L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

More women should join workforce

It is heartening to note that (middle, “Woman, thy name is might” by Ashok Kumar Yadav, Oct 16) women have proved their worth in all fields. As per a study we have the highest number of professionally qualified women. However, the percentage of women in workforce is as low as 21.68 per cent and needs to be increased. Educated women in our country have already risen to the highest positions in all spheres.

In rural areas, however, women’s condition continues to remain pathetic due to illiteracy. Hence, we need to ensure that they get proper education and equal opportunities. Our political leaders have a very important role to play in the overall empowerment of women.

Only when our women are educated, can we hope to realise our dream of becoming a developed nation. In ancient times women, in India, were held in the highest esteem. It was said where women are worshipped Gods reside.

GOVIND SINGH KHIMTA, Shimla

II

Girls are not inferior to boys. While we need to take stringent steps to check female foeticide, sons and daughters should get equal treatment. Both should be given equal opportunities to prove their potential and strength. Daughters must be valued and cherished.            

PARAMBIR KAUR, Ludhiana

Childbirth deaths

It is shocking to note that (article, “UP refuses to record deaths during childbirth” by Shahira Naim, Oct 17) the state refused to register delivery deaths. The UP government is headed by a woman chief minister who claims that women empowerment and the protection of women’s’ rights is a priority. Yet the number of deaths at childbirth is deliberately ignored. Ms Mayawati must take bureaucracy to task.

R M RAMAUL,Paonta Sahib

Punjab’s progress

Gobind Thukral has drawn a dismal alas true picture of the state of affairs in Punjab in his article “Punjab Congress waits for its turn” (Oct 12). It has become difficult to say which alliance or party is more guilty than the other. Indeed, the issues do not bother them and it is only the lack of power that upsets them. All politicians are chip of the same block.  

During elections, manifestos include many promises that invariably remain unfulfilled. A serious and honest effort is needed to ensure that Punjab is put on the path to progress.

Dr I M JOSHI, Chandigarh

Maya’s troubles

The Supreme Court has once again proved (editorial “Maya in trouble”, Oct 7) that however high you may be, the law is above you. The contempt notice came as a bolt from the blue to the Mayawati government which flagrantly flouted the apex court’s restraint order.

To splurge Rs 2,600 crore on building of statues is unpardonable more so since the state is facing an acute resource crunch. The UP government should be dismissed and the President’s rule should be imposed.

RAJESH C BAJAJ, Ludhiana

II

Democracy is of the people, for the people and by the people. The law of the land must prevail over whims and fancies of politicians.

JASWANT SINGH SIDHU, Ludhiana

Secondary education

The editorial “Secondary education”(Oct 10) has rightly opined that India cannot afford to ignore secondary education. The right emphasis on primary education is evident from India’s spending on it, the recent passing of Right to Education Act and the thrust given to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

However, secondary education too needs attention. Lack of teachers, secondary schools and inadequate infrastructure are the main reasons why India is lagging behind in secondary education.

Besides, teachers of government schools are overburdened with non-teaching duties. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan should be implemented with sincerity and earnestness.

ASHISH KUMAR MAKKAR, Ludhiana

Not quite democracy

The incident referred to in the letter “Jai ho democracy! ”(Oct 16) might be true but today the meaning of democracy has changed and people hardly vote for real issues. They vote for narrow considerations and not national issues.

AMARJEET SINGH MAKKAR, Winnipeg, Canada

Clean Ganga

The government of India has done well by launching a 10-year project to rejuvenate the holiest river of India. It was a crying need. (editorial “Cleaning of the Ganga”, Oct. 7). Rivers are the lifeline of India and the Ganga is the most holy of them all. The new project should be pursued seriously and the Ganga must be saved.

NUTAN JAIN, Chandigarh

Nobel for Herta Mueller Herta Mueller, born in German-speaking region of western Romania on August 17, 1953, to parents of German-speaking minority of Romania, has won the coveted Nobel Prize for Literature, ten years after 1999 when Gunter Grass won the Nobel Prize for Literature. While Grass reminded his fellow countrymen of their complicity and guilty acquiescence with Nazi Germany and its horrific and outrageous crimes under Hitler, Muller was inspired by her life under the Roman dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s repressive regime. Muller’s first collection of short stories, Niederungen, appeared in 1982 at the age of 29. Since it depicted the harshness and bitterness of life in a small German-speaking village in Romania, the government promptly censored it. Nevertheless, in 1984, an uncensored version was smuggled to Germany, where it was published. There, it found an avid readership for reasons of its intellectual and sophisticated content. She has won the Nobel for depicting “the landscape of the dispossessed” through “concentration of poetry and frankness of prose”. Muller fled Romania and is currently living in Berlin. She is the 12th woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. DEEPAK TANDON, Panchkula