Utilise the money

Utilise the money
Just as initiative has been taken to bring back black money, now something should be done about the money lying tax-free in the vaults of various religious shrines. It will not be an exaggeration to say that when there are millions who are deprived of a square meal, there is something wrong to that a huge amount is lying idle in the shrines. There should be schemes by these shrines to give loans on very nominal interest to farmers so that they don't go to money lenders. These trusts should especially come forward to share their wealth in good faith, instead of sitting it. A regulatory body comprising of all heads of various religious shrines can be formed to formulate schemes beneficial to improve the condition of those population below poverty line.
—RM Deshpande, via email

The last straw
Series of high-magnitude scams, lack of law and order, inability to control the spiralling prices, uncontrolled all-pervasive corruption and now, the breach of people's implicit trust. The government has been saying all the time that revealing the identities of Indians who have stashed money in overseas banks is forbidden under the double taxation treaty between the two democratic countries, thus, according to the Supreme Court's interim Order, violating the people's right to know under Article 21 ('Black money: SC calls govt's bluff', July 5). The apex court's order further states that the treaty does not even remotely touch upon information regarding Indian citizens' bank accounts. It is disgraceful for the government to repeatedly contend that it is unable to reveal names as they are proscribed under the treaty. This raises a suspicion that the very the lawkeepers could, perhaps, also be law-breakers.
—KK Wajge, Mumbai

Marked down
Apropos 'Wants grace marks, win tourney', (July 7), the state school education and sports departments have initiated the appropriate steps. However, the concerned departments should also clarify whether the said marks will be counted for deciding merit list or ranking, admission in colleges and/or awarding scholarships/prizes at board/school level? If not, will it be in order to include these 25 grace marks, for calculating percentage of marks, as done up till now?
—Kishorkumar Ved, via email

Parallel cinema’s hero
It was sad to read about the demise of film-maker and writer Mani Kaul after a prolonged illness ('Kaul's films didn't appeal to masses', July 7). Kaul's most notable work is his documentary, Siddheshwari, which won the National Award for the Best Documentary film. With his aesthetic sense of cinematography and knowledge of Indian music, Kaul's cinema was inspiring and entertaining. I strongly feel that Kaul's style of filmmaking was never bound by the demand or taste of the viewer. Kaul established a legitimate space for Indian cinema in the global scene. Kaul's films contributed immensely to the parallel cinema movement. With his death, the country has lost one of the pioneers of new wave cinema in India.
—Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai

Better late than never
Dayanidhi Maran has quit at last. At least, the 'fair' minister did not prolong the government's agony. The UPA can pat itself this time as the problem got solved before the apex court's possible intervention. The lesson for government from this sordid episode is that it needs to be watchful of the goings-on in the various ministries.  It is intriguing why the UPA put up with Maran for so long when it had always replaced its own erring chief ministers post haste.
—V Subramanyan, via email

Concentrate on swamis
This is with reference to 'Of excessively wealthy temples and godmen', (July 5).  In looking to historical data and history, this wealth had been donated by devotees nearly four centuries ago. These are archives of history of which we should be proud. In fact, we should concentrate on the so-called swamijis, who have become millionaires in a decade or so. These people, along with some of our politicians, should be examined thoroughly, instead of humiliating the temple.
—R Shridharan, via email