Only in India?

8226; C. Raja Mohan has given a very important suggestion 8216;Fastbreeding reactionaries8217;...

8226; C. Raja Mohan has given a very important suggestion 8216;Fastbreeding reactionaries8217;, IE, January 23 to Dr Manmohan Singh, and I can only hope he acts on it. For a country with a 1.1 billion population and riddled with a crippled infrastructure, energy is going to play a vital role in the future. These energy expectations/demands cannot be achieved solely by coal or hydro-electric sources. If India ever dares to dream of competing with China and the US, it needs to seriously think about nuclear power generation. And here, when there is a very good opportunity for nuclear cooperation with the US, the administration walks away. I guess this can only happen in India.

8212; Laxminath Tumburu Dayton

A healthy future

8226; This is with regard to Pamela Philipose8217;s 8216;India is seriously sick8217; IE, January 24. It reminded me of a series by Arun Shourie which was carried in the Indian Express when the UPA government came into power. In it he had mentioned the anomalies associated with the tall claims made in the CMP. He proved in that series that the outlays on various fronts 8212; primarily on health 8212; as claimed are not possible, as the sum of all of them together would be more than the net GDP of the country. As a result it is no great surprise that the health situation on the whole has worsened. This puts additional pressure on the finance minister to deliver the goods in the upcoming budget. Efforts should be made to strengthen the wilting health situation and initiatives like NRHM must be properly sustained. In addition to this, the low-cost concept of trained female health workers can help in drastically bringing down the IMR. We all hope for a Healthy India soon!

8212; Abhinav Sharma Chandigarh

Coalition dharma?

8226; Every political party boasts of its secular credentials, but will not hesitate to form a coalition with communal groups on one pretext or the other. Their only goal is to grab political power by hook or by crook. It is against this background that we should interpret the political resolution of the Congress Plenary Session in Hyderabad, in which the party has advised its partners to respect the coalition dharma. If coalitions were formed on ideology and principles, one wishes to ask the Congress leadership why it intends to fight the Left in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

8212; Ved Guliani Hisar

Stamp it out

8226; This is with regard to reports in your columns on the revamping of the Stamp Act. The will is a good instrument to ensure one8217;s properties after death go to the right people, but if the same is to be settled during one8217;s lifetime, then there are tax hurdles, specially in terms of stamp duty. Ironically, a high stamp duty also results in the creation of black money as people, in order to avoid stamp duty or pay a lesser amount, do not disclose the true value of the transactions which require stamp duty to be paid. Provisions such as these are absurd and must be rectified. All family transactions of transfers, settlements and even sales, if any, should be exempt from the provisions of Stamp Duty Act.

8212; Mahesh Kapasi New Delhi