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Journalism of Courage
•In a democracy, the prime minister and his cabinet of ministers do have a lot of leeway in deciding what the policies and programmes of the government should be. However, it is also true that the ruling dispensation is expected to try and evolve the largest possible ‘consensus’ inside Parliament by taking into confidence not only its own partners but also the Opposition. This is more so in a coalition set-up such as the one Dr Manmohan Singh is today heading. Also the government should understand that any elected government in India is restricted to a maximum of five years. Therefore, when the government of the day tries to enter into a deal which has great import and far-reaching consequences — which in a way binds not only the current generation but also Indians for the next ‘forty years’, it becomes all the more necessary that the PM and his ministers make an all-out effort to be transparent about the deal and take everybody along.
— Shahabuddin Nadeem
Left threat
• THIS is with reference to the report (IE, August 19) about the Left issuing a warning to the Central government against going ahead with the recent nuclear agreement with the US. The fierce opposition mounted by the Left on this deal baffles me completely. The Left’s stand claims to be in the interest of the country’s autonomous nuclear programme, but during all our earlier attempts to develop nuclear capabilities, the Left had been among its loudest critics. The sole explanation for the present somersault seems to be the total subservience of our Left parties to the policies and interests of China, which detests India’s big-power aspirations and hates our growing friendship with the US even more.
— Deepak Gupta
Was there marriage?
• APROPOS of Shekhar Gupta’s ‘Calculators are out but topplers…’ (IE, August 20), whatever their claims of being consistent, Left parties over the last three years of their support to the UPA government have neither been politically honest nor morally upright. On the other hand, they have been opportunistic and hypocritical. Blinded by their anti-Americanism and power without responsibility, they grew more hostile and arrogant, threatening the UPA (especially the Congress Party) at every possible juncture. This talk of marriages and honeymoons is misleading. One wonders whether such a marriage ever took place!
— Ved Guliani
Hisar
RTI costs
• COMPARING the costs of obtaining information under the Haryana Right to Information Rules, 2005 with those prescribed under the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 framed by the Central government, is revealing. Obtaining information under the former is no less than five times that of the latter. While the amount of fee accompanying the request for seeking information under the Central rules is merely Rs 10, in case of Haryana, it is a whopping Rs 50. Further while the Central public information authorities charge at the rate of Rs 2 per page, their Haryana counterparts ask for Rs 10 per page. In case the information is to be provided in electronic form (floppy or compact disc), the Haryana rules prescribe Rs 100 as against Rs 50 in Central rules. There is an urgent need to rationalise the fees and costs of obtaining information, which is after all a fundamental right of the citizen.
— Hemant Kumar
Ambala
