II

When cash, not merit, is the key to recruitment, what will be the fate of our national organisations? See the BSNL service, compared to that of the other service providers. Isn’t it the manifestation of corruption by the minister himself? Indeed, this is simply tip of interconnected glaciers.

The State Vigilance Commission has registered cases against many top officers and enquiry is on. The nexus is so strong and widespread that any individual, group or media can be duped.

V.K. JALALI, Jammu

III

The writer has rightly voiced concern over the corruption prevailing in the country. Is it not an irony of fate that India is perceived as a highly corrupt nation and no field remains untouched by it? Corruption has become a galloping cancer without cure and is steadily spreading to every vein and sinew of the nation.

Recruiting boards are now auctioning agencies for jobs. The way recruitment to the Army, security forces and other services is being carried out is appalling. Merit and suitability have nothing to do with selection.

Scams and scandals do appear in the media reports and ultimately disappear in the impenetrable maze due to the politico- bureaucratic- judicial labyrinth. Let us not procrastinate on this issue as the youth are getting desperate and frustrated.

Capt S.K. DATTA Abohar

IV

A clean legislature today appears as much a utopian thought as Gandhian anarchy is. But why single out only the visibly corrupt, the oft-derided class of the politicians? I am no politician myself and am not attempting to defend them either. But what about the total lack of values in public life shown by the bureaucrats, the police officers, the politicians and all those holding offices of power and their nexus?

There is no single institution which is not immersed in the quagmire of corruption — be it an office of profit or of social service. When has there not been news of misuse, sale and pilferage of relief material collected for those hit by a natural calamity? And today the mention of the word ‘corruption’, the talk of people in public offices asking for money just to do the job assigned to them, corrupt judiciary, which should always be seen as protector of public conscience, hardly raises an eyebrow to indicate astonishment.

The suitcase full of currency notes to make a bribe of a crore of rupees is a banality. Do you really see any ray of hope that any politician in power will ever see beyond the realm of votes and vote banks? At least I am not that naïve. And when I talk about it in public, my friends call me a cynic!

ANIRUDH DHANDA, Chandigarh

V

What worries me more than increasing corruption is the government’s failure to punish those who are caught, its appalling lack of accountability and apathy towards corruption. Corruption is so deep-rooted in India today that almost everybody is involved so that they succeed in manipulating, bribing, pressurising or threatening all those who try to curb or fight corruption.

I strongly feel that it is the lack of fear of law which is most dangerous and is fueling corruption in India. Until the government is able to make people fear law, and instill accountability and transparency in governance, little will change. Instead, corruption will increase further.

The need of the hour is to fight the galloping cancer of corruption by a radical approach involving all organs of governance like in medicine, chemotherapy, radio therapy along with a more radical approach of stem-cell transplantation.

Dr VITULL K. GUPTA, Bathinda

Clash of dates

The entrance examination for admission to M.Sc (Chemistry) in Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra and Guru Jambeswar University, Hisar, is being held on the same date — July 3, 2010. As most students apply for both the universities, I appeal to the authorities concerned to hold the examination on different dates.

MANJEET, Narnaund