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These days it has become a fashion to talk about corruption and put the blame on the government. How many of us pay our taxes honestly? How many of us quote correct prices while getting a plot or a flat registered in our name? Can Baba Ramdev proclaim that all the donations received by his trust are from honest tax paying people? Corruption is a serious issue. To tackle the menace of corruption we need serious and sincere efforts of not only the government but general public as well. Instead of playing to the gallery we need honest introspection at every level to control the cancerous growth of corruption. ARUN HASTIR, Babehali, Gurdaspur
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The editorial is a welcome piece, exposing the government’s deceptive and cunning ways as its surest means for its own survival against Baba Ramdev’s genuinely widespread mass-supported revolutionary voice to dismantle the institution of corruption from its roots in our country, and to bring back black money to declare it as a national asset. However, I don’t agree with you that “Baba wants all corruption cases to be disposed of within a month.” No reasonable person would demand so. What he actually means to say is that the delay tactics (as it usually happens even in dreadful terrorists’ cases which in the past had led to unfortunate hijacking and at present involves an expenditure of millions of rupees for security purposes) must cease to exist and the justice be rendered fast. Yes, it is a fact that “there is a vociferous demand for abolishing the death penalty,” but it is also a fact that the time has now come when we have to realise that “such corrupt people” are thousand times worse than murderers who may only kill some people or groups of people. But these shameless and fearless people are murdering the whole nation, fundamentally and truly hollowing it from its roots. Punishment that beats all other punishments is significantly a must for them. Prof
B.L.CHAKOO, former Head and Dean of Arts, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
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Shun Kashmir-centric thinking
The girl who was forced to jump into the flowing waters of Chenab did not belong to Kashmir but hailed from a remote area of Doda district (editorial,
“Kashmir girl’s sad saga”, June 1). Ethnically, culturally and linguistically people of Doda are a part of Jammu province. Moreover, Pull Doda, where the incident happened is the meeting point of the roads that lead to Kishtwar and Bhaderwah. The perceptions and reactions the word “Kashmir” evokes in the minds of the readers should make us refrain from labelling everything that happens in the state of J & K, as Kashmiri or belonging to Kashmir. I personally feel that that no incidents of stone pelting were reported after the poor girl, Rahida’s suicide because she was not a Kashmiri but belonged to a backward region and a populace that doesn’t have a voice in present scheme of things. The Kashmir-centric thinking in politics and the media needs to be shed. The multiplicity of cultures, communities, classes, ethnicities and languages in the state of J & K need to be recognised by the media and politicians. Only than the hegemony of few Kashmiri political families on the state of J& K can end. I also feel that the voice of marginalised sections, regions and communities such as gujjars, dogras, Ladakhis, Mirpuris, bakarwals, Sikhs, Kashmiri pandits needs to be articulated by the media. Before reporting any incident or development in J&K, the sensitivity to cultural identity and ethnicity of person involved should be shown. VINEET MEHTA, Jalandhar
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