Use the benefits of SEZ Sir, Regarding the proposed Special Economic Zone(SEZ) at Nandagudi, I feel it smacks of irresponsibility and lack of depth in understanding the dynamics of the problem. Hoskote is facing water shortage, so it makes even more sense to discourage farming in this area. Ultimately, farmland is going to get fragmented with time and the yield per acre will reduce, forcing many people to migrate to Bangalore for better opportunities. When this is the case, why doesnt it make sense to create an SEZ and provide alternate sources of livelihood? The government has asked the promoter to directly buy land from farmers at market rate. The place being near to the airport, the market rate will be higher than before and the farmers can get good money which they can invest in alternate livelihood instead of doing farming in a water scarce area. --Gopikrishna Deshpande
Bangalore
Convince the people
Sir, The resistance to the proposed SEZ at Nandagudi, “Nandagudi ryots to resist SEZ” (DH, June 18) is understandable. Very few landowners, especially farmers, would like to part with their land for monetary considerations. Forcible acquisition is clearly undemocratic and as we have seen in West Bengal, agitations could snowball into violent confrontations.
In fact such a SEZ could become an “island of prosperity” in a poor barren land, if developed using pro-people methods. It’s the duty of the government and the industry people to convince the people affected on the desirability of having SEZs which could improve their standard of living. --D B N Murthy
Bangalore
Is she an Indian? Sir, I have been reading praises on NASA astronaut Sunita Williams. The only link she has with India is her name Sunita. She was never born in India and perhaps never seen the country. She did all her schooling in the USA. She is married to an American.
Why we Indians are going gaga over her achievement and call her our national pride? --Puneeth Joseph
Miami
Terror on the rise Sir, A Taliban suicide bomber is reported to have blown up a police bus in the Afghan capital claiming 35 lives. The spate of terrorist activities taking heavy tolls in one part of the world or the other shows that the world is a house filled with violence. People at the helm of affairs have hardly felt the impact of the growing incidents of violent activities.
--K V Seetharamaiah
Hassan
Withdraw candidate Sir, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is absolutely right in refusing a consensus on Pratibha Patil in the Presidential poll. The Congress sprung a surprise not only on all political parties but also on Congress members. Pratibha Patil was Congress’ compulsion which it tried to make a virtue as a woman candidate. Out of all the names ever mentioned in the present Presidential poll, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is the most deserving. Congress is grandiloquently pontificating that the election to the highest constitutional post should be unanimous and by consensus. It should withdraw its candidate. --Mookhi Amir Ali
Mumbai
He should resign Sir, Shivaraj Patil was projected by the Congress party as their candidate for the post of President of India till the last moment. But, for the Left parties, he was a defeated candidate in the Lok Sabha election, a light weight politician with a lacklustre track record and a failure as a Home Minister. The Congress President picked out of the hat a rabbit. Mr Shivraj Patil must consider an honourable way to rehabilitate himself and he should resign from the party, Rajya Sabha, and the ministry. --K Venkataraman
Mumbai
