Letters to the editor: EPF and Aadhaar

Let the lovebirds be
Apropos of ‘Moral policing plan sinks after waves of protest’ (January 25), the Mumbai Police burnt its fingers for mindlessly embarking on such a campaign when there are more pressing problems to attend, like ensuring safety of our women. So, it is heartening to note that the police commissioner reversed his January 10 directive of asking his men to initiate action against couples cosying up on beaches or by the seaside promenades and directed them to protect these lovebirds from the harassment of miscreants. That is like a good boss and one hopes that he will not get back to his stick in another fortnight! It needs to be realised that these young things crave for some privacy in a crowded metropolis where half-a-dozen members of a family are often cramped in a single room. So, they should be allowed their space outside as long as they keep within the limits.
—V Subramanyan, Thane
 
EPF and Aadhaar
This has reference to ‘Govt ties EPF a/c to Aadhaar’ (January 25). Before the government made it mandatory for employees to furnish Aadhaar numbers to open EPF accounts, it should have addressed the difficulties faced by the common man in obtaining an Aadhaar card. An undergraduate or a technician migrating to a city for a middle or lower-level employment will find it almost impossible to provide an address proof. This will deprive him of the eligibility to apply for an Aadhaar number and thereby an EPF registration. If the government accepts the employer’s address as an alternative proof, this problem can be resolved to some extent. Companies in India do not allow contract workers to work in their plant without a valid PF number; in other words, this mandate from the government can only deprive lower-level job seekers an opportunity to begin their careers. So far, the agencies have not been able to provide Aadhaar numbers to even those who have applied for them months back. Thus, the first step should be to streamline the arrangement before setting a deadlines to comply.
—Haridasan Mathilakath, Navi Mumbai

Declare Modi’s name
The BJP should now call the bluff of one of its allies. The saffron party should at once declare the candidature of Narendra Modi as their prime ministerial candidate. The moment it becomes clear in the 2014 LS polls that the BJP is emerging as the largest single party, these very Modi-bashers would swing their allegiance back to the BJP-led camp. Not only that, even many a fence-sitters and those who are presently supporting the ‘secular’ alliance, would also switch their loyalties to the NDA conglomerate. Glaring examples of these “principled” outfits are DMK, TMC and the LJP. Till May 2004, they were sharing power with the then BJP-led coalition under Atal Behari Vajpayee’s leadership.
—Jorhat Singh, via email

Fight terror together
It seems both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are playing a dirty political game over Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s ‘saffron terror’ statement to score a point of two over each other in view of the forthcoming 2014 general elections. The need of the hour is that both Congress and the BJP must stop this nonsense and concentrate on other important issues that require priority to take the country forward. All the political parties should come together and fight terrorism to weed out the menace from this country. 
—Bhagwan Thadani, via email