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8226; Tavleen Singh8217;s article, 8216;Minimum planning for a rainy day,8217; has exposed the apathetic attitude of the state and Central governments and their poor governance. The Disaster Management Plan was a total disaster as the officials concerned were unable to cope with the crisis. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh appears to be little perturbed about the loss of life and destruction of property in the city. After all, the city is a milking cow that generates one-third of the nation8217;s revenue, irrespective of whether development is carried out or not.
Shanta Hotta, Mumbai

8226; This refers to Pamela Philipose8217;s Straightface 8216;Friends, we have also Action Taken Report?8217; Aug 14. In a satirical vein, the author has highlighted the hypocrisy of Narendra Modi as also the futility of The Justice Nanavati Commission Report. Justice Nanavati says in his report, 8216;8216;The systematic manner in which the Sikhs were killed indicated that the attacks on them were organised.8217;8217; But who organised them and why did the police and the law and order machinery fail for those three fateful days of 1984? Why did Nanavati not focus his inquiry on this aspect? Everybody knows that the anti-Sikh riots were not a spontaneous reaction of a section of the society at the assassination of Indira Gandhi. It was planned and systematically executed under the guidance of a powerful section of the Congress Party.

Ironically, so many commissions and committees of inquiry instituted during the past 21 years have failed to make any conclusive recommendations. Each one has just passed the buck either by recommending further investigation or suppressing their findings under phrases like 8216;very possible, probably, likely8217; etc. It is painful that these commissions kept alive the hopes of justice of the victims of 1984 and thus did not allow the wounds to heal.

Let us for once stop torturing the sufferers of communal violence by politicizing the whole issue. It is not possible to forget the nightmarish scenes of your own husband, son, father or brother being butchered and burnt alive. The agony of the sufferer does not become less or more whether one is a Hindu or Sikh or Muslim or whether such inhumanity took place in Delhi, Gujarat or Maharashtra.
Ved Guliani, Hisar

8226; Your feature 8216;India Empowered8217;, being serialised on the front page of your newspaper, is very enlightening. Omar Abdullah concludes his views by noting that 8216;India empowered is an India where power flows from the people, where the people have team spirit and are no longer willing to accept anything but the best.8217; On the contrary, what has been done in the name of the people for over 50 years in post-independence India is to concentrate all powers in the hands of a few politicians whether in the Centre or the states. And who are these so-called representatives of the people on whose behalf the Constitution of India was drafted? The wily and corrupt politicians seizing power through vote-bank politics, keeping the poor masses illiterate and begging by design.

Fifty years is a long period to bring about 100 per cent literacy and zero growth in population but this does not suit the politicians. Their vote-banks will disappear. Everybody forgets what Rajiv Gandhi said about the fruits of development not reaching the poor 8212; only 15 paise out of one rupee reaches the grassroot.

After 8216;Garibo Hatao8217; and 8216;India Shining8217;, yet another gimmick, this time not by a hardcore politician but by an honest economist-turned-politician. I refer to Rozgar Yojna. It is suggested that once the bill becomes an Act, its implementation at all levels should be left to a few carefully chosen public-spirited apolitical experts. Only then we the people can hope to be empowered.
Inder Nath