• What K. Subrahmanyam advocates — that India should join the call given by Henry Kissinger, George Schulz et al and ‘regain its earlier reputation as a champion of a nuclear weapon-free world’ at the forthcoming Norway conference on non-proliferation — is not only unrealistic; it smacks of deep hypocrisy. (‘When hawks turn moral’, IE January 21). It is a fact — and there’s nothing to be apologetic about it — that India began its quest for N-weapons soon after China went nuclear in 1964. So let us shed the notion that India ever sat on high moral ground on the issue of a world free of nuclear weapons. It is also a fact that Pakistan and China went nuclear before India; and so long as India has these countries as neighbours, we will need our nuclear deterrent. Certainly the world would be a wonderful place without N-weapons; but it is condemned to live for at least 100,000 years with the thousands of tonnes of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium created during the Cold War — ironically, the era when Kissinger and Schulz were the most ardent advocates of the US nuclear weapons programme!There is no morality in defence strategy, nuclear or non-nuclear. There is only supreme national interest, something Subrahmanyam himself has advocated with admirable persistence through the decades.— R.P. SubramanianDelhiOur rural toil• With reference to your series ‘Shadow over showpiece’, regarding CAG’s draft report on the performance of the rural employment scheme (NREG) and the Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s warning to state government officials (IE, January 18), one is tempted to pose the riddle: Are we poor because we are corrupt or are we corrupt because we are poor? It is time we realised that we suffer from illusions about bringing about changes in rural India, given that our feudal bureaucracy is unlikely to loosen its grip on its vested interests.The NREG outlays are huge, and the bureaucracy gives a go-by to procedures or ‘guidelines’. The government has to take this scheme out of the hands of the bureaucracy, and find the Arun Bhatias and Kiran Bedis to ensure that the targeted people get the intended benefits.— M.K.D. Prasada RaoGhaziabadPolitical ratna• While L.K. Advani raised an uncalled for controversy over the Bharat Ratna by proposing publicly the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Left sounded magnanimous. Jyoti Basu himself has said that he is not in the race, and the CPM too has averred that Left does not believe in such imperial regalia. E.M.S. Namboodiripad had refused such a civilian honour decades ago. Let us debar politicians of all hues forever from the list of candidates and consider those who laid down their lives for the country working selflessly. On this criterion few will fit the bill, we know.— Dankesh OzaVadodaraBats off to cricket• Hats off to Indian cricket team for their superb performance in the Perth Test match. India’s victory at Perth is the victory of cricket. In Sydney, the umpiring was pathetic and totally biased. There was a strong public opinion in the whole Indian subcontinent that the Indian team should boycott the rest of the series. But in the interest of cricket, BCCI didn’t do that. Australians should realise that no team is unbeatable. India and Pakistan are capable of beating Australia on Australian soil.— Kamal SangraJammu
