Healthcare first

The recent scandal of illegal organ transplants which has come to light in Gurgaon is nothing new.

8226; Bibek Debroy8217;s 8216;Save lives, not laws8217; clears the air in the thicket of confusion and inconsistencies on the subject of organ transplant. The recent scandal of illegal organ transplants which has come to light in Gurgaon is nothing new. There are many other racketeers yet to be caught by law enforcement agencies. Everyone knows there is a problem of asymmetry between demand and supply.

There is one aspect to the problem not properly addressed, however. And that is the prevention question. Many cases of organ failure may be due to poorly functioning vital organs like kidney, liver and heart. Most people are not fully aware of the consequences of neglect and poor healthcare. In our country many people go to a doctor when the symptoms are grave. In the first place we need public awareness about organ donation by the relatives of the dead and sophisticated medical infrastructure to keep the organs in conditions fit for transplant.

8212; John Alexander

Nagpur

Jewels around

8226; This refers to your editorial 8216;Bharat Apna?8217;. Amidst growing demands from political parties for Bharat Ratna for their patrons in recognition of their contribution to the nation, I have a question: why have successive regimes at the Centre not bothered to confer the award in the past seven years the last time was in 2001, to Lata Mangeshkar and Bismillah Khan?

Was no Indian found suitable for this recognition all these years? The fact is, several eminent Indian personalities have brought laurels for the country in different fields, the most recent being R.K. Pachauri, under whose stewardship the United Nations8217;s IPCC was jointly chosen for Nobel Peace Prize.

8212; Hemant Kumar

Ambala

Setu in-depth

8226; There are aspects to the Sethusamudram project, in relation to which the issues the BJP, the Congress and the DMK are making of it matter little.

First, ships coming from Europe and Africa will save a maximum of 10 to 12 hours using the proposed canal; but this assumes, quite unrealistically, that the ships will not have to queue up to transit through the channel. In any case the fuel 8216;saved8217; by a ship will not be sufficient to justify even half the fee the ship-owner will have to pay to use the canal!

Second, the canal will not be deep enough to allow anything bigger than a medium-size trawler through 8212; something pointed out by Navy Chief Suresh Mehta. These two simple facts make the project an absurdly unrealistic venture.

8212; R.P. Subramanian

Delhi

Being pan-Indian

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8226; A stalwart statesman like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel carved a whole united India out of all the diverse kingdoms that India was divided into. I am sure he would never have dreamt that at a later date his vision could be fragmented by self-styled regional patriots.

Then how does one justify this theory that time and again raises its head 8212; of Maharashtra for Marathis, or Punjab for Punjabis, etc, when in every Indian state you will find Maharashtrians, Punjabis, Gujaratis, and so on, all living together to eke out a living? It is time to very proudly proclaim instead, 8216;India for us all Indians8217;.

8212; Roda D. Hakim

Baroda