Let declared assets be certified by IT officials

Sir, As per the directives from the Election Commission, the candidates contesting elections have been declaring their assets in advance. But it is an open secret that the values of assets so declared, in most cases, are just a fraction of the actual. Thus the whole procedure has turned out to be virtually useless and in fact has become a mockery of the intent and spirit behind such a requirement. Even people who have ill-gotten wealth do not hesitate to declare, heavily under valued, as they know that there is no mechanism to verify the correctness. To make such a provision useful, the least that should be done is to insist the assets to be certified by income tax officials or registered valuers or some such agency. In case of gross undervaluation, the government should have the option to acquire such properties at the declared value with powers vested in them through necessary legislation. This may atleast deter people from indulging in undervaluing the properties.

H R Bapu Somasekhar
Bangalore

Kudos to ISRO

Sir, The ISRO team definitely deserves kudos for their successful launch of PSLV-C9 with 10 satellites as payload.
It is a proud moment for all Indians that ours is the first space research organisation to launch a space vehicle with the highest payload of 10 satellites.

ISRO has proved our towering technological prowess in the field of space research by this record launch, and have hoisted our national flag higher among the world’s space faring nations. The government should seriously consider providing more monetary benefits for these scientists.

Beorn Kiruba
Bangalore

Attack on Karzai
Sir, The extremists’ attack on president Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has proved that foreign powers cannot rule Afghanistan for a longer period. Now the masters of foreign rule should understand that the olden days of colonialism have passed long back. Power is not every thing, morality and courage is also something. This incident should open the eyes of all big powers who rule the small countries through their armed forces.

A H MAQDOOMI
Gulbarga

Sharief’s volte-face

Sir, The turnabout of Jaffer Sharief reminds one of the saying “politics is the last resort of a scoundrels”. How such a senior leader of a national party can stoop so low to secure favours for his kith and kin is astonishing. Here is a leader who is ready to leave the party and cross over to the opposition if his nepotistic demands are not conceded. He does not mind dumping thousands of his followers for the sake of his grandsons. What can we expect from such self-seeking politicians ?

Benjamin Fernandez
Bangalore

Wake up

Sir, Over the last few years, citizens belonging to the educated middle class have become cynical about elections.
Many of them do not vote thinking that their votes hardly matter. Currently, after the recent delimitation exercise, the number of seats in the urban areas has increased considerably.

The number of seats to the assembly from Bangalore also has gone up. In these urban areas, educated middle class voters can play a very decisive role in choosing their representatives to the assembly. Hence, they should shed their apathy to the election process, wake up from the slumber and vote. If 100 per cent of them caste their vote, we will end up with better representatives to govern the State.

H K Seshadri
Bangalore

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