Opinion Black morning

Pune will not forget the bloodshed and mayhem at the Swargate area as a driver rammed his bus into vehicles and pedestrians

The Indian Express

January 30, 2012 03:39 AM IST First published on: Jan 30, 2012 at 03:39 AM IST

Black morning

* Pune will not forget the bloodshed and mayhem at the Swargate area as a driver rammed his bus into vehicles and pedestrians (Unstable Pune bus driver mows down 8 (IE,January 26). The chief minister met the survivors at the hospital and ordered an inquiry into the episode,but is it sufficient to avoid a recurrence? The terms of reference of this inquiry should also include how someone with a flagged record was allowed to drive a bus,causing loss of life and public property. State transport authorities said they had no provision in place to check a staffers mental health status. That is unacceptable. Also,we shall be failing in our duty if the two brave bikers who tailed the bus are not suitably rewarded.

Yash P. Verma Pune

Publics Day?

* The Republic Day is meant to be a celebration of Indias solidarity and integrity. But the issues Id like to raise are two. One,can a country like India afford to spend so much money on a days celebration? And two,is the celebration for all or just for the elite? With a pretentious military parade,cumbersome safety checks and frisking,and horrendous traffic jams,the common man is made to feel like an outsider. We need a change in the format,where the nations cohesion and the common man are equally celebrated.

Ragini Sabnavis Mumbai

Pressing matter

* Apropos Katju again: Rushdie a substandard writer (IE,January 26),one feels that the PCI chairman is getting embroiled in needless controversies by questioning the intellectual calibre of journalists,nominating Ghalib for Bharat Ratna and taking a dig at Salman Rushdie. Today with increasing corporatisation,the media is confronted with several challenges. The need of the hour is for the PCI to reinvent itself to enforce its mandate of ensuring professional and ethical accountability in print media.

Yuvraj Ravindra Patil Pune

Keep looking east

* The edit Waterworlds (IE,January 27) sums up the shared interests of India and Thailand in securing their extended oceanic neighbourhood of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. People-to-people links through tourism and common Buddhist heritage are already well-entrenched. Given that both India and Thailand are oil importers,developing efficient and safe transportation networks have long-term utility in ensuring energy security and extending reach into the heart of the ASEAN. The recent shift in Myanmars stance towards restoring democracy can bridge the Indo-Thai geopolitical gap. The Chennai-Dawei corridor could lead the way to revival of multiple infrastructure projects benefiting the Northeast and south India in equal measure. Incredible India meeting Amazing Thailand should prove a happy hunting ground for South-East Asian diplomacy.

Sudipta Das Kolkata