Aam government!

• If governments like the present one keep ruling this country, fuel price hikes are here t...

• If governments like the present one keep ruling this country, fuel price hikes are here to stay. Government policy towards the fuel and energy sector can at best be described as myopic — increase the prices as they increase in the international market. The government seems to have no long-term policy on energy saving. This, when it’s a known fact that the oil supplies in the world won’t last forever. What is the government doing in the area of Mass Rapid Transport Systems, encouraging use of non-conventional energy resources and research for alternative fuels? It’s just another ‘‘aam’’ government and not a government for the ‘‘aam’’ people.

— Amit Gupta Noida

Such a theft

• We were once approached by an electrician to short-circuit our air-conditioner so that we would not receive any bill. And that was in an organised colony of flats in Delhi — so one can imagine what the high and the mighty can do in order to steal electricity! The Delhi government which has a reputation of five years of good governance must get down to catch these robbers and one way of doing this efficiently is to expose their dark deeds by publishing photographs in the media.

— M.B. Kunte Delhi

Sania O!

• Sania is great! Not to belittle her, but so were — and are — Sunil, Kapil, Sachin, Mahesh Bhupati, Leander Paes, Geet Sethi, P.T. Usha, Bachhendri Pal… the list is extensive. Yet, the hype around her may have made them envious. Besides her natural, confident game, the media contributes to her image and popularity. The photographers’ contribution is undoubtedly vital. Highest of skills and equipment appears to have been deployed to capture never-before expressions, postures and stances for newspapers and magazines.

— C.S. Pathak Pune

Corrupt, certainly

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• Apropos of the reports about the blatant corruption in the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) that has been brought to light in two villages in Satara district, Maharashtra, it should be obvious to anyone that it is the same scenario in all villages and all districts. Several thousand crores of rupees must have been illegally pocketed by lower level functionaries and netas during the implementation of the scheme in Maharashtra in the last nearly forty years.
Muster rolls are fudged. Repetitive works are carried out at the same sites. This has indeed been a Corruption Guaranteed Scheme. The new central scheme would ensure the spread of this cancer in other states too.

— V.S. Gopalkrishnan Mumbai

CBI’s master

• The recent SC notice to CBI and the central government on the Petrol Pump Scam involving Satish Sharma enhances faith in the apex court to fulfill the ends of justice. But why did the central government and CBI remain selectively silent for so long? What the SC has done now should have been taken up by the home ministry long ago. It is established that the CBI is a tool in the hands of the government of the day. They can twist it in any direction and restrain it from functioning independently.

— C.R. Bhattacharjee On e-mail