Shared parenting

Shared parenting
R Jagannathan’s column ‘Share the burden of parenting’ (DNA, September 18) was superb. Usually, DNA reports on social and family issues are always unbiased. I hope the newspaper continues creating awareness on gender equality in our society and helps preserve our greatest asset, our family values. Such articles help us analyse the way our legal system functions, and this is important, as it has strong views on gender issues. In the context of today’s nuclear families, fathers should be encouraged to share parenting responsibilities, and women must realise that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand.
—Kumar Jahgirdar, president, Child Rights
Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP)

Apropos ‘Share the burden of parenting’ (DNA, September 18), the idea of raising children by sharing the task between the husband and the working wife as mooted by R Jagannathan seems to be good. However, granting a long spell of leave, say for 3 years, will definitely be counter-productive. At best, when leave is granted at a stretch, beyond 3 months, the concept of ‘no work no pay’ should apply.
—PM Gopalan, Mumbai

At Mamata’s mercy
Mamata Banerjee’s threat to revive the agitation against the Nano plant (‘Mamata misinterpreting pact: Buddha’, DNA, September, 18) after turning down West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s package deal only proves that she is not looking at the overall interest of the local people. Imagine the number of people who will lose jobs and then subsequently struggle for survival if Ratan Tata gets exasperated and shifts the Nano plant out of West Bengal. It will be a big blow to the West Bengal government since other industrialists will think twice before setting up any plant in the state. We hope that good sense prevails on Banerjee and the issue is amicably settled.
—Jitendra G Kothari, via email
Congress’ dilemma

With the demand for a tougher anti-terrorism law growing stronger, the Congress is increasingly finding itself in a catch 22-like situation. Scared of losing power in the 2009 polls in the event of such a law becoming a reality, the UPA can ill afford to backtrack on its main electoral plank of the 2004 general elections — the abolition of POTA. Any attempt for a sterner approach towards the scourge of extremism can sound the death knell of the UPA in the impending Lok Sabha polls of April-May 2009.
—Arun Malankar, via email

Pothole menace
The only comparison to our pot-hole ridden roads can be found while travelling by road from Bangkok to Cambodia, to be exact, from Poipet to Seam Reap (in Cambodia) — this stretch can be called the mother of all pot-holed roads. Some of the craters on this road are 15-feet deep. I sometimes feel that these roads are purposely left in such a condition, simply so that people will use the more comfortable aerial route, which would mean spending extra — a sure fire way to earn some foreign exchange. Is India
following the same policy, I wonder.
—Jimmy Fernandes, via email

What is AIG?
After reading about AIG in your front page, ‘Failing US banks trigger crisis’ (DNA, September 16), I got the impression that AIG stands for American Investment Groups. However, I got to know from other papers such as The Economic Times (Mumbai edition) that AIG stands for American International Groups. Are there more than one AIG? Is it not always better to just cross-check before printing so that it may not mislead the reader.
—H Lhungdim, Mumbai