Win teachers’ trust

The Haryana School Education Department has been called a storehouse of extortionist experiments. Now it is the turn for the teachers to be examined. Assessing the future builders and updating them accordingly should be given the form of a regular exercise as it will work as an incentive for them to come up with newer skills and perform better. It will also help slow down the intellectual decay of government teachers. But the government should be clear and honest about its aims. Why are its decisions being protested against? Teachers’organisations should have been taken into confidence regarding the scheme. It would have been better if the stakeholders had been incorporated in the decision-making process.

Keeping in view the appreciable reputation held by the NCERT, SCERT and other such bodies, contracting a privately held firm to appraise and train the teachers casts a shadow on the government’s intentions. There have been several instances wherein NGOs, handpicked by the department, have failed to live up to the expectations. Giving contracts to firms of one’s choice has been shamelessly pursued by the government at various levels. No one is authorised to distribute the taxpayers’ money among their near and dear ones in the name of government expenditure.

SUDHIR NAIN, Jind

Medical regulator needed

I fail to understand why the Punjab Government has not appointed any Medical Regulatory Commissioner in the state. In their absence, private practitioners, hospitals, labs and investigating centres are looting patients. In all government hospitals, including medical colleges, the rates of medical tests are fixed and displayed. It is a different story that tests and investigations are not done in government sector as they should have been due to reasons best known to the government. In the absence of guidelines from the government, doctors in private sector are openly looting the people. The fee charged by private practitioners varies from place to place. A million-dollar question is who fixes the rate? The government should provide affordable medical care to the people and appoint a regulatory commission to fix uniform rates in the private sector throughout the state.

Dr NARESH RAJ, Patiala

Why quota for Jats?

Giving quota to Jats was an unfair step by the last government. Quota is for the poor and those who are not at par with other classes in the society. Why do Jats, a politically, socially and economically dominated community, need it? Almost every Jat is well off in Haryana because of their landholding. Jats cannot be called a poor class at least in Haryana. The right way to provide quota is on economic, and not on caste, basis.

KAPIL SHARMA, Kaithal

Involve farmers’ unions

With reference to various news reports on suicides by farmers, problems of procurement of wheat and rice by government agencies, burning of stubble and diversification of crops, the government departments concerned are doing (or seem to be doing) a lot. However, the result is almost zero. The reason is that the government plans do not reach the farmers and they are not convinced of the use and efficacy of the schemes and programmes. This gap can be bridged by the farmers’ unions. At present, these unions just hold protests and dharnas in support of the farmers’ demands. The unions can be channelised and be a source of motivation and educate the farmers. The government should involve them in its schemes.

Ravinder Mittal, Ludhiana

Criminal negligence

Apropos the news item that an open sewage drain in Faridkot town has claimed the life of a woman (May 15), what is agonising is the fact that the municipal corporation and the district administration had no machinery or equipment to pull the drowning woman out. It is a case of criminal negligence on the part of the corporation. All those responsible should be booked. It is the collective duty of the public and the media to raise the issue. The high court should suo motu take up the matter and direct a case against all officials responsible for this negligence.

K.S. Khurana, Amritsar

Maintain T20 quality

With the introduction of Twenty20 matches, cricket has been reduced to a three-hour game. Living a fast-paced life, no one now has the time to sit and watch a test match. Hence, Twenty20 matches are the latest in-thing and also provide good money to players and people associated with it. It's time the ICC also pitches in. Personal interests of individuals should be kept aside and the quality of the game should be maintained. After all, it's a good game and not a commercial venture that we want to watch.