To reserve or not

8226; In the Indian Constitution, India is defined as sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic. But the proposal of the Andhra Pradesh government to provide job reservations to Muslims is like hitting a hammer on the heart of the Constitution and distorting the word 8220;secular8221;. In any case, the Andhra government must know that reservation is not a magic stick to eradicate poverty.

8212; Dinesh Vasdani Junagadh

Depositors8217; woes

8226; In your editorial 8216;Banking on banks8217; July 27 you have called for severe action by the regulators against erring managements and even suggested closure of such banks. But who will be the losers? Only the innocent depositors. A few hundred employees of the closed bank will lose their jobs. But what other benefit will it bring? Is this why the banking sector has been thrown open for private participation?

8212; C.T. Suresh Kumar Chennai

Divisive step

8226; Termination of water agreements by Punjab has led to a chaotic situation. Our present day leaders have narrow interests and are manipulating public passions for their own political survival. In this game, politicians have succeeded well as we find battlelines are clearly drawn when the people and writers of Punjab come out openly in support of the Punjab chief minister8217;s move 8212; and the people of Haryana and other affected states mobilise against Punjab8217;s unilateral assertion of autonomy. Let us stop politicising this issue. To support the Punjab government on this move is to ignore national interest at our own peril.

8212; K.L.Batra Yamuna Nagar

8226; We have to look much beyond the Satluj-Yamuna link and Cauvery problems. Water for sure is going to be a highly scarce commodity in times to come. All efforts have to be made now to conserve, recycle and find new sources of water. Not only rainwater but even dew has to be harvested. On the impasse on the SYL canal, the Centre must take a pragmatic view for equitable distribution of river waters to avoid conflict. Maybe a uniform and non-partisan national policy needs to be evolved by consensus for water distribution.

8212; Raghubir Singh Pune

Evasive tactics

8226; Today many working days of Parliament are lost on account of adjournments and walkouts. We may not agree with the attitude of the opposition, but many times the attitude of the government also looks to be quite unreasonable. There is no sense if a minister against whom an arrest warrant has been issued tries to evade arrest. If ministers do not respect the law, how can law and order prevail.

8212; Radheshyam Gupta New Delhi