Different strokes

Don’t carp

• Apropos of ‘The ground beneath China’s feet’ (IE, November 1), it is all very well to say that China’s economic growth is unsustainable etc. Let me remind everyone that the country is growing faster than ours. They have better infrastructure and quality of life as compared to India. They must surely have less of a corruption problem as well. Let’s look at the positive side. China poses the challenge to US and other developed countries — be it in sports or in nuclear and space technologies. Let’s not carp and let’s learn lessons from China’s success.

— Manoj Rathi Bloomington

Belated anxieties

• After reading Arun Shourie’s special series on the issue of Bangladeshi immigrants (IE, October 9-12), the question that came to mind is: Why is Shourie waking up now? The BJP completed its tenure in New Delhi and what did it do about the problem? While there may be disagreement on the numbers of immigrants, there is general acknowledgement that the problem certainly exists. As minister, did Shourie ever visit West Bengal, especially the border districts, to see for himself the state of affairs? Being a specialist on this subject, as it appears now, did he highlight the issue to L.K. Advani and Home Ministry officials? Did Shourie ask the External Affairs Ministry to take up this issue with Dhaka?

— Saleha Tahniyat Hyderabad

If there is a will

• This refers to Sheela Barse’s ‘The little boy with spiky hair who could not speak’ (IE, October 30). Has there been any attempt to bring the perpetrators of hate crimes in India to book? The Jewish community pursued their persecutors several decades after the genocide in World War II. Therefore, if there is a will, it’s entirely possible to find witnesses against the leaders of the mobs who killed Sikhs in 1984. Letting those people go unpunished demeans the idea of civil rights for the entire Indian people.

— Monsheel Sodhi Nashville

You got it!

• It was refreshing to read C. Raja Mohan’s article (‘Vote that’ll change the world’, IE, November 2) in the midst of the brazen support for John Kerry among the left wing, liberal (dare I say, misguided) Indian media. You got the big picture, as always.

— Jit Dutta Los Angeles