Sir,

Show discretion

Why is the Indian media covering every tiny little aspect of the US?? In Moscow for e.g., snow is like rain, it does snow quite often and it is much more than what the US is experiencing, but nobody seems to cover that! When I say international news, it doesn't mean US news.Why don't I see much of what happens in Africa or Burma or Indonesia or any other part of the world? Barack Obama's dog makes news while hungry people in Africa dont?I dont understand why has the Indian media become so US centric?

Come to think of it, I haven't seen any significant article on South America or Mexico..Just because the Indian diaspora are not in significant numbers there doesn't mean that there is nothing to cover.I would request the editor of International News at Deccan Herald & the Indian media in general to show some discretion when reporting international news rather than giving weather reports of the US(infact, this is the second time Deccan Herald has given out articles on US weather in the past 2 months).

Puneet

Bal Thackeray must be charged

M.J. Akbar's article " Licence to drive, everywhere" in today's DH wonderfully articulates the thoughts of every right thinking Indian. He is right in saying that the Sena has still not learnt from its electoral defeats. Or, it may be that it has realised its failure and this attempt at whipping up public emotions on language is a desperate attempt at staying afloat. Bal Thackeray must be charged with sedition and tried. India has progressed a very long way to be bogged down by such pestilences.

Mirle Karthik
Bangalore

 ‘Flying over’ memories of Netaji Subhas
The flyover from Madiwala to Electronic city was opened on 22nd January 2010 & this has certainly eased the traffic problem of this important part of the city. As we know Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has played a very crucial role in the independence movement of the country; a very progressive and forward looking person who has formed planning commission during 1930's as also advocated family planning and machine oriented factories to create employment and self sustenance. He has given utmost importance to technology and self reliance. Except for a statue in front of Vidhana Soudha, there is hardly any important landmark named after Netaji Subhas. It is in right spirit to name the Hosur Road flyover with the name of Netaji Subhas as a mark of respect and remembrance of greatest patriot the country has ever seen. I request the state government to declare the naming of this flyover and a memorandum to this effect was submitted to the Chief Minsiter on 23rd of January 2009 on the occasion of celebrations of the 113th birthday of Netaji Subhas.
T N Ramakrishna
Bangalore

Thackareys— unnecessary trouble!
It is high time Thakares of Shiv Sena and MNS are arrested under NSA and their parties banned by UPA Government in the interest of national unity. All sorts of regional chauvinism should be treated as great offence and dealt with seriously to ensure peaceful coexistence among Indians. In the name of rights of the locals, anti social elements is taking centre stage causing damages to taxpayers' public properties and troubling innocents. It is high time that these elements are also treated on par with terrorists. Hope, UPA Government has the guts to do this which will definitely improve its reputation among silent majority apart from the nation getting benefited with public peace and unnecessary troubles to common man's normal life.   
V.S.
Bangalore

Mayhem all over!
A show of anger stemming out of mere frustration at being sidelined and overshadowed by his own protégé in a parochial campaign that defies all logic, political or otherwise, may have brought out Bal Thackeray and his Shiv Sena with all guns blazing, targeting iconic figures from the field of sports and film industry for their seeming irreverence to the state of Maharashtra. The uncanny habit, which seems to have very legitimately passed on to the nephew and his MNS, of treating Mumbai as a ‘Thackeray constituency’ has had both the factions raising cudgels against anything that challenges their supposed self-granted right over it. Raising jingoistic fervors and inciting the locals into acts of violence in the name of opposition may have gained them some cheap publicity, but by far, an ordinary Mumbai citizen is yet to decipher the intricacies of the chauvinistic jargon preached by the Thackeray clan. Why, for that matter, an agenda that appears to promote the cause of the ‘Marathi-Manoos’ has both the Shiv Sena and its off-shoot, the MNS, as confused as ever! Let us first take the hate-politics against ‘outsiders’ indulged in by Messrs Bal and Raj Thackeray over matters of proprietary of Mumbai, and in turn, the state of Maharashtra! Between them, they succeeded in projecting, first the South Indians and then the North Indian migrants as the intruders who were depriving the locals of jobs and other employment avenues.

According to a reputed columnist, what is ironic is that if the unresolved issues that was the fulcrum of their tenacious stand when the Shiv Sena was formed in the sixties still persist, is it not a pointer to a fact that the organization has been a total failure in its fifty years of existence vis-à-vis the welfare of the Marathi Manoos? Maybe the saffron party has a sizeable following amongst the locals who feel that the Shiv Sena is safeguarding their interests. But the rather bawdy resentment showed by the Thackerays for any individual who dares to cross swords with them, the prominence and the worth of that individual never given any importance, has irked quite a few. In retaliation when these same individuals refuse to cow down and decide to take the bull by the horn, the situation drastically alters, as was evident by the Rahul Gandhi and Shah Rukh Khan obstinacy on the face of adverse conditions enforced by the Sena activists. It is high time the Mumbaites spoke for themselves without having such xenophobic elements claiming to be the soul-representatives of the city, and the state, causing mayhem all over!
Pachu Menon    

Margao, Goa.

N-capable Agni III missile test fired
This is with reference to N- capable Agni III missile test fired appearing in DH dated 08FEB10. Indians are proud of their scientists for having indigenously built N-capable missile Agni III at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). We have all the reason to feel ecstatic because it was an inbuilt developed missile unlike by our neighbour Pakistan. This ballistic missile Agni III with 1.5tonnes payload encompassing a range of 3500KM would mean within the striking distance of Beijing China. Induction of the missile would enforce a sense of peace and stability especially when China is flexing its muscles in the region. This success has given a boost to DRDO to further develop missile hitting a range of over 5000KM aptly calling International Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).
Deepak Chikramane