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Youth: Spoiled by rich, neglected by poor parents

After consuming drinks and drugs, youth resort to crime which is a manifestation of their negative and shallow personality. Apart from what has been rightly emphasised in the editorial ‘Deter gang rapes’ (Feb 28), another reason for the rising rape cases amongst youth is lack of parental guidance.

The boys are spoilt by rich parents, and generally neglected by the poor. In either case, the teenagers resort to such crimes due to poor upbringing and a callous attitude.

Students consider drinking and late night parties as trendy, and parents turn a blind eye to their indiscipline. The answer lies in prompt punishment by speeding up court hearings. Apart from the police and the judiciary, parents need to realise their responsibility towards their children. Parents should communicate openly with their teenaged sons and daughters on a day to day basis to understand their feelings.

School and colleges authorities must also be always on the guard on the activities of students. A healthy society can help the youth trudge in the right direction.

Col R D Singh (retd), Ambala Cantt

R K KAPOOR, Chandigarh

Balancing act

Doing a balancing act seems to be the new judicial mantra (Joint responsibility, February 25). We saw a blame-all decision in the Ramlila crackdown case and a please-all verdict in the Army Chief age row case. The decisions might be just and fair but it gives rise to some questions.

If during a protest, the people get violent and burn or damage public property, it would be fair to hold the organisers equally blameworthy and asked to bear the penalty. But the situation at the Ramlila ground was different. Here, the people were fast asleep in the middle of the night, resorting to no violence. Should they also share the blame and the  compensation?

In the case of Army Chief’s age row, the apex court took pains to hammer out a compromise, but did not determine whether the General was born in 1951 or 1950.

Wg Cdr CL SEHGAL (retd), Jalandhar

Electorate power

MPs and MLAs generally belie the trust of the people besides burdening the exchequer. Due to absence of any provision to get rid of these elected members, people have to wait for the full term of the legislative body.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee while speaking at a seminar on ‘The Role of Parliamentary democracy in strengthening the nation’ very rightly underlined the need to incorporate the ‘right to recall’ in the electoral system. The political parties should decide the procedure to recall on the basis of percentage of voters who want their leader to be recalled.  This will certainly infuse a greater sense of accountability amongst the legislators. Many Constitutions around the world, like the Swiss Constitution, have this provision which has been working quite satisfactorily since ages. 

SK KHOSLA, Chandigarh