III

Trade spells prosperity and progress for nations. Trade is the best friend of peace. So increasing trade between Pakistan and India is the need of the hour.

Both nations must continue talks and efforts to boost trade between the two. They must move forward despite obstructions from some disgruntled elements on both sides. People will become friendly and the feeling of hatred between them will also disappear. People on both sides of the border will benefit from the normalisation of relations between the two powerful South Asian neighbours.

R K KAPOOR, Chandigarh

River linking

The river linking scheme is not against nature as it has enormous benefits (“Interlinking of rivers”, Feb 29). It will help in many ways like flood control, employment generation, control on terrorism, stopping soil erosion, development of tourism, progressive fishing, water harvesting, additional power generation and creation of artificial lakes.

In 1971, the cost of this interlinking scheme was only Rs 8,000 crore and now in 2012 it has risen to about 5 lakh crore. The cost may further swell if the implementation is delayed.

Er S K MITTAL, Panchkula

UID Cards

The company entrusted for issuing UID cards has not been adopting a systematic procedure. When I and my wife got myself enrolled for UID card, the Manager informed us that the U I D card would be sent to us within 90 days of the date of enrollment. There are many others who enrolled after us but received their cards before us.

The UID card does not mention the complete date of birth, it only mentions the year. Had it mentioned the complete date of birth, it would have become a complete identity card, the purpose for which UID scheme was initiated.

RAJINDER KUMAR ARORA, Kurukshetra

Senior citizens’ IT woes

If elderly persons above the age of 75 having income up to Rs 5 lakh from all sources are exempted from income tax and filing of annual tax return, the government will only lose an iota of revenue. The loss can be made up by tightening the noose around the neck of scamsters who are merrily taking away thousands of crores from honestly conceived but badly managed government schemes. Time and money is wasted on enquiring these scandals by various investigating agencies. The exemption will give much desired relief to the codgers.

S B SINGH, Jalandhar

II

The Union Finance Minister in the last budget gave relief to the category of the pensioners in 60-65 years age group bracket with respect to income tax. However, the elderly in 70-80 age bracket were left out. It is they who suffer from various ailments related to old age. The Haryana government recently announced allowing Haj pilgrims above 70 yrs of age to take an attendant with them at the cost of the state government. Thus there is all the more justification to treat the elderly pensioners of 70 years as very senior citizens.

RAMESH NARANG,Panchkula

Eye donation

After reading the news report ‘In the eyes of J&K law, organ donation is illegal’ (March 4), the members of Eye Donation Association, Hoshiarpur, want to offer help for arranging eyes to Mahesh Singh of Kathua (J&K) free of cost. The Association collected more than 500 eyes and these have been supplied to needy persons free of cost.

MASTAN SINGH GREWAL, Hoshiarpur