Empowering pieces

8226; Kudos to Indian Express f...

8226; Kudos to Indian Express for starting the new series, 8216;India Empowered8217;, which believes in highlighting those people who are heroes in real life. In doing so, it provides the youth of today with a whole new set of idols worthy of emulation. In times when we get to hear and read only about corrupt politicians, immoral and unethical acts, disrespect and ill treatment of fellow human beings, it is heartening to see that some people, like Javaid Ahmed Tak, are there for others in distress despite their own problems.

8212; Kavitha Narayanan New Delhi

8226; An excellent article by L.K. Advani 8216;Sanskriti, Samruddhi and Su-raj8217;, IE, August 17. He has captured the mood of the nation by saying that India should move away from the majority/minority mindset.

8212; Amit On e-mail

Theory of poverty

8226; I totally agree with Bunker Roy 8216;Freedom from poverty experts8217;, IE, August 15. Unless there is transparency and accountability in dealing with people through community-centric sustainable development, nothing much will change and only international aid agencies and their experts would stand to benefit at the cost of the poor people of poor countries.

8212; Kris Dev On e-mail

8226; With amazing naivete, Bunker Roy has castigated developed nations for their lack of 8220;experience8221; of poverty and dubbed their solutions as impractical. One thing that8217;s missing is introspection by these poor nations. Our achievements have to be seen in terms of productivity. We have to realise the earth8217;s resources cannot accommodate high living standards for the teeming billions. Therefore, first, we need to restrict our numbers.

8212; Lalith Kumar Behl Lucknow

8226; A very well-written and thought-provoking article. I agree with his views entirely. I wish we had more of such articles written by intellectuals. Unfortunately this has become a nation of movie and serial watchers. Even the aam aadmi is more pre-occupied with what happens next in a TV serial than what we can do for this nation as citizens.

8212; Lakshmi Delhi

Litter-bugs

8226; We talk of Kozhikode, but here in Delhi we are free to throw everything on the road 8212; imagining that there are enough sweepers to clean up after us. We sweep our houses and surroundings clean and throw the garbage on to the roads, imagining that there will be a sweeper to collect it. It is this attitude that leads to our roads being used as garbage bins. We need to change it. I recently visited Shimla where on Mall Road nobody throws even a bit of paper on the road and sweepers keep watch. At the same time, they sweep the road as soon as they see garbage pile up. The Municipal Corporation of Shimla is very particular about keeping their roads clean. But here in Delhi nobody stops and checks; we are free to do whatever we want to do.

8212; Kishan Chand New Delhi

Just divine

8226; The8216;Walk the Talk8217; interview with Bismillah Khan was illuminating IE, August 16. He produces divine music from his large heart. May God bless him for ever!

8212; G.S. Bhargava New Delhi