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Develop India

How many years would it take for India to transform into a developed nation? What has stopped it in the past 66 years? The answer is corruption and black money. India has all resources required to become a developed nation. The Prime Minister should concentrate on bringing black money back from Swiss banks so that it can be used for the country's welfare.

The other very sensitive issue in our country is education. We can achieve 100 per cent literacy only if education is made completely free of cost and government schools have the same standards as private schools. India has the appropriate raw materials and assets. There is need to put them into honest and responsible hands so that these reserves can be used most efficiently, wisely and equally.

Mandeep Kaur, Mohali

Practise austerity

Apropos the news item “Babus to fly economy class” (October 31), it is said that example is better than precept. It would have been more appreciable if austerity had been practised at the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and his Cabinet colleagues. Money was spent lavishly at the function. Instead of having a simple function, there was great fanfare and a lot of money was also spent on being host to all the heads of SAARC countries. Again, the swearing-in ceremonies of the CMs of Haryana and Maharashtra and their colleagues looked like coronations of royal dignitaries.

GR Kalra, Panchkula

Needless extravagance

The Punjab Government is spending Rs 300 crore on a horse racing complex at Ludhiana. A state in which most villages don't have pure drinking water, where people are dying of cancer, farmers are committing suicide due to waterlogging and indebtedness, there are hardly any medical and educational facilities, youth are taking to drugs and there is dire poverty and unemployment, should not think of casinos and racing complexes. The hard-earned money of taxpayers should not be wasted on the luxuries of a few rich people. Rather, the government should save industries that are leaving the state, causing unemployment. It should invest in cancer hospitals and providing pure drinking water, pesticide-free vegetables, fruits and foodgrains and educational and medical facilities.

Bihari Lal Gohal, Nabha

No right to way

My recent travel from Tarn Taran to Jandiala was an ordeal. It took almost two and a half hours to cover the distance of just 14 km, thanks to a nagar kirtan procession. The procession stopped at three places for eating and rejoicing during this time. There wasn't a single policeman on the route to check hooliganism by the organisers who not only stopped passing vehicles to make way for their vehicles but were also abusive and aggressive towards those who tried to reason with them or request them to give them way. Thousands of litres of fuel were wasted, besides causing air pollution. What if there had been an ambulance among the vehicles which were forced to stop for such a long time?

Ashi, via email

Poor functioning

Punjab Housefed invited applications for allotment of flats at Banur in 2009. The tentative cost of Category II flat was Rs 14.92 lakh. On 24.10.2014, an allotment letter dated 20.10.14 was received intimating the final cost of flat at Rs 24.06 lakh. The total payment made from 17.03 2009 to 2.7.11 is Rs 8.95 lakh. Even after getting this advance payment three years age, an applicant is asked to deposit the increased cost of flat, ignoring the loss of interest and undue delay. This limited society never had any sympathy with the applicants. I sent a demand draft for Rs 83,875 on January 8, 2010, dated 31.10.2010 by speed post from Ambala. On enquiry, I was told about the non-receipt of the draft. But the Postal Department reported the acceptance of the letter at the Housefed office. I approached the authorities for redress of grievance, but to no avail. The only letter I received applied salt to the injury. At last, I sent a duplicate draft on 20.2.10. Now, the allotment letter claims Rs 1,415 as interest on delayed payment. Is this the way a department of the Punjab Government functions?

Daljit Singh, Ambala City

Publish short stories

In the early nineties, the Sunday Reading (former avtaar of the Spectrum) supplement always carried an interesting short story. Those stories should be repeated as the new generation of readers would get to read them for the first time and older generation would enjoy them again. Secondly, page one should have a pocket cartoon, like those days. It adds pep to life with a beautiful drawing and pithy language laced with wit, humour and irony. Thirdly, a column on spirituality covering the ideas of great men of all religions should be started.

Fourthly, as the cleanliness drive has been launched on October 2, the media should continue to spread awareness about the importance of having a clean and pollution-free environment. Our streets are littered with used polythene and other waste materials. In offices, we find toilets covered with cob-webs, dirt and filth. The walls, floors and toilets of our hospitals, bus stands and railway stations are dirty. People spit everywhere and throw cigarettes butts and bidis here and there. Similarly, people pee against walls and some let their pets defecate against the walls of their neighbours' houses.

Jasbir Singh Chawla, via email

Teachers await pay

SSA teachers in Punjab have been working without salary for the last two months. Some teachers who were recently transferred have not even got the salary of July. Most of the teachers are defaulting on payment commitments. Unlike regular teachers, these teachers don't get allowances, hence they draw a comparatively modest salary. The government must release their salary at the earliest.

Jagdeep Batth, via email

Work more

There should be only two national holidays — on January 26 and August 15 — and seven restricted holidays according to the faith of an employee. Also, there should be a six-day working week. This practice will save money and time and should be applicable to even political bosses.

Kulwant Sohi, Kapurthala