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

FDI: Checks and balances necessary

With FDI, our indigenous industries will take a back seat. As an example, Indian manufactured toys have vanished from the market for the simple fact that they are being imported from China. Chinese products are cheaper, so generally Indian masses vouch for them. No doubt we are living in a global economy where free flow of items from one country to another is the need of the hour but not at the cost of progress of our own country. Proper checks and balances should be adopted so that our indigenous industry is not affected.

History is witness to the entrapment that the British empire laid in India by initially purchasing a piece of land in Bengal and slowly and steadily taking over the whole of India.

UJAGAR SINGH, Chandigarh

II

The case of Nasik onion farmers, who get a paltry Rs 2-Rs 4 even as the retail onion price is Rs 15-Rs 20, is a classic case of exploitation of farmers by middlemen. Both producers and consumers stand to gain from organised retail. In India, the retail market is held hostage by the wholesalers who decide the market prices rather than the demand-supply matrix.

When Indian retailers like Reliance Mart, Big Bazaar, et al, launched their retail business, industrialists sounded the death knell of kiryana shops. Years later, both supermarkets and neighbourhood kiryana shops co-exist with definite customer base for both segments. The criticism by Left parties has no basis as Communist China already has 100% FDI in retail since 1990s.

Bichu Muttathara, Pune

III

The editorial ‘potatoes in plenty’ (November 28) sent a strong signal justifying FDI in India. MNCs have the potential to guide us on increasing the yield of crops and also have the resources to lift sizable quantities direct from farmers, bypassing the middleman, to the consumers.

The decision of the Centre to allow FDI in big cities will save us from the glut which is happening due to lack of infrastructure to hold and preserve.

MS TANDAN, Ambala

LPG subsidy

The proposed policy of the central government to provide LPG at subsidised rates could be misused. There is a tendency among people to get their names included in the list of BPL families by hook or crook and such instances are very common. Some unscrupulous elements might sell LPG cylinders in black. Generally, ration meant for the poor finds its way into the black market.

So the need of the hour is to strike some balance between the subsidy already given to the people and the actual cost of the LPG. People should be made to understand the need of judicious use of LPG. All of us should share the national burden of preserving our resources and not letting it go waste.

SANTOSH KUMAR JAMWAL, Hamirpur (HP)

Banda Bahadur

I would like to correct some information in your article on Banda Bahadur. Firstly, Wazir Khan, who was responsible for the death of Guru Gobind Singh’s two sons at Sirhind, was not the Mughal Governor of Sirhind; he was the Faujdar of Sirhind. In those days the Faujdari of Sirhind came under the Suba of Delhi.

Wazir Khan was a Yusufzai Pathan who belonged to the Nawab family of Kunjpura, near Karnal. Secondly, Banda Bahadur is referred to as belonging to a backward caste. By all accounts, he was a Rajput belonging to the Rajouri area of Jammu.

NARENDRA KUMAR, Chandigarh

1971 war

In my article on the 1971 Indo-Pak war, published in The Tribune on November 29, on reckoning I find that all the factual details are correct except the mention that US President Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger both met Indira Gandhi at breakfast. The truth is that it was only Kissinger who met Mrs Gandhi at breakfast — President Nixon was not present. Kissinger had a stopover in India on his secret July 1971 visit to China and it was at that time that he met Mrs Gandhi.

Mrs Gandhi obviously intended her reactions to be conveyed to President Nixon.

I express my regret to The Tribune and its readers for this inadvertent error.

As regards all the other incidents mentioned by me in my article, I stand by them as being correctly reproduced. 

Justice Rajindar Sachar (retd), former Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, New Delhi

Educated councillors The minimum academic qualification for candidates in civic bodies’ elections should be fixed. Our representatives make noises in the House when they fail to understand any Bill, issue or policy to be framed. Some of them cannot operate laptops provided by the administration which is wastage of public money. When they visit other countries as part of delegations, they are not able to put new findings into use. Due to rising unemployment, postgraduates are even ready to apply for the post of a peon or a constable. So, why should we make do with illiterate councillors? MADAN GUPTA SPATU, Chandigarh