• I write this letter in response to the series ‘India Empowered’. In my opinion, an empowered India means that every citizen of this nation is able to live with dignity and self-respect. In this nation, millions of people live below the poverty line, crores of people are extremely poor, millions of children are working to earn their livelihood and are naked and hungry. India can never be empowered without empowering the deprived. We are interested in the lives of celebrities, the so-called religious leaders, corrupt politicians and third-class Bollywood actors. But we don’t want to know about the lives of those crores of Indians whose existence is full of pain, misery, frustration and humiliation. — Hitesh Parmar Rajkot No, governor • The observations of the Supreme Court on governors being an extension of party offices may evoke no comment from political parties. But it is the truth. Even though the provocation for this comment has do with the Congress nominated governor in Bihar, it does not absolve the BJP. While it was in power, it attempted to appease failed politicians in the same manner and some of them were too old to hold any office. The post of governor deserves to be abolished by amending the Constitution. — C.R. Bhattacharjee Kolkata Corruption guard • This refers to your report ‘Big boost for lone girl child: Free study’ (IE, September 22). The government coming up with such a plan is great. It would really boost the girl child’s education, but we need to consider the issue of corruption too. In submitting the affidavit and getting the scholarship, half of the funds are bound to be consumed by the authorities. They would demand money from the families to affirm the eligibility for the scholarship. I hope the government is addressing this angle as well and brings in a policy where the eligibility criteria could be determined differently. — Vitan Kumar Hyderabad What’s wrong? • I take strong objection to your story ‘Sangh’s new Kumbh to take Hindutva offensive to the Dangs’ (IE, September 21). Have you really researched the activities of the All India Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram? I think not. Else how can you assign only one purpose to this organisation: conversion. Your story says “All India Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (the RSS affiliate which converts tribals to Hinduism)”. This is uncalled for. And what is wrong in bringing back the Christian converts to Hinduism and stopping more from being converted? Why does the media not report the continuous efforts of Christian missionaries to convert poor people to Christianity? Is it because western embassies will cry foul? — Rohit Gupta Tokyo Vague disclosures • This refers to the report ‘KGB paid Congress, CPI, media’ (IE, September 18) on the revelations made by former KGB official Mitrokhin about the involvement of Russian money in Indian politics and media during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. Even though the influx of foreign money into Indian politics is not ruled out, it is senseless to initiate a debate on vague exposures without any supporting documents made in a book published much after the disintegration of the USSR. — Madhu Agrawal Delhi
