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8226; I fully endorse Tavleen Singh8217;s views, 8216;8216;At last, the season of good governance?8217;8217; that eradication of corruption and good governance should be the key result areas for PM Manmohan Singh. It is sad that despite increase in our literacy rate to over 75 per cent and an effective media, criminals are still being elected as MPs and MLAs. On the other hand, many honest officers are sidelined. So, where does the buck stop? Corruption and criminalisation of politics are closely interlinked. It is the common man who has to fight corruption which has become so deep-rooted that it is nearly institutionalised. We can8217;t have a more upright man than Manmohan Singh as PM. He will do a great service to the nation if he can make eradication of corruption one of his main thrust areas.
Madhu R D Singh

8226; Tavleen8217;s hopes on the beginning of an era of good governance will probably remain wishful thinking. The bureaucracy in India is highly corrupt. No amount of administrative reforms will benefit the common man. Take the Finance Ministry8217;s directive to the I-T department to settle the refunds of senior citizens within four months of filing the tax returns. I am a senior citizen and my tax refunds for the last four years have been held up for no reason. Numerous reminders bring a constant response: 8216;8216;Your refund orders were ready long time back. Since you have not received them, they must have been held up in despatch. We will soon sort it out.8217;8217; Is there any hope?
Mohan Siroya

8226; With reference to Tavleen Singh8217;s column, there are a number of Acts, rules and regulations which have not been updated for the last five decades, or, in some cases, even a century. All Acts need to be amended from time to time. To keep up with the changing times, they should not be older than 10 years. But consider the following Acts: Income Tax Act 1961, Wealth Tax Act 1957, Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, The Copyright Act 1957, The Indian Stamp Act 1899, Transfer of Property Act 1882 and so on. These are only a few, there are many more such outdated Acts.
Mahesh Kapasi

8226; In his column, 8216;8216;The energy paradigm: Back to the future8217;8217;, N K Singh correctly assesses the need for moving away from conventional energy sources. But he doesn8217;t suggest what these new sources should be. While the article dwells on the problems, there are few solutions offered. One thing is clear though: the new sources of energy should be more economical and environment friendly. Hence the need to consider sources like solar energy, ocean energy, hydropower and wind energy. This means that the investment in research and development should be at least trebled.
Pranav Sachdeva

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