CBI146;s Maya

8226; Your leader on the Taj Corridor case confirms the suspicion that governments may change at the Centre, but the CBI8217;s autonomy...

8226; Your leader on the Taj Corridor case confirms the suspicion that governments may change at the Centre, but the CBI8217;s autonomy will remain more apparent than real 8216;A monumental hole8217;, IE, January 15. The CBI director may be handpicked at the instance of the CVC, but that makes no difference to the organisation, which remains a handmaiden of the government of the day, to ladle out favours to buy political support.
In the Taj case, there is more than meets the eye. While the former chief minister of UP is to be taken out of the loop of investigation, the concerned officers are not to be spared, though they may have acted on her verbal orders. The attorney general8217;s view may not necessarily prevail once the apex court resumes hearing.

8212; M.K.D. Prasada Rao Ghaziabad

Widen the net

8226; Lateral entry into the civil services is a must if India is to have an experienced and varied bureaucracy 8216;Get on with it8217;, IE, January 17. In fact, only a small portion of civil servants should come through direct recruitment. Most of them should come from the private sector and elsewhere after acquiring years of experience of working in the field.
There should be job mobility built into the civil services. People should be free to go in and out of government service.

8212; Ratnendra Pandey New Delhi

Ways of worship

8226; The recent happenings around Kanchi Kamkoti Peetham, Jayendra Sarswati and his successor are very disturbing and eye-opening. While there is a possibility that a lot of the current controversy may stem from a political vendetta by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the bigger question relates to what is happening inside these 8220;holy places8221;. We need to examine the working of all holy places. Doubts about many of these institutions are due to their opaqueness. In a democratic society this is a very unhealthy situation. What is needed is uniformity in policy towards these institutions, irrespective of which religion they belong to. Also, we need to introduce transparency and democratic norms in the dealings of these places by subjecting them to 8220;social auditing8221;.

8212; Ram Puniyani Mumbai

The good villain

8226; I refer to 8216;Hail Mogambo8217; by Ashok Malik IE, January 13. With Amrish Puri8217;s death Bollywood has lost one of the very few villains who left a deep impression on movie audiences. He was the only villain who never over-acted in the loud and over-the-top roles he performed. Apart from his charismatic personality and deep baritone voice, his versatility was praiseworthy. After his death all his fans will now say, 8220;Mogambo Juda Huwa8221;.

8212; Amjad K. Maruf Mumbai

Invisible work

8226; I concur with Saeed Naqvi8217;s lament that the Indian navy8217;s assistance to Sri Lanka was not given the media publicity it deserved 8216;The missing story of India8217;s navy8217;, IE, January 14. I am sure every Sri Lankan who was helped was very grateful that India within hours sent five warships and later increased it to 11 vessels. This, in spite of its own devastated coastline. 8212; Sam Ashroff Toronto

Correction

8226; In Neerja Chowdhury8217;s column 8216;Sonia-Maya magic chalega kya?8217; IE, January 17, there was a reference to the case concerning 8220;the 40 erstwhile BSP MPs8221;. It should have read: 8220;the 40 erstwhile BSP MLAs8221;. The error is regretted.

8212; Editor