Wrong term

8226; People have responded positively to the Railway budget presented by Laloo Prasad Yadav 8216;Once again ...

8226; People have responded positively to the Railway budget presented by Laloo Prasad Yadav 8216;Once again it is the gravy train8217;, IE, July 7. It was termed a 8220;populist8221; budget as there was no fresh increase in fares. But is it fair to call it that? The railway minister is aware of the fact that passengers were burdened by the steep fare increases of the past 10 years. I would urge that the term 8220;populist8221; be considered in its right perspective.

8212; G. Ravishankar Mumbai

Shuttle trains

8226; Let the experts decide whether the rail budget was good or bad, but one thing that all railway ministers have been neglecting is helping passengers in small towns. In many parts of the country, there are perhaps only one or two trains a day that stop at a mid-level station. At very small stations, hardly any stop. This puts a burden on passengers. Why can8217;t the Railways run shuttle services for short distances?

8212; Ramesh Lahoti On e-mail

Some doubts

8226; Your editorial,8216;BJP8217;s tainted campaign8217; IE July 2 was interesting but taken with an equally interesting piece on the same page by N.H. Hingorani, it was difficult to make out which view is held officially by the IE! Of course I agree with you that NDA is the main villain now after all, it8217;s a bad loser, but who isn8217;t? but when one reads Hingorani, the scale of morality seems to 8216;tilt8217; heavily on his side. I also could not agree more with you about Judeo but why this asymmetry between Jogi and Judeo? Has the former become a paragon of virtue your editorial is silent on him just because of his accident? Also, is it fair to compare Laloo Prasad Yadav and Co with George Fernandes as far as the intensity of their respective 8220;crimes8221; goes?

8212; A.N. Mitra Delhi

Hollow assertion

8226; Sonia Gandhi8217;s assertion in Lok Sabha that the overwhelming mandate of the people is not being honoured by the Opposition is really amusing 8216;Accept poll verdict8217;, IE, July 8. The Congress on its own could only 145 seats and along with its pre-poll allies were nowhere near the half-way mark of 272. Her claim is therefore hollow.

8212; K.R.P. Gupta On e-mail

Growth and Poverty

8226; The Economic Survey reads more or less like the earlier ones 8216;Chidambaram shows his spirit is willing8217;, IE, July 8. While projecting a greener picture of economic growth the FM showed concern over low teledensity and internet usage. Forget that, what has the finance minister for over 250 million people who live in desperate poverty, with an income of less than a dollar a day and no access to wholesome food, basic health or drinking water. The economy may be said to be good only when the 250 million poor can wear smiles.

8212; V.S. Venkatavaradan Salem

I vote Kulhar chai

8226; Of late, I have read a lot of criticism of kulhar chai in the media. So I decided to go ahead and get a first-hand experience of having such tea. I went to the Ambala railway station and had kulharwali chai from Ram Lal Sharma8217;s tea stall. It cost the same as earlier: Rs 3 per cup. Well, neither did the kulhar break as the hot tea was poured into it, nor did the beverage seep out of it. It tasted perfectly fine and I enjoyed its earthern flavour.

8212; Anusha Singh Ambala Cantt