Anna's fight

Anna's fight
Anna Hazare now wishes to continue his fast unto death agitation, demanding that prime minister as well as the higher judiciary also be included in the purview of Lokpal Bill ('Plan to bring Lokpal Bill to standing halt', August 3). Hazare said that as per the referendum result, more than 80% are in favour of Jan Lokpal Bill in which higher judiciary as well as the prime minister are included. Though we all agree with Anna Hazare's version of Lokpal Bill, he should be flexible in his stand. He should not insist to include all his demands at one stretch. Let us co-operate with the present Lokpal Bill and suitable clauses can be incorporated through future amendments. Whatever the final outcome, Anna should not lose his cool.
—HP Murali, Bangalore

Wait and watch
It comes as no great surprise that the property market has taken a beating in terms of low footfalls at builders offices and the translation of those footfalls into actual bookings for flats ('Slump-hit builders lure buyers with freebies', August 3). One major reason is the credit squeeze and the mark up in the repo rate by the RBI in recent times, making home loans unaffordable to the common man. In a desperate bid to sell off the unsold inventory, estimated at about Rs11 crores, the developers, builders and brokers are offering all kinds of bizarre freebies such as foreign trips, fancy cars, tournament tickets to lure buyers. Interestingly, there is no move yet on the part of the developers and builders to reduce flat rates.

With the proposed amendments to the DCR rules and several ‘inclusions’ now effected within the definition of FSI, there has been a virtual sledgehammer blow to the sinister nexus between the developers, builders, politicians, registration authorities, the municipal corporation and so on. Industry norms suggest that a property must be built within 36 months and sold. However presently it takes close to 6 years, which explains how and where the money is blocked. A fall in property rates seems inevitable in the near future. Overall a correction of about 15% is expected. The developers and builders are keen to dole out freebies as they feel that a correction in rates would lead to a free fall syndrome and resurrecting from that position would take longer. It's a wait and watch game in this predominantly 'buyers' market.
—Deepak Agharkar, via email

Holes of problem
The front page coverage on potholes made for an interesting read ('Potholes of perdition', August 4). One wonders as to why no one has analysed the exponential increase in the number of heavy vehicles thanks to construction boom and cargo movement in the booming economy. No road (not to speak of poorly designed ones) can keep taking such hammering in heavy monsoons. Consequently roads break due to the poor quality of binding material/gravel. We need a survey of the traffic load increase and a report on the quality of materials used, including the pavement blocks.
—Arun Mehta, Mumbai

II
Potholes in the city are causing a lot of problems to the people ('Potholes of perdition', August 4). The roads are in bad shape and some of the roads are so full of potholes that there is no place to navigate the vehicle without avoiding the potholes. Reaching any destination has become a herculean task. The taxpayers’ money is going to the drain.
—CK Subramaniam,via email

Why the change?
I have been a regular reader of DNA.Money for over 3 years and I had always found it to be very informative and time-efficient. I used to enjoy the wonderful articles and interviews and syndicated columns by international personalities. The Monday interviews used to be something I used to eagerly wait for. However, over last few months, DNA.Money has been going down the hill. First, the number of pages have come down to just 4. Ads are consuming a lot of space. Monday interviews have become fewer and smaller.  Articles on international perspective have become fewer. I feel that DNA is being slowly killed.
—K Mohan Bhaktha, Mumbai

All the advantages
This is with reference to 'Need 25% theory marks to pass SSC science, math', (August 1). This is a very good move implemented by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. The new examination system has made it very easy for the students to pass. Hence they take their studies too lightly. They do not take the internal examinations seriously and it has been observed that students getting very low scores in their school examinations pass with flying colours in their board examinations. I hope the other boards also will implement a similar move.
—Preeta Shashikumar, Mumbai      

Regretting the help
This refers to China's suspicion of Pak terrorists involvement in Xinjiang incident few days back ('China blames terrorists trained in Pakistan for Xinjiang attack', August 1). India has been saying the same for the last 25 years-Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism. Some countries like the US and UK had ignored this caution and tried to cosy up with Pakistan. They have learnt their lesson the hard way. It is a matter of time, when China will start regretting their financial and strategic help to Pakistan.
—Madhava Hebbar, via email

II
This is with reference to 'Now, China blames Pak for terrorism', (August 2). Official admission by Chinese authorities that Muslim separatists who carried out terrorist attacks in the western province of Xinjiang were trained in terror camps in Pakistan is not only indicting Pakistan in the issue of terror but also puts a big question mark on China's Pakistan policy. Ignoring India's concerns on the role of terror groups operating on Pakistani soil and training terrorists, Beijing chose Islamabad as one of its allies in Asia and played a major role in advancing Pakistan's military and nuclear programs. Islamabad's assurances on terror front are hollow and misleading. After the reality-check it is time for Beijing to review its Pakistan policy.
—MC Joshi, Lucknow