Meritorious record

Balbir Singh was adjudged as “Indian sportsman of the century” in 1982 by the ‘Patriot’ newspaper (news report “Balbir Singh Sr stakes claim for Bharat Ratna”, April 24).

He has been an excellent administrator and remarkable sports promoter and planner. He was honoured by the Punjab Government with “Nishan-e-Anandpur Sahib’. Besides, he possesses a treasure trove of qualities such as politeness, generous thinking, patriotism and secularity.

Balbir Singh scored 22 goals out of 40 (55 per cent – the highest average so far) in 1948, 1952, 1956 olympics where as Dhyan Chand scored 33 goals out of 102 (33 per cent in 1928, 1932, 1936 olympics). He is the son of freedom fighter Dalip Singh.

IQBAL SINGH SAROYA, Mohali

Inspirational feat

Dr Amits Garg’s feat ("Haryana boy creates world record in mental division, April 24) has rekindled hope that students in India who are losing interest in higher study of mathematics will be inspired by him and will opt for this subject, which is no doubt the mother of all sciences. It is also hoped that these days when students feel handicapped without a calculator even for simple calculations, his achievement will help children develop the capability of mental division and multiplication.

Prof YP MAKKER, Malout

Real contact

People-to-people contacts will only be effective between India and Pakistan when there is a grassroots level interaction. As a first step, both the governments should do away with all travel restrictions and introduce a simple visa system for the Amritsar-Lahore bus. The fear of terrorism should not stop people from intermingling. Ultimately, people are the real contacts and are the only route to peace.  If both the governments are really sincere about maintaining cordial relations, there should be no place for mistrust.

SK KHOSLA, Chandigarh

Curb drug abuse

The government has not been able to fight drug trade and abuse due to the patronage given to it by politicians surreptitiously. Well-known political families are known to provide protection to drug peddlers.

Drug addiction, drug smuggling, snatching, thefts, street fights and murders have become a regular feature in Ludhiana and no citizen feels safe.

This can be stopped only by people by giving good academic and moral education to their children, reporting drug abuse to the police and assisting them in investigations; having anti-drug citizen committees to bring culprits to book rather than running after politicians.

Dr D S GREWAL, Ludhiana

Cheating people

The large number of recruitment agencies that have sprung up to help the unemployed are cheating middle-class people. The recruitment agencies charge a minimum amount of Rs 150 and ask candidates to fill the forms and follow their terms and conditions. The recruitment agencies only do their paper work, mint money and give false assurances. In the absence of any law to prevent such scams, these people continue to loot money. Laws should be framed to check such malpractices and prevent duping of innocent people.

SANJAY CHAWLA, Amritsar

Moral lesson

The way one of the labourers, at the recent blanket industry collapse site, ran back to save his friend and lost his leg in the ordeal (news story “In Jalandhar, his whole world came crashing down”, April 18) speaks volumes of a common man’s values. Such people are rare to find in this world where people are ready to kill one another over trifles, where people are jealous, full of ill will, antagonism and negativity for others. The factory labourer Manoj Bhagat’s noble deed has reaffirmed our faith in humanity where people are ready to risk their lives for the sake of others.