Express your voice

• I recently read Coomi Kapoor’s column that mentioned development of a scheme through which NRIs would be entitled to special facilities and exclusive space at major Indian cities. They already seem to receive special treatment at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Well, at least some of them do—those who have forked out the moolah for a PIO card. I have travelled through many airports around the world and have waited in queues while citizens of the country have whizzed through immigration. While I, as an Indian citizen, am used to not getting the same service at Delhi airport, it irritated me no end when I discovered recently that people who held PIO cards now did get such a benefit…on par with our diplomatic corps. I’m starting to wonder where in the world I could expect to be treated like a first-class citizen. My country’s capital’s airport does not seem to be one of those places.

— Tanvi Madan

• Tavleen Singh has rightly pointed out that India needs much more than a yearly ritual of presenting the Budget if the Government wants to stop the spate of starvation deaths and malnutrition in the country. While the Budget expresses the objectives of the Government, it is the system that is responsible for its implementation, for it is an acknowledged fact that it makes available only 15 paise of every rupee to the ultimate beneficiary. The present government’s reforms with human face will only fructify if it can make every paisa count.

— Siddhartha Raj Guha

• Tavleen Singh has forgotten to mention the positive side of our system. To begin with, it is incredible that India, in spite of a burgeoning population hanging around its neck like a millstone, has a system that works. Whether or not it functions the way it should is another matter. Compared to many of our neighbours, whose systems have proved to be failures, we have a reason to be proud of ours. We have come a long way from the colonial days and, in spite of many hurdles, reached thus far making reasonably good progress in many spheres, which might not have been possible without the mechanisms of a functioning system. It is not for nothing that the world sees us as an emerging economic power. Therefore, India is definitely shining, although may not be on all sides. It is true there are many grey areas, where change is essential. The easy way to absolve us of all responsibility is to blame the system.

— V P Damodar