Will 'haldi kumkum' get them votes?

Will haldi kumkum get them votes?
This has reference to ‘Parties woo women with a ritual turn’ (February 2). Political analyst Uday Nirgudkar has correctly stated a point, saying, “why did the same party people not organise haldi kumkum events last year?” Last Thursday, my mother told me that she had been to such an event and happily showed me the shining pure silver diya she got as a gift for attending it. The question is, will the women vote for the party that organised such a get together or will they quietly accept the gifts and still be faithful to the party they usually vote for?
—Lekha Jambaulikar

II
It seems as if our political parties do not have much left to offer. Instead of having strong policies and plan of action or even past glories to sell to the public, they are resorting to organising haldi kumkum events and picnics for women. Do they really think that these gimmicks will buy them a loyal vote bank?
— Hena Desai

Clarification
In response to a series of four investigative stories published recently on the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), I would like to clarify the following: Allegation 1. DNA has found that DVC violated the rules to award contract to RInfra and the then CVO (that is, me) was involved in awarding this questionable contract. I am not aware of either the CVC or the C&AG finding any fault in the role played by the CVO in this tender process. 2. I continued to serve as CVO even after I was promoted as Additional Secretary. While serving as CVO in DVC, I was given proforma promotion by the government  of Maharashtra since our 1982 batch in the state had got promotion as principal secretary. 3. I was repatriated back to the state because of my conduct and alleged misdoings. My tenure as CVO in DVC was up to November 2009. However, in May 2008, the chief secretary, Maharashtra, made a special request to secretary, department of personnel, Govt. of India, asking for my services for the prestigious Dharavi project.
—Gautam Chatterjee, principal secretary, Housing Department, Maharashtra

Sandeep Pai replies:
Allegation 1: According to CVC guidelines, the CVO should not participate in the tender process at any stage. The letters written by the CVO (in this case, you) to the CVC are highly opinionated and favours Reliance. Participating in the tender process also involves writing in favour of a particular party. A letter was written on October 4, 2007 to the CVC on behalf of the DVC board by the company’s CVO. In the letter, you suggested that the DVC board was justified in not extending the date for submission of bids and that the decision did not lack fairness or transparency. The letter, as is evident, is highly opinionated and it clearly favours Reliance. To this letter, the CVC replied that “an extension of time or snap bid” is the preferred option. After that you approached the CVC again on the advice of the DVC board. This time, you personally met Pratyush Sinha, the then CVC. The result was that the CVC removed the option of an ‘extension of bid’ and suggested ‘snap bid’ as the only option. Moreover, BHEL was totally willing to participate in the tender process as is evident from their letters to CEA and DVC seeking extension of time. Even the CEA felt that extension of time is justifiable as it’s a big project.

Allegation 2: You have yourself accepted that you got proforma promotion as the 1982 batch of IAS, Maharashtra, were made principal secretary and that you continued in the post in DVC is a usual practice. The guidelines, however, suggest that after taking the scale of additional secretary to the Govt. of India no one can continue in a PSU.

Allegation 3: Nowhere in the article has it been written that you were repatriated because of your conduct and alleged misdoings.

Positive step
Apropos of ‘Helplines open to deal with student stress (February 2), the CBSE is doing a great job by counseling students appearing for the board exams. Students undergoing stress, especially during exams, may often suffer from anxiety, lack of concentration, forgetfulness and depression. Because of all this, some even take extreme steps such as that of committing suicide. The helplines will at least reduce the number of stress-related cases.
—Sharmin Bhumgar

II
The effort to introduce counseling for students is a positive step. This is extremely necessary since every year students commit suicide for not being able to handle the stress that comes with board exams. This counseling will ensure that students have someone to talk to 24/7, which will bring both hope and confidence in their mind.
—Divya Saboo

Disgusting coverage
It is absolutely disgusting to observe the kind of coverage being given to spats between film personalities in national dailies and the local press. Presumably, a scuffle between matinee idol Shah Rukh Khan and a filmmaker who happens to be the husband of the star’s estranged friend, at a party, has kept the newsmongers busy the past two days. It was all the more exasperating to note that some newspapers carried the news on the front page! Have newspaper syndicates suddenly lost their sense of purpose that they are now concentrating on filmy gossips to stay afloat? Somehow, the fondness shown by the Indian press to go overboard when reporting on the country’s film stars and cricketers defies logic at times. No doubt the cine-idol has every right to flaunt his credentials as a superstar, but why should his late-night jaunts and personal animosities be given the space generally reserved for more engrossing news that defines the happenings across the globe?
—Pachu Menon