Today's letters.

Potable sea water technology- a boon for arid zones

Sir,

The news report: ‘Sea water soon to become potable’ (DH Feb 9) is a good news for the people who dwell in arid regions and struggle to get water to quench their thirst.  Experts in the field have devised indigenous plant and equipment to desalinate the deep sea water to make it fit for human consumption. Given the assurance that the process does not pose any threat to the bio-diversity, government should seriously ponder over giving green signal to National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai to go ahead with the project to help people to tide over the water scarcity.

H.P.Murali
Bangalore-10.

Governor's U-turn

The Governor's consent for an honorary doctrate to Dr Chidananda Murthy does not come as a surprise. The unanimous support that Dr Murthy received from the Kannada literary world and the general public forced the Governor to reverse his decision. I only wish that the other two awardees had refused their doctorates to express their anguish against the Governor's indefensible act.

 H K Seshadri
Rajajinagar, Bangalore

No harm in public display of affection

This refers to 'Open display' (DH 7/2/11). It is a double standard to deride public display of affection in the name of Indian culture, when daily thousands of women are raped in every nook and cranny of our country of 'great traditions'. In today’s global village all cultures are getting merged. If youngsters walk about holding hands or giving a peck on the cheek or a hug, we need not consider them indecent.

Mrs. Alice K Jose
Bangalore 560 076.

Litterateurs fraternity upset

This refers to “Litterateurs slam governor snub to scholar” (DH, Feb 7) Chidananda Murthy is an eminent man of letters and is a highly respected scholar of Kannada Literature. The decision of the University to confer a doctorate was right, more so when lesser mortals have been awarded this distinction.

An unseemly conflict has been created in declining this award which has rightfully upset the Litterateurs fraternity. Nehru’s ideal of a Governor was to have people from outside the state i.e. eminent people who do not take a part in politics. Unfortunately the trend has been to appoint politicians who serve the interests of the ruling party leading to these conflicts. As a well known Kannada scholar, is Chidananda Murthy prohibited from making any comments at all on social issues? His comment if any does not make him less deserving of awards and accolades.

H N Ramakrishna
Bangalore

Conflict between Karunanidhi and Subramanian Swamy

This refers to the report (DH, Feb 7) a conflict has arisen between Karnunanidhi Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Janatha Party president Sri Subramanya Swamy as Raja’s scam has been exposed.

If Karunanidhi is really honest he must challenge Subramanya Swamy to prove that he is involved. Instead, issuing legal notice is only a stunt. In India we rarely get honest and patriotic. This is why parties are spreading like wild fire.

B S Ganesh,
Bangalore

Don’t Smack Religious tolerance

This refers to ' Violation of Secularism' (DH, Feb 7) by Hero Vaz. The letter smacks of religious intolerance to say the least! Mr Vaz should realise that this is the land of Hindus and the secular title to this country shows her magnanimity in accepting people of all faiths. His suggestion to Muslims and Christians to protest against the proposed installation of a Hindu Goddess' deity smacks of religious intolerance which damages the fabric of secularism.

I am not in support of the statue either. There are better areas in Bangalore to spend the money on. I request my secular friends not to attach religious tags to everything that happens around us. If educated people do not understand this, it is nigh impossible to expect rowdy elements to show restraint.

K.S.Anagh
Bangalore 

Failed Multiculturalism

This refers to 'Multiculturalism has failed, says Cameron' (DH, Feb 6).  Britons perhaps have not learnt the trick-of-the-trade from our leaders how to nurture the vote banks year after year.

T Varghese
Bangalore

New technology-Need of the hour for our defense

This refers to ‘US Hercules joins IAF’ (DH, Feb 6). It is a welcome step by our government while honestly trying to equip our defense sector with latest technology.

In the changed political scene where US is also tilting towards India, although for retaining their own economical and political supremacy or for fighting against the fundamentalist forces, it is the right decision of our government to buy comparatively better technology weapons from them instead of entirely depending on Russians like before.

However at this stage our government should try more towards self reliance in defense equipments rather than buying from external markets. Hence it is better if we invite, encourage and involve our private sector enterprises to this sector. We should also invite foreign weapon manufacturing companies to set up their units in our country, as these steps would bring multiple economic advantages like saving our reserves, creating employment opportunities and also finding new avenues like exports to other countries.

The recent candid admission or open comments by the IAF chief about the capabilities of the indigenously built combat aircraft should be one of the eye openers for us to understand these harsh realities.

Ramakanth Udupa. K,
Bangalore.

Shocking Incompetence

This refers to “Shocking Apathy “(DH, Feb 5). The caption should have been “Shocking Incompetence ". It is not understood how a premier national organization can have a recruitment drive to kill people. How competent is it to safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of the country when the institution does not have a ‘Policy’ for a safe recruitment drive?

Gilbert D'Souza
Bangalore.

2G scam: CBI should question DMK leaders, Sonia

This refers to the editorial ‘People’s victory’ (DH, Feb 4). Raja still maintains that everything was above board and approved by the cabinet. In that case, by the law of collectivity, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues are also accountable. If there was outside influence exercised by the DMK and Sonia Gandhi, they should also be questioned by the CBI.

Sandy Sundaram
Bangalore

A political laugh

“BSY vows to quit in a day if found guilty” (DH, Feb 4) is too comic for words. What BSY has not realized is the obvious fact that, if he is found guilty of the criminal charges against him, he will be behind bars rendering resignation redundant!

Hero Vaz
Bangalore

CVC should go

The more the Attorney General tries to justify the selection of Central Vigilance Commissioner before the Supreme Court he finds himself sinking into fresh contradiction which makes his position untenable (AG faces more SC fire on CVC (DH, Feb4) CVC himself has not helped matters by his defiant attitude .The way the SC is passing stringent comments, it is a matter of time the SC itself will force him to resign or government may be constrained to sack him

H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana
Saraswathipuram,Mysore

Spiritual Poverty

This refers to "Loneliness is a hidden killer" (DH, Feb 3). It is sad to think of the plight of lonely old people living with emotional problems and physical damage. Once babies, they were tenderly looked after by their parents and later as parents they brought up their children with loving care. But in the evening of their life they are forced to live alone. Mother Teresa considered this ‘spiritual poverty’ of the West, worse than the physical poverty of the East. But today this spiritual poverty is prevalent in our country too. It is high time families and welfare organizations did something to make the elderly happy and peaceful in the autumn of their life.

Mrs. Alice K Jose
Arakere,Bangalore

Discover the miracle in you

This refers to "Makara Jyothi is man-lit” (DH 1/2/2011). If all the people who had been going to Sabarimala, Velankanni, Tirupathi, Nagoor and other holy places on “special" days had been touched by Divinity, India would have been far better now! God is an all-pervading spirit. Yet, if people want to visit these places, let them do so all through the year according to their convenience so that huge crowds and the consequent tragic accidents can be averted.

People just thirst for miracles forgetting that they themselves are the greatest of all miracles! From head to foot, if they analyze each part with its function, the stupendous marvel unfolds. As a great scientist confessed, "With all my knowledge and in all my imagination I could not have conceived even the thumb of the human being"!

Alice K Jose,
Bangalore

Time starts now

This refers to “CBI arrests Raja, aides for misusing office” (DH 3/02/2011).Raja's arrest coming two days  after meeting of the DMK chief Karunanidhi with the Congress President and the Prime Minister is significant. It would be naive to believe that the meeting was to firm up the alliance.

The other issue is how the government will target those who benefited from the scam. As future developments unfold, it will be clear whether the arrest of Raja was to blunt BJP's insistence for JPC probe.
 
H.R.Bapu Satyanarayana
Mysore

Is the Judgment biased?

This refers to “Somashekara Probe-doing governments bid?” (DH 02/02/2011). It is very true that the government is legitimizing the organized communalism through such judicial probes. This probe has exposed the dirty face of yet another political gimmick. The concern of the government is to maintain its image by appearing and pretending to be clean.

It is a clear that the government is not interested in providing justice and feeling of security to the minorities but it is only interested in keeping its political stakes alive by having such biased probes.

Jerald D' Souza
Bijapur.

Cubbon’s Mark

This refers to the article “He sure did make a mark” (DH, Feb 1, 2011). It appears Sir Mark Cubbon did more for Bangalore than any of our chief ministers of late. Of course, he had certain advantages. He didn't have to buy votes/people for hanging on to his chair. He didn't have hordes of relations/party bigwigs to whom he had to parcel out valuable real estate to keep them from breaking away nor was he afraid of religious groups who could create trouble for him any time. And he was genuinely interested in doing good deeds.

N K Raghavendran
Bangalore.

Punishing victims

This refers to ‘US justifies use of radio tags on students’ (DH, Feb 1). Instead of taking pity on those defrauded by their own nationals, the US authorities say it is a standard procedure. The U.S must apply standard procedure to the criminals and not to the victims.

Raghuraman
Bangalore

Superstition in a superstitious country

Sir,

The news item “Yeddyurappa dreams up a voodoo scare” (DH, Feb 1) makes for a bemusing read.

In the fight between political rivals, experts in the field of black magic seem to be thriving. Being the Chief Minister of a State, he should bring the so called black magicians to justice or else it would only breed superstition in an already superstitious country.

H.P.Murali
Bangalore