Opinion Letters to the editor: High stakes

The four consecutive US FDA bans on Ranbaxy’s manufacturing facilities in India have focused attention on the routine violation of safety and quality standards.

February 8, 2014 12:12 AM IST First published on: Feb 8, 2014 at 12:12 AM IST

This refers to ‘Public health first’ (IE, February 6). The four consecutive US FDA bans on Ranbaxy’s manufacturing facilities in India have focused attention on the routine violation of safety and quality standards. Instead of being contrite and embarrassed at not having caught this issue itself, the Indian regulator boldly demanded that it be allowed to inspect production facilities of foreign drug manufacturers. The government must overhaul the regulatory apparatus to prevent this from happening again. It’s not just exports that are at stake, it’s people’s lives.
—Gaurav Gupta
New Delhi

Now implement

THIS refers to the editorial ‘Riots and wrongs’ (IE, February 7). As was pointed out, the communal violence bill was first conceived almost a decade ago and was rejected outright by state governments because it impinged on their federal autonomy. It is not difficult to understand why the Central government is so keen to pass this bill in such a hurried manner at the end of its tenure and when its majority in Parliament is tenuous. The Congress has perfected the art of playing vote bank politics. As was clearly pointed out in the editorial, there is no use of having so many laws in our country if there is no sincerity in their implementation.
— K. Ashok Kumar
Kolkata

A mystery

THE ongoing session of Parliament is not a fresh session but the second part of last year’s winter session. Though Parliament was adjourned sine die last year, it was not prorogued. One wonders why the UPA opted to do this. The NDA had done the same in 2004. Back then, this strategy raised a hue and cry in legal and political circles. It also invited protest from the then opposition Congress party. Even the Supreme Court was moved in the matter. The court observed that according to Article 87 of the Constitution, the first session of every year is to be addressed by the president. However, in March 2010, a Constitution bench of the SC dismissed a writ petition related to the issue, ruling that no fundamental right of any citizen had been violated. But the question remains. Why did UPA 2 not just convene a fresh budget session?
— Hemant Kumar
Ambala

Gujarat model
THIS refers to ‘My buffaloes more famous than Queen Victoria, says Azam Khan’ (IE, February 6). The case of UP minister Azam Khan’s buffaloes being “stolen” is quite curious. Perhaps, taking inspiration from their master and his ministerial colleagues, the buffaloes have gone on a study tour of their own. The UP government seems to have taken a page out of Narendra Modi’s book. The government set almost the entire state police machinery in action to look for Khan’s missing buffaloes. Just like Modi did in the interest of a certain woman’s security. The SP seems inspired by the Gujarat model.
— Abdul Monim
Vashi

No hope
THIS refers to ‘No small price to pay’ by Gauri Kamath (IE, February 7). Recently a group of more than 100 leading cancer physicians from around the world accused the drug industry of excessive “profiteering”. If this is the situation prevailing in advanced economies one cannot hope for anti-cancer drugs to be affordable in India.
— H.N. Ramakrishna
Bangalore