Letters to the editor

Fight distrust first8226; Your editorial, 8216;In the blood8217; IE, August 27, has raised an important question: will Congress-blessed...

Fight distrust first

8226; Your editorial, 8216;In the blood8217; IE, August 27, has raised an important question: will Congress-blessed politics of terror policing change after the Hyderabad blasts? After every attack, we get an assurance from the government of the day that terror cannot cow us down. In most cases our police have failed to get to the actual culprits. All they do is name some foreign-based outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba or now the Harkat-ul Jihade Islami. It8217;s rather shameful that the government can neither prevent terrorist attacks nor track down those responsible. The government is advised to gear up its intelligence machinery. To deal with the situation, Muslim officers/men are required. It is unfortunate that, according to Sachar Committee Report, neither the Intelligence Bureau nor the RAW has a single Muslim on its rolls. Trust begets trust. Muslims should be involved in dealing with their fanatic co-religionists. It was a Sikh police chief, K.P.S. Gill, who broke the back of Sikh terrorism. Muslim terrorism calls for a similar prescription.

8212; Shariq Alavi, Lucknow

Counsel for BJP

8226; SWAPAN Dagupta8217;s article, 8216;BJP, seek don8217;t Hyde8217; IE, August 28, is a masterpiece.

It should wake the BJP up from its long slumber. I don8217;t understand why it commits political blunders vis-a-vis the Congress Party. Does it not listen to the intelligent counsel of people like Dasgupta? It8217;s high time the BJP put its house in order if it aspires to be a serious contestant for power at the Centre. I earnestly urge intellectuals like Dasgupta to talk to L.K. Advani regularly and provide intelligent feedback because at the moment he is one of the country8217;s most respected and charismatic leaders. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that it is only Advani who is capable of bringing the BJP back to New Delhi after the next general elections. He must, therefore, be supported by all nationalist-minded intellectuals.

8212; Bharat Singh, Manila

Electric moon

8226; IN all the brouhaha over the Indo-US nuclear deal, one question seems to have been totally ignored. Who is really going to benefit from all those megawatts of additional nuclear energy that we will have by 2020? The government of course says that this additional energy will help illumine the lives of the poor. But will it?

If all goes according to plan, India will have some 15000 MW of additional energy from the N-plants that are expected to come up by 2020 thanks to the N-deal. Back-of-the-envelope calculations say that a 1.5 ton air-conditioner consumes two units of power 0.002 MW of energy every hour. How many ACs are there in India? This much we know, the market has been growing at a phenomenal rate of 30 per cent. In 2006-07 alone, 1.05 million new ACs were sold. Since we know that one AC consumes 0.002 MW, this translates into an additional demand of over 2000 MW of power each year. Thus, in 10 years new ACs will be guzzling up all the 20,000 MW of additional energy generated by our new N-power plants. As for the poor, they have their cowdung cakes, no?

8212; R.P. Subramanian , Delhi

Clarification

This is with regard to the 8216;Idea Exchange8217; with three MPs The Sunday Express, August 26.

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In response to a question as to whom she admired the most among politicians, Yashodhara Raje had said, 8220;Atalji and Advaniji8221;. When asked who she admired in parties other than the BJP, Raje had said, 8220;Mrs Sonia Gandhi8221;. However, in the printed version, the reference to 8220;Atalji and Advaniji 8220; was inadvertently omitted. The error is regretted. 8212;Editor