• This is an insult to the Indian Constitution. It is a violation of basic human rights, equality and democratic norms (‘Tsunami can’t wash this away: hatred for Dalits’, IE, January 7). The Central government must initiate criminal proceedings against the groups involved and the Tamil Nadu government. How dare they discriminate like this? — Satendra Vishwakarma Canada • The government must take this report as an eye-opener, and take proper action against those in the district administration and relief agencies who allowed this to happen. — Bidyut K. Chatterjee Faridabad • The discrimination against Dalits in Nagapattinam is disgusting. As long as children are not taught at school about fellow humans being the same in God’s eyes, this will happen. — Mohamed Nazar Christchurch Don’t edit this • As you rightly say in your editorial ‘National time pass’ (January 5), let’s not tinker with Rabindranath Tagore’s great composition. Although most of us do not completely understand the national anthem, nevertheless “Jana Gana Mana” is in our blood; it inspires patriotism. Altering the national anthem would be blasphemous. Sindh may not be a part of the nation, but Sindhis are. Thus, deleting the word Sindh would be an insult to the highly enterprising Sindhi community. — K.P. Rajan Mumbai Law’s equalities • The law should be universal and criminals will always be criminals, even if they happen to be in government (‘Babus for changes in law to shield themselves from graft crackdown’, IE, January 7). So bureaucrats should not have any special protection different from the others. If they follow the rules they will not be prosecuted anyway. So why do they need special protection? This mindset is a legacy of our colonial past. In fact, I would advocate simplification of rules so that it would be easier for the authorities to punish corrupt bureaucrats. — Krishanu Ray Mumbai Divert wisely • In his article ‘100 days that will change India’ (IE, January 5) Bunker Roy has rightly suggested the scrapping of meaningless schemes to finance the Employment Guarantee Act expenditure. There is no doubt that both the prime minister and the finance minister must be worried about financing the scheme. It is time that both of them took the bull by the horns and tested the commitment of the Left parties to the welfare of the poor. Let the finance minister make a large reduction in non-essential subsidies and utilise the amount saved to finance the EGA expenditure. If the Left parties oppose this, their hollowness would be exposed. — R.P. Desai On e-mail
