Civilian awards

Civilian awards
When civilian awards such as the Padma Bhushan, the PadmaVibhushan and the Bharat Ratna were instituted, doubts were expressed whether such awards, reminiscent of colonial traditions, were not anachronistic in an era of egalitarian values.

It was also feared that such decorations by the state were likely to degenerate into government patronage, decided by narrow partisan politics. Since the early recipients were men of outstanding calibre, the opposition to these awards got muted.

It was to the credit of Indira Gandhi that she selected VV Giri in 1975 for the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna and start the process of devaluing it, which continues till date. That is the reason why today every political party is clamouring for the award for its leader.

It is high time these awards are abolished before we witness the ludicrous spectacle of, as someone rightly put it, the awards being listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange and people being allowed to bid for them.
—VVS Mani, Bangalore

Paying to use roads
R Jagannathan’s column (‘Using roads should now cost more’, DNA, January 10) seems to be a typically blinkered easy-way-out response. I applaud Ratan Tata for bringing comfortable personal transport to the masses. But does Jagannathan think people enjoy driving in congested traffic every day?

We do it out of necessity and at much great cost already  — the fuel taxes are already high, then there is the RTO tax, VAT, octroi, and so on.

It is just that the well-to-do use cars and the masses use bikes. What is my option for various 3-15 km commutes with my laptop and a little stuff (which take anywhere from 30-90 minutes in Mumbai) for my work? And most women do report incidents of molestation, teasing, stone-throwing or getting pushed/hurt when using public transport.

Give us safe, comfortable, convenient and reasonably priced public transport — through metro/train/bus/mono rail and watch the car population dwindle. In most European (and some East Asian) cities, the public transport is so good, most people only rent cars for the weekend holidays. Once you create good public transport infrastructure, yes, do go ahead and impose additional costs on cars personal transport. But not till then.
—Sandeep Shah, via email

Artificial jingoism
Ranjona Banerji’s article, ‘Being an incredible Indian’ (DNA.Sunday, January 13) was like a breath of fresh air. Actually, all the jingoism and the proud to be this and proud to be that is getting a little sickening. In fact, decency dictates that it is better to be humble than proud.

Yes, if one achieves something one can be happy but never proud. To be proud to be an Indian or a Hindu or a Muslim — to be proud to be whatever you are born to — is downright silly.

India has 400 million illiterates; Indians lack civic sense; our cities are the dirtiest in the world; our infrastructure, like roads, electric supply and drinking water, is woeful; India has more than 300 million people living below the poverty line; India is one of the most corrupt countries in the world — the list goes on. If we are still proud, then we have set very low standards for ourselves.
—E Patanwala, via email

Traffic congestion
Finally, the Tatas have unveiled the Nano. There is a fear that it would lead to congestion and chaos on the roads. But it is essential to understand why we have chaos on our roads in the first place — the absolute lack of traffic discipline among the drivers and their lack of knowledge of the rules or utter disregard for them. And we all know how driving licenses are dispensed at the RTO.
—Muny, Mumbai