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

Insult to Tricolour

I have seen a photograph of Talengana Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao taking the salute at a march past on July 2. He is seen taking the salute bare-headed, which is improper. During my graduation days of 1945-47, I had joined the OTC, which now is the NCC. We were told by our instructors that taking a salute bare-headed is an insult to the flag.

The dignitary taking the salute may cover his head with a turban, hat or cap. If nothing is there, he has to stand at attention bare-headed, or do a namaste with folded hands.

Raghu Bans Singh, California (USA)

Law and moral values

News reports of rapes and murders of a 3-year-old, an 81-year-old, a physically challenged girl, a Dalit girl and more such cases have been published in the recent days. Alcohol, steamy scenes in TV/films and fashion in the name of creative freedom bring out the beast in a person. They tear apart the very fabric of our society. It is imperative to inculcate moral values in young minds. Awareness programmes should be conducted in schools and colleges to prevent crimes against women. The law, though stringent, is lax in causing deterrence because it is not time-bound. Rapid and better quality of investigation and prosecution coupled with speedy judgment are essential to take such cases to their logical conclusion. Law and moral values must run simultaneously.

Dr Soshil Rattan, Amritsar

Train cops in first aid

In the Pt Parmanand Katara vs Union of India and others case, the Supreme Court has made apt observations on the importance of saving human lives. It has desired that efforts should be made to protect the lives of victims of road accidents without insisting upon the completion of legal formalities and without harassing the persons/doctors attending to such emergency cases.

Barring a few NGOs, patrolling police personnel are generally the first ones to reach the scene of an accident and send the victims to hospitals. But due to lack of adequate training in first-aid, the policemen are not in a position to provide basic aid to the victims. The chances of survival will greatly enhance if they are trained in this. This will not only provide the much-needed relief to the victims on the spot but also help the police to improve its much-sullied image.

RC Dhand, Bathinda

UPSC prelims

Apropos the news item “Postpone IAS prelims” (July 16), it is not a good step to put off the test at this stage as the aspirants are mentally prepared for the exam on August 24. It is highly appreciable that MOS Jitendra Singh has cared for the sentiments of some students who are facing the language problem in the UPSC Civil Services Exam. This situation has arisen since CSAT was introduced in the preliminary exam.

Nikhil Sharma, via email

Hospital needs care

The MCI recently rejected the Patiala Medical College plea to increase the 50 MBBS seats due to shortage of senior doctors and poor infrastructure in the college. Instead of looking into the shortcomings, the Punjab Government is using all its power to get the seats approved. The college is in need of care. Adding more students than what it can accommodate will be a severe compromise with the quality of education. The government should improve the college and open more hostels. It has only one hostel for both junior and senior boys.

Kunal Gupta, Mandi Gobindgarh

Honest officers

It is good news that Ashok Khemka is being transferred to Delhi on deputation (July 16). Khemka became the victim of political vendetta of the Congress regime in Haryana at the behest of its bosses in Delhi since he had pointed out wrongdoings of the Haryana Government with regard to land deals of Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. Such officers should be rewarded for their exemplary work and encouraged, but unfortunately, he was humiliated. This discourages other honest officers.

Ujagar Singh, Chandigarh

Poor India!

Reference the news item “Over Rs 1 lakh crore illegal income detected” (July 17), this amount is just the tip of the iceberg and still India is a poor country! Unfortunately, the public is never made aware of the fate of such detected money or how it is accounted for. Will we ever rise above such liaisons that have led to the branding of India as a poor country, which virtually it is not?

MPS Chadha, Mohali

College teachers

Recently, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir raised the retirement age of the teachers of universities and government medical colleges from 60 to 62. But as per the recommendations of the University Grants Commission, the retirement age of the teaching staff in both universities and colleges should be 65 years. Why has the government forgotten to include the teaching staff of degree colleges for this benefit and also not raised their retirement age to 65? The criteria for fixing the qualifications, pay grades, workload and other duties of teachers at both universities and colleges are kept the same by honouring the UGC directions. But in retirment age, the government has given stepmotherly treatment to college teachers. It should reconsider the entitlement of the college teachers in this matter.

JM Behl, Jammu

Costly duties

Sending doctors and other government officials across districts, even up to 100 km, to meet staff shortage for temporary duties is understandable. Officials go, often at the cost of their workbase, to distant postings. But the government has a moral duty to take into consideration the additional expenditure and effort undertaken in the performance of such duties. Hardly any attention is paid to a staffer’s comfort and basic condition of workplace. At least the fuel expenditure should be met by the government. For many duties, no TA and DA are given, affecting the work efficiency. There is no systematic work mechanism.

Gurleen Kaur, Jalandhar