Guns & Renuka

Renuka Chowdhury's advice to the defence minister regarding purchase of heavy artillery guns should be returned in original (R...

Renuka Chowdhury’s advice to the defence minister regarding purchase of heavy artillery guns should be returned in original (RIO) to her with the remark that she better mind her own business (‘Renuka’s blunderbuss’, IE, July 13). Tours into the domains of other ministries are not advisable. Being a wide-mouth as a citizen could be swallowed for once, but now indulging in trespassing ministerial boundaries is inexcusable. Being a daughter of a service officer she should be more disciplined. While reading the news in The Indian Express I was confused about Chowdhury’s portfolio. She may be an expert in wide-mouthed babble, but not in heavy artillery gunning.

— F.S.K. Barar Jodhpur

Left behind

• This was expected (‘Left out, CPM raises red flag on FDI hike’, IE, July 12). The CPM has not woken up to the realities of the world that to feed the poor and help them out of the poverty cycle, money and thereby development are necessary. If the communists have a better solution, why have they not implemented it in states ruled by them? They have ruined the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Now they want to obstruct development in the rest of the country.

— Ramesh Lahoti On e-mail

Lean teams

• Thanks to the 91st constitutional amendment, more than a hundred ministers from states around the country have been dropped. According to a rough estimate, this will save the states about Rs 250 crore — provided, of course, that these ministers are not compensated with other lucrative posts, like chairmanship of state/public enterprises, corporations and boards. All efforts should be made to ensure that this exercise in cutting expenses is persisted with.

— B.N. Pathak Goa

Twenty years later

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• This refers to your editorial ‘The Congress burden’ (IE, July 12). The Congress burden of the Sikh murders in 1984 has in fact become the nation’s burden and not just that of the Congress party. By appointing people who are linked to the murders as ministers in the UPA regime, Sonia Gandhi as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have sent out wrong signals.

— Arvind Amin On e-mail

Mind the Guv

• IT is unfortunate indeed that governors, who are supposed to embody decorum, have been routinely (mis)utilised by those in power at the Centre for partisan purposes. Quite often these offices are used to accommodate politicians who have lost elections or have served the ruling party well in the past. The only solution lies — as suggested in the editorial ‘A code for governors’ (IE, July 1) — in keeping politics out of Raj Bhavans. But a question remains: when all organs of the state have been politicised and used for partisan purposes, what is to suggest that political parties will refrain from using Raj Bhavans for their limited ends?

— Vidya Sagar Delhi

Gokhale’s legacy

• The aristocrat servant’ by D.C. Wadhwa (IE, July 12) was extremely interesting. Issues raised by Gokhale are relevant even today, even after nine decades.

— Sumana B. Baliga On e-mail