Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Cramped deal
• It is good to learn that the prime minister has assured the Parliament that he will concentrate on the positive aspects of the nuclear deal and will not allow anything beyond what was agreed upon in his agreement with President Bush. In principle, it is right to take a stand that what another country legislates is not of concern to us. But in today’s international scenario this may not be relevant. But the deeper question that remains is that if the bill is passed in its present form and then a bilateral agreement has to be reached on the nuclear issue, there is no way it can contravene any of the clauses of the US bill, which if it is made into a law will hurt many of India’s interests. So it is imperative that our PM informs the President Bush officially that India will not be party to an agreement which goes beyond the scope of the Bush-Manmohan Singh agreement.
— M.R. Iyer, New Delhi
India song
• Thanks to the recent controversy over compulsory singing of Vande Mataram, it is surprising to learn the extent to which the national song is, in itself, unacceptable to Muslim groups in the country. According to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Muslims cannot sing the song for they ‘love’ but don’t ‘worship’ the country while the song talks about worshipping the country. The second objection cited is the source of the song — the novel, Anand Math, which according to them, shows Muslims in a poor light. In that case, would it not have been better that the song designated as the ‘national song’ was one that was generally more acceptable to all the communities of India?
— Gaurav Dua, Delhi
Taxing seniors
• Apropos of the article, ‘Desperately needed: Senior Citizens Alert’ ( IE, August 21) by Sucheta Dalal, P. Chidambaram has been ruthlessly targeting the salaried class, senior citizens and women. The FM foreclosed the tax-free interest yielding deposit scheme for retiring government servants, RBI relief bonds, the LIC Varishtha Nagarik Vima Yojana. He terminated standard deduction, all deductions for senior citizens and women, besides abolishing Section 80L of IT Act, and the bonus on post office monthly income accounts. Now there is TDS on the interest accruing to senior citizens’ post office savings accounts. Chidambaram, in his proposal submitted on July 30, 2005, anticipates the stopping of all pensions at the age of 75. I have been paying income tax for over 40 years without any reciprocal post-retirement social security. It is high time the government extended concessions to all senior citizens above 60, including exemption from the compulsory filing of IT returns in the New Saral form running into 20 pages.
— M.S. Rajagopalan, Ahmedabad
Soul food
• One day in the ‘50s, a friend brought me passes for Ustad Bismillah Khan’s shehnai recital for AIR’s library in three sittings of three hours each. I was running a temperature of 102 and was deeply stressed over a financial problem. On coming back, I found that my temperature was normal. About finances, I told myself, “What if I lose some money? Have not I received the treasure of three hours of soul-stirring music?”
— M.G. Kapahy Delhi
