Short public memory
With the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, sycophancy in India has touched a new low with all and sundry falling over themselves to compliment Sonia Gandhi for her “skillful handling” of the matter (‘Sonia steels party to counter Yadav trio’, DNA, March 10). Public memory is indeed very short for it was the very same Congress under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi that had stalled the NDA government’s repeated attempts to pass this bill.
MR Hosangady, Mumbai
Not a word about prices
Let me join the chorus of congratulations that are being showered on Congress president Sonia Gandhi for getting the women’s quota bill passed in the Rajya Sabha and paving the way for “...articulate/upper-caste/upper-class women to grab the levers of power ...” (‘Change in the air’, DNA, March 11) and contribute their mite to the progress of the nation. But as I think of rising prices and my daily battle for survival, I find my sense of elation reduced in no time. I see nothing on the horizon to warrant hope of any relief from the spiralling cost of living, not even the hollow assurances of our politicians. Let it be said that our top priority for the moment should be to arrest the prices of at least the basics and make life liveable.
Arundhati Wajge, Pune
The weaker sex?
In the historic Rajya Sabha vote providing for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, what was amazing was the incredible camaraderie among the Left and the Right parties (‘It’s done: Women’s bill over the hump’, DNA, March 10). What I don’t understand is what prevented our womenfolk from equipping themselves to compete with men in the electoral process during the last 60 years of India’s existence as a vibrant republic where there were absolutely no restrictions for them to excel? When women are in the top echelons of all spheres of life, do they need reservation in government?
KP Rajan, Mumbai
II
It is unfortunate that the policy of reservation has taken deep roots in independent India. The intention behind reservations was to right social wrongs. The policy, instead of promoting the right to equality, has become a gesture of benevolence. The time has come to take stock of the situation and decide whether to abolish quotas and give legitimate rights to worth and talent and thereby bring equality in society, or hang on to the benevolence of the state.
RM Deshpande, Navi Mumbai
Modi matter
The ‘secular’ media seems to be euphoric over the summons being issued to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi by the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT; ‘Eight years after Godhra, the law calls on Modi’, DNA, March 12). In the process, it appears to have overlooked the snail’s pace at which the wheels of the legal machinery move in the country. First, the SIT is not the judiciary. Second, even if the SIT finds incriminating evidence against Modi, would that deprive him of his constitutional right to appeal?
Arun Malankar, via email
Climate review
In reference to ‘UN orders review of IPCC’s work’ (DNA, March 12), it is heartening to note that the independent scientific body includes a scientist from the Indian Institute of Science. The problem with the IPCC is that it has been functioning more as a one-man panel. The Inter-Academy Council that has been entrusted with this job will do well to look critically at the IPCC’s methods of data collection, analysis and interpretation, and the soundness of its recommendations. There is also need for an international body comprising geographers and glacial geologists with a brief to study climate change and glacial-retreat.
V Subramanyan, Thane
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