Who is the sermon for?
Who is the sermon for?
WHAT does the PM mean when he says, “We all must work together to get rid of corruption?” Who is ‘we’ and who are his audience? Is ‘we’ the common man of India who has to encounter corrupt officials every day, or the corrupt officials themselves? And, if the audience is the former, what can they do to get rid of corruption. In fact, they are the sufferers. The audience must be, and has to be the latter — the public servants — some of whom want their demands met to make a file move. And the sermons of the PM will not cut any ice on this thick-skinned audience.
Amit Kumar, Mohali
Saviour of dharma
How preposterous of a political party to arrogate to itself the role of saviour of Hinduism — to save the Sanatan Dharma, the timeless religion that has seen the rise and fall of innumerable rulers and grown from strength to strength. Is the party delusional or is it an ulterior motive?
Brij misra, by mail
A different league
This refers to ‘Let us be future-focused, not past-obsessed’; the ruling Right sees in Netaji a counterweight to Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of the lndian National Congress-led freedom struggle. Netaji wanted to establish self-rule in India quickly; that too, on secular moorings. An impatient Bose offered Indian nationalists a motivational slogan, “Give me blood, and I will give you freedom.” In a show of reverence to Gandhi, Netaji addressed him as the ‘Father of the Nation’ and sought his blessings for the war he was fighting, in a speech broadcast by the Azad Hind Radio from Singapore in July 1944. Bose would prove a misfit in the scheme of things of the right wing, eventually.
Haridasan Rajan, Kerala
Bose as mascot
Berating the Congress for not according a due place to Subhas Chandra Bose in India’s history, the ruling BJP dispensation is highlighting only the military aspect of his personality and Hindu credentials, not his secular and political viewpoint (‘Let’s be future-focused, not past-obsessed’). Its attempt to appropriate Netaji is focused mainly on denigrating the Nehru-Gandhi family. Netaji was an extraordinary, charismatic leader who played a crucial role in the freedom struggle. He believed in cultural diversity and vouched for a sustained united society. The BJP should rise above its narrow-minded politics of hatred and divisiveness for electoral gains, and recognise his secular, socialist and democratic legacy. It should endeavour to seek support and cooperation from the Opposition and address the multiple socio-political and economic challenges confronting the country today for a better tomorrow.
DS Kang, Hoshiarpur
Substandard oil
Refer to ‘Row over mustard oil being sold under PDS in Nurpur’; if the government wants to support citizens through various schemes, it should provide quality services to them. The case of supplying substandard quality of mustard oil is a matter of serious concern. Why doesn’t the Food and Civil Supplies department check the quality of items before supplying it to fair price shops? It can have a bad impact on the health of people. This also raises questions on the quality of other products supplied by these fair price shops. All citizens can’t afford quality products from other shops, they are dependent on these fair price shops. The department must avoid such laxity in future.
Ritish Pandit, Sunhet
No bus stands
It’s intriguing to see that there’s no bus stand in operation in Gurugram, Mohali, Zirakpur and Kharar. Commuters just wait for buses by standing along highways, in the sun and rain. Politicians talk about airports, convention centres or luxurious shopping malls but simply forget to provide this basic facility which should have been provided years ago.
RAMESH GUPTA, NARWANA
Bank for bad loans
Apropos of ‘Go-ahead for bad bank’, the project has received the approval to take off and NPAs of public sector banks amounting to Rs 2 lakh crore are likely to be taken over by the bank. This will lead to a better credit offtake. The quantum of bad loans has had an adverse impact on the credit flow. A one-time transfer of NPAs outside of the bank’s balance sheet is essential to enable the banks to focus on lending activities while the bad bank will deal with recovering the NPAs via liquidation, restructuring or other means. But its success would depend on the implementation and management of the transferred NPAs. It will help clean up balance sheets, but credit culture must change for a healthier financial system. The creation of a bad bank does not in any way address the underlying cause of the bad loan problem. Only by reforming the banking system can the financial system be made more efficient.
RS SEMBHI, Ludhiana
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