Opinion What’s new?

nation may express shock at the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai,yet it’s not the first. Nor is there anything new about bureaucrats being hand-in-glove with politicians. But what’s shocking is that we as a democratic nation haven’t evolved over 60-plus years any system of isolating and punishing the guilty in our governance mechanism. We — the people and the media — have “honestly” condemned such dangerous politics that tends to cripple the system and jeopardise development. But we’ve yet to learn to punish the guilty.

— Ved Guliani,Hisar

This refers to ‘The financing capital’ (IE,November 2). The Adarsh scam once again proves how strong the politician-mafia nexus is,especially in Mumbai. How fishy this whole thing is,is evident from the fact that every one turned a blind eye when the structure was being built,no environmental clearance was taken,and surprisingly the armed forces were oblivious to the fact that these flats were actually meant for Kargil war heroes and their widows. It is hard to digest. It appears to be a systematic and well-thought-out scam.

— Bal Govind Noida

On the table

This refers to K. Subrahmanyam’s ‘Shaped by the future’ (IE,November 1). The need for pluralistic,secular,democratic governments has been rightly stressed for obtaining a stable,prosperous and peaceful global environment. The US involvement in Afghanistan seems to affect its economic health adversely; and to come out of this,Pakistan’s help is necessary. China also has a lot of strategic stake in Pakistan. Beijing will continue increasing its influence; this should be balanced by competitive cooperation and not confrontation. So matters of bilateral and mutual benefit should be given priority and the region’s security situation may be discussed during Barack Obama’s visit. But discussing Pakistan’s support for terror directed against India may not interest the US at this precarious stage.

— S.C. Vaid Greater Noida

Uses of ID

The launch of the UID is a landmark in India’s history (‘The magic word’,IE,October 29). It’s a boon to citizens at different levels. The UID itself speaks of its utility as an all-purpose identity. This will definitely help address electoral malpractices and the widespread embezzlement that affects subsidies,as well as poverty. The foremost advantage is that the database will be under the UID authority’s control and can be updated without any need for the card holder’s presence. Frequent modifications can be made with suitable documents from intermediary agencies such as hospitals,institutions,banks,employers,etc. There’s a need to give wide publicity to the UID so that each citizen avails the facility to clearly establish her identity.

— Harish K. Monga Pune