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

Postman has not lost his relevance

OUR postal services” in This Above All, by Khushwant Singh (Saturday Extra, Jan 29), is interesting. We should be proud of the Indian postal services for their regular delivery of letters to the writer.

Though the electronic system has changed the entire scenario, with mobile messaging overtaking letter writing, people still wait for the postman.

The status of a person can often be judged from the number of mails delivered to his house. To keep the mail system alive, the postal authorities need to introduce attractive stationery on national occasions like Independence Day, Republic Day, Diwali, Holi etc. Then, there will be no reason why postal mail will not be able to retain its romance.

The officials who have arranged the delivery of letters to Khushwant Singh, despite wrong and incomplete address, need to be honoured by the department and the writer as well.

HARISH K. MONGA, Ferozepore

HARBANS SINGH, Ambala Cantonment

Taming the monster of corruption The article, “The web of corruption” (Sunday Oped, Jan 16) by G.P. Joshi and Maja Daruwala vividly portrays our corrupt leaders. Corruption is commonplace today and is eating into the vitals of our polity. Ironically, those who are supposed to check corruption are themselves embroiled in corruption scandals. Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s 5-point programme to combat corruption does not seem to have the desired effect on the party and the government. The Congress leaders know that she is neither responsible nor accountable to the people. The appointment of Mr P.J. Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner was a clear case of manipulation and no authority had checked his records before the selection committee cleared his name for the coveted post. As Mr Thomas is a gentleman, he should quit the office of the CVC to uphold the prestige and dignity of the high office he holds. The late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was an honest man. However, he was surrounded by sycophants, turncoats and timeservers all of whom were responsible for his downfall. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a leader of high integrity and rectitude. However, corrupt leaders are bringing a bad name to him and to his government. All corrupt politicians, ministers and bureaucrats should be handed over to the military court for trial. MULTAN SINGH PARIHAR, Jalari (Hamirpur)