• Shekhar Guptas Babuji dheere chalna has rightly captured the Indian slowness syndrome. However,the roots of this malady can be found in the typical Indian childhood in the morals we are taught,specifically that slow and steady wins the race. Further,our political class is as yet nervous about defying this tradition. Thus there is no question of dreaming big.
Rishibha Gupta
• We Indians are usually content to just plod along. Innovation and change thus pass us by. In India,even post-liberalisation,mediocrity is thus evident everywhere. Our penchant for delayed projects,moving slowly because we fear the unknown such as speed is a remnant of a past we couldnt leave behind. Indias developmental dreams are thus compromised. On the ground,what confound infrastructural projects are archaic laws,conflicting interests and litigations. Therefore,even zones created with an infrastructural focus do not deliver.
L.K. Chawla
Gurgaon
Unmerited
• Lets set aside the Indo-Pak joint statement at Sharm-el-Sheikh for a while. Instead,lets start by questioning if theres a need to talk to Pakistan at all. Whatever happened to then-External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjees claim that,following 26/11,relations with Pakistan wouldnt be business-as-usual? Thats clearly not the case,despite the fact that Pakistan has visibly done almost nothing to merit the ground ceded by India at Sharm-el-Sheikh.
Raghu Seshadri
Dialogue matters
• The Indo-Pak joint statement and Manmohan Singhs meeting with his Pakistani counterpart have sent out positive signals,notwithstanding the confusion and anxiety in various quarters about what exactly was discussed and what India has conceded. Frankly,de-linking terror from the dialogue process isnt folly on Indias part. The PMs statement in Parliament cleared the air on that that bilateral dialogue cant begin till the Mumbai attack is accounted for. Unfortunately,the subcontinent is still paying the price of the Cold War. Nevertheless,through the Cold War,the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union kept on talking to each to other to diffuse tensions.
Md Yahya Ansari
Meerut
Exit point
• Airlines the world over are struggling. Their troubles began with then high fuel prices; then came the global recession. However,any talk of a government bailout of Indias big state airlines is too farcical to contemplate. The experience of the Swiss,Italian and British with their own airlines should be a lesson for us. As M.S. Balakrishnan points out,one cannot expect to privatise a near junk and anticipate buyers. For too long,the government has allowed Air India to function as its babus fiefdom; its time for a radical overhaul,beginning with some babus being shown the door.
R. Narayanan
Ghaziabad
