Armaments and India

• The front page of the Express of June 27 lists ten items referred by the government to the...

• The front page of the Express of June 27 lists ten items referred by the government to the CBI for investigation, but Page 2 clarifies that this is an exercise in futility! It’s time we took a serious view of defence weapons supply, and give up the present myopic approach. A analysis shows that four items refer to ammunition for AK-47, T-72 tanks, VT Fuses as well as general ammunition. All these are of old designs. It’s a shame if our four dedicated ammunition units, plus the one at Nalanda, cannot supply ammunition. VT fuses are manufactured at Cossipore and Kanpur and in two private factories. Sniper rifles and grenade launchers are well within the competence of the R&D unit at Pune. The import of aluminum caskets, boots, and bullet-proof vests is preposterous for India with its developed industry. It’s time we stopped imports of such items.

— Pratap Narain Former Controller General of Defence Production New Delhi

Congress Left out

• Apropos of the editorial, ‘Missing coordinates’ (IE, June 28), there is no difficulty in pre-consultation within the coordination committee on specific issues before the Cabinet takes a decision. I do not think it is unconstitutional to discuss the major issues before initiating the Cabinet process. Once the processing for Cabinet clearance starts, it will be incorrect to share government files. So far, not only the disinvestment cases but also the oil price rise were first proposed by the government and then became the subject of open bickering. Instead, the issues could have been cleared at the coordination meeting.

— Rajaram Bojji On e-mail

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• Why is every one harping on the need of the Left to act tough with the UPA in view of the coming assembly elections in Kerala and W.Bengal? The victory of CPM in both these states is a foregone conclusion, independent of the Left’s attitude to the government.

— Mukundan M. Kochi

• The Congress knows very well that the Left dog will only bark and not bite. The Congress should thank BJP for their present dilemma, for they can take precisely any adventurous decision without losing power.

— Parag Hegde Panaji

• When will the Left get a sense of reality? When will they understand that we have to pay for what we buy (oil or anything else) in the international market?

— Vamsi Kiran Hyderabad

Patil’s next step?

• If and when R.R. Patil succeeds in banning dance bars, he can turn his attention to introducing prohibition, closing down all redlight areas, banning indecent TV channels, Mallika Sherawat and couples holding hands in public(‘Governor’s good sense’, IE, June 25). The above measures would make Maharashtra the best state in the world. The government’s debt would get wiped out and there would no crime and corruption in this part of the world.

— Satish Haldankar Bombay

Feeling the heat

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• What is Shailaja Bajpai talking about? Of course Jassi and Armaan have on-screen chemistry. Gosh, she must be in the North Pole watching her TV from 10 feet away not to feel the heat from these two.

— Divya Bhatt Pune

Sources in the LJP (RV) said the names of the remaining 15 candidates would also be announced very soon.

Bihar polls: Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) announces first list of 14 candidates

India2 hr ago

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) announced its first list of 14 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, with its state unit chief Raju Tiwary and leader Hulas Pandey among the nominees. As per the seat-sharing arrangement, LJP (RV) will contest 29 seats, while BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each. The remaining 15 candidates will be announced soon.

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