Death penalty

8226; Think about Angrej Singh8217;s agony when he lost 17 re...

8226; Think about Angrej Singh8217;s agony when he lost 17 relatives. Or think of the brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi; or the chilling murder of Graham Staines and his sons. Do their killers deserve any mercy 8216;Same old question: Shall we abolish death penalty?8217;, IE, October 18? President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam8217;s advice to the government to rethink the death penalty will revive the debate on capital punishment. Nariman was quite correct when he noted that the president8217;s appeal was not so much legal or constitutional, as sociological. I know the death sentence will never bring back the life of the deceased, and often the innocent are punished. But India has conformed to the principle of using this punishment only in the 8220;rarest of rare cases8221;. Since Independence, it has executed only 55 people. In any case, if the death penalty is abolished, it must be replaced by a stringent enough punishment.

8212; Bidyut K. Chatterjee Faridabad

Article 370

8226; The Kashmir earthquake has demonstrated that nature respects no boundaries. What however is intriguing is the lamentation of Kashmiri politicians that the rest of India and the corporates did not respond as they did to Bhuj and Latur. Perhaps they should first count the crores that have been poured into their state over the last 50 years in the name of security and development. Secondly, thanks to Article 370, no Indian can buy property in Kashmir, whereas Kashmiris are free to buy land anywhere. Why should anyone contribute to a land where he has no right? If Kashmiris want to be treated like others then let Article 370 be scrapped.

8212; T.R. Ramaswami Mumbai

Prompt handling

8226; UP8217;s chief minister, Mulayam Singh, responded quickly to communal violence at Mau 8216;Mau8217;s trial by fire8217;, IE, October 18. Forces were deployed soon and shoot-at-sight orders were issued. The entry of leaders attempting to score cheap political points was banned. Now it is clear that the local MLA was the problem, criminal proceedings have been ordered against him. The CM has admitted that he failed to control rioting for 48 hours and called it a blot on his tenure. Singh is not exactly the best of CM we have but he must be commended at least for his prompt handling of a tough situation.

8212; Pranav Sachdeva New Delhi

Dysfunctional!

8226; The recent Mumbai High Court decision setting aside sale of NTC8217;s mill land and directing the state government to consider revising the Development Control Regulation highlights how dysfunctional urban governance has become. Large scale urbanisation of cities and uncontrolled growth of mega-metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai has warranted long-term vision in urban planning: development in tune with environmental safeguards. More than anything, the issue demands the de-politicisation of decision making.

8212; S. N. Phadnis Mumbai

Aussies on top

8226; The recently concluded series between Australia and World Eleven has proved two things. One, that Australia is still the cricket superpower. Two, that cricket is a team game 8212; despite so many stars in the World Eleven it never seemed to play like a team.

8212; Bal Govind Bareilly