Whose democracy?

8226; Who is the face of democracy in India today? The Goa Speaker who took action against the In...

8226; Who is the face of democracy in India today? The Goa Speaker who took action against the Independent MLA to save the Parrikar government? Governor Jamir who dismissed the Parrikar government and instantly installed the Pratap Rane government? The handcuffed under-trial Mukesh Kumar Yadav who was photographed filing his nomination for Bihar election from Patna West?

8212; Bidyut K. Chatterjee Faridabad

Carry on, passengers

8226; This refers to 8216;Kept in dark about 7-hr delay, furious passengers ground Air-India officials8217; IE, February 8. This is not the first shameful episode of its kind for Air India. Will the government wake up and privatise the airline? I hope the passengers assert themselves again in future as well. That8217;s the only hope that things will change

8212; Nag On e-mail

Sons etc

8226; I agree with Sagarika Ghose in 8216;Dutiful sons aren8217;t youth icons8217; IE, February 7 that the young MPs who started out on a wonderful note due to their families, have not really arrived. Young MPs must work on ground level, give lots of public speeches and embark on road shows to create an irresistible wave of change in India.

8212; Vijay Mohan New Delhi

Modi8217;s cut

8226; Narendra Modi is back in form. Criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board8217;s reported decision not to play in Ahmedabad for 8216;8216;political8217;8217; reasons, the Gujarat CM told the media: 8220;Pakistan is afraid of losing in Ahmedabad.8221; While he is entitled to his criticism of the cricket board8217;s stand, the tenor of his comments on 8216;8216;Mian8217;8217; Musharraf is unwelcome. Both the PCB8217;s reported decision and Modi8217;s rhetoric malign the spirit of sports.

8212; Mukesh Meshram Nagpur

The real point

8226; Your editorial on the Supreme Court8217;s ruling that the illegitimate child takes the father8217;s caste is thought-provoking 8216;Blast from the past8217;, IE, February 2. However, the central point here is not of gender equality or lack of it. The dispute was about the eligibility of a person born out of an illegitimate relationship between a high caste man and a scheduled tribe woman, to represent a constituency reserved for a scheduled tribe candidate. Reservation is a tool for social upliftment. As such, the relevant test should have been whether the particular person had grown up and still continued to be a member of the community and was subject to the social disabilities of his or her mother. Any other consideration is secondary. Incidentally, it is the community and not caste that is the deciding factor in ascertaining whether a person belongs to a scheduled tribe.

8212; Venu On e-mail

What secret?

8226; This refers to your editorial 8216;Open Secrets8217; IE, February 7. I am unable to understand how any conversation between a police officer and a ganglord can be treated as a secret. As you say, it appears that a number of OSA cases, in which the evidence cannot stand up in court, are pending. One way to stop such nuisance to newspapers of courage like yours, is not only to dismiss allegations like the ones filed against your paper by the Gujarat Police but to direct the complainant to pay heavy costs to the accused.

8212; N.G. Gogte On e-mail