Jharkhand: what cost?

8226; The Jharkhand episode/drama activated by the Governor Razi with Sibu Soren as hero, under e...

8226; The Jharkhand episode/drama activated by the Governor Razi with Sibu Soren as hero, under expert supervision from Priyaranjan Das Munshi, Ajit Jogi, etc, has made a mockery of our Constitution and upset the equilibrium of the balance between the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive. Sonia Gandhi8217;s advisors should be sent packing to their respective states.

8212; G.S. Krishnan Mumbai

Fine balance

8226; This refers to the confrontation between the legislatures and the judiciary. The fact is that We, the People, gave ourselves the Constitution. The electorate is supreme. The legislature legislates, but it is not free to legislate whatever it chooses. The Supreme Court has the right to declare even a whole Act of Parliament as ultra vires, if it transgresses the provisions of the Constitution. Whereas the executive enforces the law, the judiciary sees to it that it is faithfully implemented. Above all, the three estates are meant to uphold democracy, not to thwart it for ulterior motives as the Congress did in Goa and Jharkhand.

8212; J.N. Bhartiya Lucknow

Wildlife management

8226; It8217;s time we stopped shedding crocodile tears and get to the reality of the present tiger crisis. What is required is protection of the habitat to ensure that prey is available for tigers which can be developed on the basis of wildlife as a sustainable economic resource. The absurdity of our situation is that the persons in charge are fully aware of the main reason for this predicament, which is population explosion, agricultural emphasis, constant poaching which is unchecked by the wildlife authorities. Also, the locals have no interest in wildlife conservation unless wildlife is treated as an 8216;economic resource8217; which can in turn be beneficial to them as is the case of many African countries, and even practiced by Pakistan in Chitral for the Markhor which has benefited the villagers who ensure game protection.

8212; Avinash C. Kohli New Delhi

Poaching still

8226; The director of Project Tiger, Dr Rajesh Gopal IE, Letters, March 12 uses a personal attack to conceal a matter of serious national concern. It is time government officers faced the fact that there is widespread tiger poaching. The evidence is screaming in their faces and still they try to turn the subject into NGO8217;s hidden agendas. The primary point in my report is: in the Panna Tiger Reserve, what has happened to the tigers that have disappeared not a 8220;decade back8221; but in the last two years? The research project has submitted photographic evidence of 23 missing tigers! If such a situation continues, the remaining tigers 8212; whatever their number 8212; will also disappear and Panna will soon go the Sariska way! Dr Gopal8217;s response sidelines the core issue and maligns the whistle-blower.

8212; R.S. Chundawat Member, MP Wildlife Advisory Board

TMD will help

8226; Apropos of 8216;A theatre of mistaken missiles8217; IE, March 11, a TMD will help to reduce the threat from both missile as well aircraft. Of course there is no such thing as perfect defence, but it definitely will raise the cost of attacking India and create uncertainty in the mind of the attacker. According to the writer we should do nothing to defend ourselves. That to me appears to be a very Gandhian thought which fortunately is losing significance.

8212;Joydeep Rudra Bangalore