• The train accident at Datia (MP) on Monday was a major one. Our Railways are our biggest public utility service, yet they are handled so badly. The UPA government professes to be for the ‘aam aadmi’, and Laloo Prasad Yadav is the railway minister. Should he not have visited the accident site at his earliest convenience instead of feigning other commitments in Bihar? He makes headlines for his antics rather than for his less-than-becoming conduct as Union railway minister. Last year, after the rail accident in Punjab, he could spare only 20 minutes. Early this year, he made a nuisance of himself in the wake of an accident in Gujarat. Is there nobody to tell our railway minister that he is first and foremost a public servant? Ironically, the birth centenary of Lal Bahadur Shastri is being celebrated. Now here was an unforgettable railway minister! — M.K.D. Prasada Rao Ghaziabad Eye-opener • The article, ‘The problem with India..’ by Nandita Patel (Writeback, IE, September 29) is really an eye-opener for every one of us. She has rightly concluded that it is really necessary to provide more funds to institutions, pay better salaries, provide more research facilities to teachers, more student aid to brilliant students, to find a solution to India’s present problem of not having sufficient intellectuals. With the present generation of students, we can produce a bunch of highly qualified scientists, doctors, social scientists, and so on, if we can manage to free education from the clutches of politics. — G. Swaminathan Delhi Poor Mumbai! • The totally chaotic conditions prevailing in Mumbai today, its pathetic roadways, totally irresponsible and corrupt government, the fact that scant respect is paid to its citizens and there’s no security for persons and property, has ensured that it figures in the list of Asia’s worst cities, according to the results of a survey compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Because of the high cost of living in Mumbai (due to corruption), most of the industrial units have either closed down or have shifted to other states for survival. There are only a handful of big industrial units now left. Let us not ask for the sky and dream of Shanghai. Let Mumbai be at least Mumbai. — C.R. Ramakrishnan On e-mail Cricket blues • Sourav Ganguly is basking in the company of politicians like Jagmohan Dalmiya, who are selfish to their marrow (‘Sourav’s choice’, IE, October 3). They, like most politicians, don’t care about what happens to Indian cricket. Similarly, Ganguly will stick on as long as he can, even though he knows fully well that he is finished. Indian cricket is in a very sorry state. You may bring Greg Chappell or Viv Richards or Sir Gary to coach our team, but as long as the likes of Dalmiya are around, nothing will change! — Anil Vakkalanka Wakefield • Foremost among the issues affecting Indian cricket negatively is the necessity to clean up the BCCI and get in more players into the administration of the game. The players on the field are required to be more physically and mentally fit if they are to maintain a winning record. They therefore need an efficient and responsive organisation behind them. BCCI needs to be corporatised and make more accountable. — S. Kamat Goa
