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

Parliament must be allowed to function

The editorial “Paralysing Parliament: MPs must hammer out a solution urgently” (Nov 27) is a clarion call to the Opposition and the UPA Government to end the deadlock on the question of the JPC probe in the 2G Spectrum. But the million-dollar question is who will listen?

Instead of searching for a meeting ground to end the impasse, the Opposition and the UPA continue to spar and score off each other. Our leaders seem to be unmindful of the lakhs of rupees going down the drain.

Both the mainstream parties the Congress and the BJP should know that skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboards of their leaders now and then. One cannot claim to be holier than the other. The warring sides need to come down and must adopt a via media and let Parliament conduct its business smoothly. Otherwise the more they lock horns over the avoidable stand-offs, the more they expose themselves to public scorn and anger.

TARSEM SINGH, New Delhi

Reform judicial system

The editorial “Time to stem the rot” (Nov 29) was apt. The issues pertaining to the reported corruption and nepotism in the Allahabad High Court, the non-transparent appointments in the High Courts and even the Supreme Court, the whimsical promotions in the judiciary, piling up of huge arrears of pending cases at all levels of courts and now ‘uncle judges’ are a poor reflection on the Union Law Ministry, which needs to regulate the judicial system. It is unfortunate and ironical that the central government sleeps over the most sensitive and delicate issues.

If at all we feel that justice should not be administered alone but should appear to have been administered too and justice delayed is justice denied, it is time the union government embarked upon a fool-proof and bold policy and overhauled the judicial system and it’s functioning. That alone can restore the confidence of the citizens.

SUDARSHAN DHINGRA, Abohar

During a hearing on November 26 on a single-judge Bench order of the Allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court raised serious questions over the integrity of several of the Allhabad High Court judges and asked the Chief Justice to take some strong measures, including recommending “transfers of the incorrigibles.”

The judges of the superior courts enjoy extraordinary protection against removal/ dismissal. They can only be removed by an impeachment by Parliament which going by the past experience is unlikely to succeed.

The solution to the problem is that removal/dismissal of judges be made less complicated. If the judges of the superior courts know that after a preliminary inquiry by a competent authority, they can be placed under suspension and can either face a criminal case or a departmental inquiry as in the case of other government servants, the guilty judges will never be as defiant as now.

R J KHURANA, Bhopal

Promote sports

A good show by the sportspersons of India in the recent Commonwealth Games and the Asian games has instilled inspiration and confidence in the budding sportspersons of the country. The government should make a comprehensive plan to promote sports in the country so that our sportspersons perform better in the Olympics.

Efforts should be made to improve the sports infrastructure. The first and foremost is the development of more number of playgrounds in towns and villages. Rich sports associations like the BCCI and other industrial houses should fund various sports in the country.

Dr KIRTI DUA, Ludhiana

Challenge of global warming
The majority of people do not give enough importance to climate change (editorial, “Coping with climate change”, Nov 19). When the claims made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (headed by R.K. Pachauri) concerning the melting Himalayan glaciers by 2035 were challenged by a London-based newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, the common man started thinking that the side-effects of global-warming have been over-blown.

I also agree that the climate-change induced effects need not cause panic but do require long-term planning and action to meet the challenge. We cannot reverse the development and progress-oriented activities but should try to evolve methods so that these activities cause least harm to atmosphere and the ecology.
The latest report of the Indian Network for Climate Change (INCC), which includes 250 scientists from 125 institutions, projects a rise of 1.7-2 degrees celsius in India by 2030. According to this report, the apple production of Himachal Pradesh and J&K would fall by 2030 and also that people in hilly areas will increasingly become prone to diseases like malaria. This small rise in temperature would spell doom for the people of hill-states.
Other studies by different institutions have warned that in 40 years the melting Himalayan glaciers due to rising temperature would raise the sea-level and cause floods and drought and would harm herding, farming and fishing, thereby forcing the people living in coastal areas to flee to other places.
Rising temperatures would deplete the ground water of Punjab, Haryana and UP. In this way the whole of India would be badly affected by rising temperatures. This does not augur well for our future generations. We have inherited a beautiful country from our ancestors, which has been attracting migrants from all over the world since times immemorial. This is the land where first human civilization prospered and where culture and religion reached their zenith.
ARVIND DHUMAL, Jalandhar