Letters to the editor

Balanced budget8226; It is interesting to note that in India, though successive governments have been corrupt and inefficient, their financ...

Balanced budget

8226; It is interesting to note that in India, though successive governments have been corrupt and inefficient, their finance ministers have been very professional and honest. P. Chidambaram is no exception 8216;Look at what8217;s not there8217;, IE, March 1. Though the ruling coalition partners were dragging the Congress in different directions, he managed a good and balanced budget 8212; no matter what the hyper-critical opposition says. Of course it is not possible to fully satisfy each and every stratum of society.

The inflation problem has not been well tackled. But the priority should be to strengthen the economy and the budget gives importance to this aspect, which should be commended. There shouldn8217;t be any reason for opposition parties like the BJP, the communists or capitalists to be sorely disappointed with the budget. Enough importance has been given to defence, education, the rural sector, agriculture, and so on. But it was disappointing that the finance minister failed to unearth black money worth thousands of crores of rupees 8212; earned and accumulated through bribes or by way of undisclosed income.

8212;Amjad K. Maruf, Mumbai

Grey areas

8226; It hurts us to note that our Union finance minister, and prime minister are under the false impression that in this country all senior citizens are of the elite and are tax payers. How nice if it is so for a country like ours! But the fact remains that only about 10 to15 per cent of senior citizens belong to the above elite group and are tax payers. The remaining 85 to 90 per cent are of the weaker sections of society who do not qualify for the enhanced tax exemptions in the recent budget. Granting benefits to only one section of senior citizens does not satisfy the larger group. The government continues to ignore this vital group.

8212;Ernest Abraham, Bangalore

8226; If Railways Minister Lalu Prasad deserves praise for thinking differently in his railway budget, he is also the one who can be said to have broken the myth that revenue can be increased only by burdening the common man.

P. Chidambaram, for his part, may not have brought in a flamboyant budget, but his concerns for defence, agriculture, education and healthcare are laudable 8212; and, as for senior citizens like me, the proposal of reverse mortgage is a blessing. But the big question is, how does this budget hope to check runaway inflation?

8212; Bidyut K. Chatterjee, Faridabad

Black and white

8226; Mahima Kaul8217;s 8216;Black is the new White8217; IE, February 24 was interesting to me because I myself am sitting on a racial and cultural fence. The way Barak Obama8217;s 8220;white blackness8221; was explored is a great way to spin it. It is interesting because white America is still very bigoted, particularly in the south. However Obama doesn8217;t come across as abrasively black in the way he presents himself and the manner in which he articulates his platform.The only criticism that I have is that may be the article could have gone further with the comparison between Obama and Jesse Jackson. Why is Obama really that different from previous black candidates? Is it a question of the times, or is it the candidates themselves? My theory as to why JJ lost is because his rhetoric was too extremist black. Obama is 8220;the reconciliator8221;. In my opinion that spin of Obama as the political facilitator is what makes him a 8220;safer8221; less 8220;threatening8221; black candidate and hence the 8220;whiter black8221; man.

8212;Ivan Holman, New York