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

Central grants should not be misused

The editorial ‘Where is the change?’ and Manpreet Badal’s write-up “Discrepancy in Punjab budget” (June 21) together scanned the budget presented by Finance Minister in the Punjab Assembly in the right perspective.

It is a stark reality that the Punjab Government is not catching on the big sharks that often go unscathed after escaping the tax net and accumulate wealth. The Punjab government is like a puppet in the hands of a bunch of self-seeking henchmen who sway the government in favour of less revenue and take the development works behind.

Maximum use of central grants for improvement of health, education and infrastructure should be made to get rid of the stigma of a whopping debt of Rs 78,326 cr. The only pivotal factor is transparency which the government must ensure alongwith accountability so that there is no misuse of such gigantic grants. The young finance minister must take note as he is the caretaker of the finances of the government. His decision of 10% salary cut is praiseworthy.

GURMIT SINGH SAINI, Mohali

Politically correct

Pranab Mukherjee as the President of the country will not be required to take any decision which he was expected to take as a minister in various capacities. As Head of State, he either will be required to put his stamp of approval or sign on the dotted line. There are umpteen examples during his ministership when any matter was referred to him for taking a decision, his reply would usually be “I have set up a committee to look into the matter, as and when the committee decision is received, you will be intimated” or “I have got the matter proved, and it is found that such and such committee appointed / or the GOM appointed on such and such date has not recommended this demand”.

The UPA high command now has the opportunity to fill the berth of the finance minister with a professionally sound person who can take decisions on his own.

BRIJ LAL DHIMAN, Hamirpur

China’s one-upmanship

Members of the industrial engineering unit at Rampura Phul visited Colombo for business promotion but got disappointed after noticing that the Sri Lankan people don’t want to hear any name other than China. Various industries and showrooms of electrical and mechanical appliances, building material and spare parts industries preferred to do business with China. The industrialists were chaste in their preference for China.

In India too, imports from China are increasing. The Centre must take some concrete action to undo the harm China has already done to our industries and create an atmosphere of trade and industry to compete globally. We cannot let China overtake our indigenous industries.

DEEPAK SARAF, Rampura Phul

Officers’ deficit

The decision to increase the training capacity of IMA (Indian Military Academy), Dehradun to 2,400 Gentlemen Cadets is the first significant step the government has taken to fill the deficiency of officers. At the moment the shortage is hovering around 12,000. With this increase, it will take many years to fill the void. The authorities should also ponder over increasing the OTA (Officers Training Academy) capacity by at least 25%.

Increase in eligibility age to 20 years will certainly prop up NDA (National Defence Academy) intake. The overflow of selected candidates should be carried forward to the next training session. To release the pressure on the officer cadre, the government needs to be serious in taking measures to boost the strength of officers in the Army.

Col KULDIP SINGH GREWAL (retd), Patiala

Wait, then act!

Why attention is not given to details and small nitty-gritty before any causality happens (“Maahi’s death exposes gross violations of law”, June 25)?

One of the reasons for such a recurring mishap is availability of unregistered drilling machines in the market which dig bore wells. All drilling machines (boring machines) need to be registered by the government. Before digging a bore well, prior permission should be sought from the concerned department. Record of the bore well owners must be maintained in the concerned department so that cross-checking may be conducted before giving permission. If individual names already exist in the list then it should be checked whether previous bore well is functional or not. If non-functional, it should be checked whether it been capped properly.

SANDEEP NAIN, Karnal

Interest is the key Rama Kashyap’s middle “Techno-(un)savvy” (June 25) was quite hilarious, yet an eye-opener. It is true that most of the elderly people cannot use technology with ease. It is not because they cannot understand but they don’t make the requisite effort or develop an interest in understanding it. In fact, the older generation is much more educated and has better brains than the younger generation, who simply play with gadgets. When I bought a new laptop a few years ago, my father hardly knew how to turn it on. When he had to check his mails regularly because of his official responsibility, he became perfect at surfing the Net in 3 days. ANSHUL MITTAL, Mansa