Corps issues

• This is with reference to the article ‘Come on, General’ by K. Subrahmanyam (IE,...

• This is with reference to the article ‘Come on, General’ by K. Subrahmanyam (IE, April 18). As a celebrated Pakistani columnist put it some time ago, “Kashmir is a corps commanders’ issue” and not a “core” issue. However, General Pervez Musharraf appeared to be mellowing, as when he said this week that the problem is difficult to solve because of “mutual intransigence”. But it must be admitted that the General is astride a tiger, having come to power through a coup d’etat, like his predecessors in uniform. While his hardliner colleagues in the services may not allow him to come to an understanding with the Indian leadership, he has also to reckon with American susceptibilities. Yet, while “plebiscite”, as an idea, is as good as abandoned, and a re-drawing of the “map” is not acceptable to us, as Subrahmanyam has put it so pithily, can the General put new ideas on the table for India?

— M.K.D. Prasada Rao On e-mail

Two to tango

• Such drives by politicians are nothing but populism aimed at appeasing the “moral majority” (‘Why Mr Minister needs to know dancer Temiko’, IE, April 19). Legalise dance bars, let them operate under the law. That way, the government has a flow of tax money, which can be used to regulate the industry. The Maharashtra government should concentrate on preventing child prostitution (which sadly finds no mention from these “moral politicians”) and take steps to protect women from being exploited by the industry by giving them legal cover.
It is not the business of government to dictate morality to society.

— Vinay On e-mail

Whose morality?

• This refers to your editorial ‘Maha Moralists’ (April 14). You have correctly diagnosed the virus. The real reason for banning dance bars in Mumbai is nothing to do with morality. It is more about collections that could increase as the bars go underground.

— S.C.N. Jatar Pune

In moderation

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• While the RSS may attribute the failure of the BJP in last year’s general elections to deviation from Hindu fundamentalism, moderates are prone to put the debacle down to unsavoury alliances with the AIADMK and the TDP and the unnecessary targetting of Sonia Gandhi’s Italian birth. Yes, there are reasons why Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani need to step down, but the fissures between the BJP and RSS are not as ominous as Kumar Ketkar makes them out to be (‘The Sudarshan Chakra’, IE, April 14).

— Ganesh S. Krishnan Minneapolis

Make way, Dada

• Saurav Ganguly needs to be replaced as captain of the Indian cricket team. He has lost his form. Of late, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag have been rescuing India from lost causes. They should be projected as captain and vice-captain, respectively. Ganguly may be retained as a batsman.

— M.H. Rao Kurnool

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Fighter engine talks with US are on, unaffected by tariff row: HAL chief

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HAL Chairman and Managing Director D K Sunil assures that the government's recent order for 97 Tejas Mk 1A is a vote of confidence, despite the delay in delivering the initial order of 83 aircraft. He addresses concerns about the supply chain and negotiations with GE for F414 engines.

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