Letters to the editor: The Shikhar of Indian innings

The Shikhar of Indian innings
When Indian cricket lost the services of three senior batsmen - Rahul Dravid , VVS Laxman and Virendra Sehwag (due to poor form) - Shikhar Dhawan stepped up. His big hundred on debut made him the tenth Indian batsmen to score a hundred for India on appearance. He appears to have cemented his place as an opening batsman in place of Sehwag.

Indian cricket needs such batsman, who can score centuries both in India and on overseas tours. We find both Sehwag and Gambhir playing with less footwork and getting out at crucial times. Both Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were overawed by the situation and started to play rather slowly, which ultimately put paid our hopes in big games.

Now, we have a stroke maker in Dhawan and we hope he will continue his form even in matches played outside India and erase our bad memories of going down to both England and Australia without the semblance of fight. Kudos to Dhawan for his punishing innings.
—CK Subramaniam,
 Navi Mumbai

Caution required when using arms
This is with reference to ‘Guarded govt stops issuing licenses to pvt security firms’ (March 16). The fall out of the State proposals to grant arms licenses to housing societies, security guards and the banks directly has been scary. It does make sense to not renew the arms licenses of private security firms without validating the procedure.

Unlike in the US where guns and ammunitions are available without much ado, introducing gun culture on similar lines will become difficult to the people of the state. People are aware that in US, school going children have been targeted by attackers. Thus, obtaining gun licenses should have stringent guidelines, with the responsibilities and accountabilities of the holder recorded upfront. It should be a bane rather than a boon. Otherwise it would near impossible to recover firearms if the proposal turns out to be failure at later stage.
—Deepak Chikramane, Mumbai

Fine political parties for illegal hoardings
I fully support the decision of the Bombay high court on Wednesday that the Bombay Municipal Corporation should remove all illegal hoardings in 24 hours. The city is full of illegal hoardings and banners which are defacing the city. The high court should also fine these political parties for their illegal hoardings.

There is an urgent need for the BMC to take urgent action on these illegal hoardings and fine them heavily so that they don’t spring up in the future.
—Cajetan Peter D’Souza,
Ghatkopar

‘I’ for India or Italy?
It appears that Congress (I) stands more for Italian political party faithful only to that country and not India. Imagine the way Quattrochi was allowed to get away with ill-gotten billions of dollars just because he was an Italian and we could just watch. Now, there are two more glaring examples of the Italian connection.

The helicopter scam, and the Italian marines who killed our innocent fishermen and were allowed them to go to Italy despite the Italian Ambassador’s undertaking that they will be sent back to India to face the Indian law. Now, the Italian government and even the ambassador have refused to send them back which is a slap on the face of our Supreme Court. We must not accept this. Does the actual meaning of the ‘I’ in the Congress party stands for India or Italy?
—Kumar Balram Bhatia

Teaching Italy a lesson
The South Block deserves kudos for breathing fire and putting Italy firmly in its place. The unprecedented order alerting airports to prevent Italian ambassador Daniele Mancini from leaving the country would obviously have an adverse effect on diplomatic ties between the two countries.

However, this was the only option before the government to turn the heat on Italy to send back the marines accused of shooting dead two Indian fishermen on international waters off the coast of Kerala. The decision to put off the departure of Ambassador-designate to Rome, Basant Kumar Gupta, is also a slap on the face of Italy. Let’s hope that wiser counsel prevails and Rome adheres to its commitment made before the Supreme Court that the two Italian marines return after exercising their right to vote.
—NJ Ravi Chander, Bangalore

Petrol or diesel?
The Rs2 reduction in petrol prices in Mumbai has become front page news. But how long will this reduction continue? Going by past records, the prices may increase at any time, putting an added weight on the head of the common man.

Having faced price rises for most of the year, this reduction may confuse people going in for a new car in the month of March. Should they buy a petrol or diesel car? The fuel price reduction will have an impact on food grains and other commodities. Petrol prices are coming down while there is the possibility that the price of diesel will be hiked again.
—CK Ramani, Sion

Walmart not welcome
This refers to news ‘Too many walls to scale - FDI in multi-brand retail has no takers’ (March 16). Bowing to oppositions from the traders lobby and political parties, the UPA has incorporated these clauses. The wide gap between whole sale price index and consumer price index is the indication our supply chain logistics and poor storage. Successive governments after independence have failed to address these issues and UPA expects the MNC retail giants to do it.

The MNCs who want to make quick bucks are not willing to invest in storage and supply chain infrastructures. Further they cannot partner with local retailers and grab them in due course as coal giants did, but have to start green field ventures. The 30% local sourcing is too low even that they are not accepting.

Among the developing nations that allowed FDI in retail, only in China could local traders survive, thanks to strict conditions. Even in US these retail giants killed the local suppliers in their quest of cheaper sourcing, forcing them to shit elsewhere. We have enough expertise and funds for creating storage/ supply chain network and do not need Walmart or Tesco for this.
—N Ramamurthy, Chennai