Winning the world cup

Winning the world cup
It has been confirmed once again that Sachin is in the wrong team. Had he been a part of the Australian, New Zealand or the English team, by now he would have won many World Cups. Every member of Indian Team said that they would like to win the world cup for Sachin. But in reality, they are making sure that India will never win the world cup, by losing the games they can win. Most of his centuries have come when no other Indian batsman scored in even double figures.
—Ram Kulkarni, via email
 
Unnecessary furore
The furore caused by the BJP over the WikiLeaks controversy is completely unfounded (‘Cash for votes:Wiki ammo in oppn assault’, March 18). The opposition parties are reacting to internal diplomatic correspondence. What is wrong if a country wants to understand the political changes in India and how these will impact the global economic atmosphere? This cannot be termed as ‘influencing’ India’s affairs. If such leaks were to reveal Indian diplomatic correspondence, it is possible that something similar will come out. Horse-trading, if true, is most unfortunate for the functioning of a democracy. Another worrying issue is that the US government seems to have supported this horse-trading. The US embassy in New Delhi should accept or deny the cables.
—Rakesh Kumar, via email

II
In view of the seriousness of the ‘cash-for-votes’ scam, it will be wise for the government of the day to order an investigation into the matter and come out with the facts. On the one hand, the opposition finds some way to stall Parliament and, on the other, it seems to the public that the government runs in accordance with the US embassy cable leaks. It also needs to be probed how such selective leaks come up periodically and prevent the functioning of the Parliament. The opposition seems to have adopted the WikiLeaks constitution and thrown away the Indian Constitution.
—SS Nair, Mumbai

III
The prime minister’s defence in the cash-for-votes controversy cannot be accepted. It is absurd and defies any logic. Can a politician be absolved from his crimes just because he gets elected again? Does our Constitution accept this? Take the case of Narendra Modi in Gujarat. After the Godhra riots, he won the state elections with a larger majority. Does it mean that he can wash his hands off Godhra? If so, why do the Congress and the PM continue to haunt Modi with allegations about the riots?
—NR Ramachandran, Ahmedabad

Fake pilots
Yet another scam comes to light, of pilots obtaining licences with fake certificates (‘Air India de-rosters pilot for faking Class X certificate, March 16). The safely and security of those flying and the cost of the aircraft are in the hands of the pilots and if they have faked certificates to obtain licences the consequences of their failure to act with due diligence in times of emergencies the results would be catastrophic. Airlines sacking pilots detected with licences obtained fraudulently is not commensurate with crime committed, since, their act is a serious criminal offence and hence demands more stringent punishment.
—KRP Gupta, Mumbai

Nature’s revenge?
Apropos ‘N-threat haunts Japan again’ (March 13), a lurking suspicion arises whether countries like Japan are now paying for the powerful nuclear test explosions conducted deep in the sea by the nuclear powers in the past. As powerful underground nuclear explosions came in for heavy criticism, nuclear powers, led by the US, switched over to undersea test explosions. They discontinued the same only after fulfilling their objectives. Have such explosions led to destabilisation of the seabed and there by leading to massive earthquakes, triggering ferocious tsunamis of the kind that devastated Japan? Can some experts throw light on the same? Will the global humanity learn its lesson now? Such calamities expose the limitations and vulnerability of all the cutting edge technologies developed to tame the nature, as has been proved in case of Japan.
—Rukmini Jammi, via email