Letters To The Editor

Public sector shining? 8226; EVEN if India continues to shine, with impressive growth rates as The Indian Express has reported IE, Octobe...

Public sector shining?

8226; EVEN if India continues to shine, with impressive growth rates as The Indian Express has reported IE,
October 30, the real question is what is the status of India8217;s public sector, which has a far greater presence in India than the private sector. Unless PSUs match the performance of India Inc, no real change will take place in the country8217;s economic standing in the world. And for the PSUs to perform, a strong dose of reforms is urgent. The UPA had promised this but has so far failed to bring about reforms. Now, with just half the UPA8217;s tenure left, it does not look likely that our economist PM and FM will dare to go in for PSU reforms. This being the case, any talk of achieving 10 per cent growth is like Mungerilal8217;s hasin sapne 8212; as Sonia Gandhi once taunted the NDA in a similar context.

8212; G.S. Kulkarni, Delhi

Orthodoxy8217;s shadow

8226; SHABANA AZMI8217;S statement against burqa has come under attack from a section of maulanas. The impression has been created that there is something inherent in Islam that is opposed to progressive ideas. One knows that there are liberal interpreters of Islam like Asghar Ali Engineer and progressive liberal Muslims like Shabana raising their voices.The Muslim community has been targeted globally, for the lust of oil, and nearer home by sectarian politics and consequent violence, with over 80 per cent of riot victims being Muslims. This has created a sense of insecurity leading to ghettoisation among this community. This ghettoisation in turn makes the community more inward-looking and receptive to clerics. The process of reforms in different Muslim countries stalled in the eighties, with the the US launching military strikes against Muslim nations, and the Hindu Right terrorising the minorities in India. This is the root cause for the proliferation of orthodoxy.

8212; Ram Puniyani, Mumbai

Indian blues

8226; THIS is about our men in blue, our blue-eyed boys of the nation, whose grip on the game is slipping of late. Is this thanks to the ex-selectors More et al? Every legendary cricketer, from Kapil to Boycott, has been screaming against the experimentation going on at the cost of players. No wonder we saw India being virtually thrown out of the Champions Trophy. Dravid may be a world-class cricketer, but as a captain he comes across as wishy-washy. Sehwag and Pathan seem to be in the dumps. We need to ask why. I also wish to suggest something: since it is awful to see empty stands in matches, the organisers could allow our budding cricketers at the school level to come see world-class cricketers perform

8212; Roda D. Hakim, Baroda

8226; WHEN will the Indian cricket team lift up its sagging morale? We are neither able to chase small targets nor able to defend a reasonable score! Our players appear vulnerable in all departments of the game. In batting, neither are 8220;well-established8221; batsmen able to deliver the goods, nor can the young talent prove themselves. Bowlers have been guilty of bowling too many wayward deliveries which have allowed the rival teams to score runs at will and our fielding has been below par, to say the least. It would not be a bad idea if our players view video clippings of the matches that have gone by to identify their grey areas and try to improve upon them.

8212; V. Rajesh, Mumbai