Battling inflation
Apropos 'Pinching pockets' (DNA, December 16), rising prices have now become an unending feature of our lives. In the past spiralling prices had been the waterloo of several political parties/governments. But this phenomenon continues unabated. The governments at the Centre and states do not seem to have any remedy to this situation. How long will this continue?
—LJ Prasad, Mumbai
Incompetent civil servants
Here are a few comments on the report ‘America is with us: Nirupama Rao', DNA, December 17. It is the recent tendency of the government to ask departmental secretaries to make important statements. Recently, the Union home secretary made a remark on Telangana and had to retract from it. Our foreign secretary is now trying to gloss over the embarrassment caused to us by the recent disclosures on Headley. As your report rightly says it sounds 'hollow' indeed. It is the job of the ministers to make public statements. The other thing is the way our consulate general in Chicago has functioned. First a visa was issued to Headley which was not in conformity with the rules. Now the papers relating to that decision are 'missing'. The 'missing' stratagem is used by a government whenever it has to explain inconvenient things such as the missing bullet proof jacket file of Maharashtra Police. If a file so important could disappear from our consulate in Chicago, how can the secrets of our operations in the US could be safeguarded? This is to be answered by our foreign ministers. The least we could do meanwhile is to withdraw our Chicago consul general and bring him back to New Delhi.
—S Subramanyan, Navi Mumbai
Rape can never be justified
You have rightly lambasted Goa MP Shantaram Naik (Medieval outlook, DNA, December 17) for making such a derogatory statement. The Goa government has already invited flak in the Scarlet rape and murder case. Instead of improving law and order conditions in Goa, Naik is trying to blame the victim. If the state government can't protect the women walking at night, then it should issue an advisory note to that effect. But for God's sake it should not advise such things which reminds us of medieval times when might was right.
—Anupama Goswami, Mumbai
II
The irresponsible and sexist statement of Goa MP Shantaram Naik has shocked all right thinking people. Naik's remark sends out a wrong signal. It will encourage rapists and sex-obsessed men.
—Neville Bengali, Mumbai
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