat since 1986, when a massive fire at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine widely spread radioactive contamination in history’s worst commercial nuclear power accident.

IAEA officials say they have never previously seen such widespread interest in starting a domestic nuclear power industry. While officials declined to detail their correspondence with specific countries, the list of the newly interested includes several African countries, such as Nigeria and Namibia, and at least half a dozen former Soviet republics that are embracing new Western designs to replace less-reliable Soviet nuclear plants.

By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

Delhi Durbar
Troublesome resource

There is a growing view in the Congress that the human resource development minister Arjun Singh’s recent statements questioning the decision-making process in the party and on loyalty are essentially an attempt to pre-empt his removal from
the Cabinet.

The buzz is that Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi is not too enamoured of the wily Thakur and has been pushing for his transfer to one of the vacant Raj Bhavans. Rahul Gandhi apparently is deeply influenced by Sam Pitroda, whose proximity to the Nehru-Gandhi family dates back to the Rajiv era. Pitroda heads the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) set up by this government. One of the NKC’s main tasks is to give fresh impetus to the education sector. It is also well-known that the Pitroda-led commission and the HRD ministry are constantly at loggerheads as Arjun Singh has been guarding his turf very zealously.

Gift of Bollywood

Bollywood is clearly the flavour of the season. And the stuffy babus at the external affairs ministry have also been bitten by this bug. There was a time when the ministry would routinely gift CDs of Indian classical music among other things to visiting dignitaries and other guests.

But now that Hindi film music is becoming increasingly popular internationally, the external affairs ministry has asked a recording company to put together a series of CDs of the most popular songs over the years. This prized collection will now be gifted along with top quality Darjeeling tea to the ministry’s guests.

Flower power

It is hard to believe that the deadly cyclone, which has caused such havoc in neighbouring Myanmar, is known by the delicate name of Nargis. This has led many to wonder why cyclones, hurricanes or typhoons are named after women. Remember hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which ripped through the Gulf coast region of the United States in 2005? And now Nargis – the name of the fragrant flower daffodil in Urdu – is being rated by international agencies as the eighth deadliest cyclone of all time.

Incidentally, the name Nargis was suggested by Pakistan to the New Delhi-based Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC), which monitors weather advisories to eight ESCAP countries in the region of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The RSMC asks member countries to suggest names for a weather system, which is then used by all.

Contributed by Anita Katyal, Satish Misra and Vibha Sharma

Corrections and clarifications

Reader Megha Anand has noted that the main lead “BSF foils Pak infiltration bid in Samba sector” on May 10 starts with the line “Just days ahead of the purposed Pakistan visit by the Indian external affairs minister............” It should have been “proposed”.

The first line of the second paragraph of the page 2 report “Phones being used to take pics at Har Ki Pauri” on May 10 should have read: “The signboards installed along the sides of the Har Ki Pauri clearly state that movement around the area with shoes, leather items or cameras was strictly prohibited…”

Reader Jaswant Singh Gandham of Phagwara has found fault with Khushwant Singh’s “This Above All” column on May 10, which erroneously enlarges the abbreviation AD as after Christ’s demise. AD actually is Anno Domini, meaning in the year of our Lord, ie, after the birth of Jesus Christ. One dictionary describes the abbreviation as “indicating years numbered from the supposed year of the birth of Jesus Christ”.

Hukam Chand Thareja (Phillaur) has pointed out that in the story about the Sreesanth slapping incident on May 6 (page 18), it should have been mentioned that Nanavati is expected to submit his report by May 12, not April 12 as published.

Mr Hemant Kumar says that in the news-item “Navratna status for REC” on page 16 of The Tribune (May 6), it has been mentioned that it is the 16th PSU to be granted the Navratna status.  The fact is that it is the 15th after IOC, HPCL, BPCL, ONGC, GAIL, BHEL, SAIL, MTNL, NTPC, HAL, BEL, PFC, NMDC and PGC.

Referring to the news-item “Election or exam duty? BUCC staff in a fix” on May 4, reader Pawan Bhatia suggests that college lecturers should not be referred to as Professors, because that title belongs only to those who teach in universities.