Letters to the editor: 2G observations

Now, Damania should back up her claim
This has reference to ‘IAC drops name bomb, says it was Gadkari’ (Sep, 28). While it is easy to blame national leaders for not taking up causes, the onus of proving allegations entirely lies with Damania and Kejriwal. It is also not imperative that opposition parties will lap up any issue against ruling party leaders until and unless it is backed up by solid documentary evidence. Allegations of Gadkari having business interest with Sharad Pawar are serious and must be substantiated with proof. Otherwise, the whole affair will appear contrived and as a publicity stunt. IAC should take up issues of corruption but must ensure that they have necessary proofs to back up their allegations. Name dropping no doubt creates an initial buzz but if not backed by facts, they boomerang.
—Ashok Goswami, Mumbai

II
RTI activist Anjali Damania, credited with helping expose a Rs72,000-crore scam in Maharashtra, has been sued by BJP president Nitin Gadkari. Earlier this week, Damania told NDTV  that at a meeting with her, Gadkari said he would not support attempts to bring focus on the scam because he has a business relationship with Sharad Pawar, whose nephew, Ajit, resigned this week after being accused of orchestrating the scam while he was the irrigation minister from 1999-2009. Gadkari denied meeting Damania and has sued her for defamation. Here, Damania explains what it took to blow the lid off a massive swindle. It is all political gimmick, and in a country where law and order is thrown to the sea, such things will happen very frequently. IAC needs to be omplimented for bringing a scam to book and create a stir in the political circle of Maharashtra in particular and the country as a whole.
—CK Ramani, Mumbai

2G observations
This has reference to ‘Auctions not only way to allocate resources: SC’ (Sep 28). It is most unfortunate that the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court has reversed the stand taken by the same court earlier on the 2G Spectrum allocation policy. It’s present interpretation that there is no sanctity in the policy of allocation of resources by auctions if alternative methods were followed to serve public interest, even though they may not maximize revenue, is indeed a travesty of justice. It may not be clear for lesser mortals like us as to how the policy of adopting the ‘first come first served’ method in the 2G Spectrum licensing could serve public interest when the procedure lacked transparency and helped promote insidious capitalism with enormous scope for kick-backs. But, that is what our learned Judges now say. Has the revision in opinion of the SC anything to do with the change of guards? Whatever, this will only lead to confusion in the legal domain. With a few more judgments like this the common man is bound to lose faith in our judicial system, the only democratic institution he trusts now.
—S Venkataraman, Mumbai

Democracy at crossroads?
The write-up by Nilofar Suhrawardy ‘Toothless govt and oppn’ (Sep 28) deserves appreciation and is worth reading. It’s not only an analysis of factual situations but it also reflects the feelings of the nation. The writer has rightly concluded that our democracy, once known as a ‘model’, is now subject to severe criticism worldwide. The downgrade in the value of democracy is due to the deteriorating level of quality of our politicians indulging in shadow boxing. The increasing incidence of logjams in the parliament will finish democracy as discussions, deliberations and exchange of opinions are the lifeline of democracy. Not only that, such attitudes of our toothless politicians also causes huge monetary loss to the national exchequer, ultimately penalising honest tax payers. It’s high time that politicians, in their own interest, should mend their destructive ways and refrain from creating a ruckus in parliament, wasting precious time and national wealth.
—Kishorkumar J Ved, Mumbai

SC on Kudankulam
This has reference ‘SC: Can stop KKNPP on security issue’ (Sep 28).   The court has made it clear that it can stop commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements for it are in place. It is quite clear that it will be impossible to implement all the 17 mandatory safety recommendations made by Atomic Energy Regulation Board in the next two years. Why is the government in a hurry to load the fuel rather than prioritising the implementation of the safety measures? If the government is sensitive to the voice of the people and is respectful of the sentiments of the judiciary, it should not take advantage of the fact that the court has not placed a stay on the fuelling of the reactor. The loading of the fuel should stop forthwith. Although the Supreme Court is considering a PIL specifically in relation to the nuclear power plant and Kudankulam, it should also not lose sight of the fact that the entire nuclear energy programme deserves to be scrapped. Incidentally, in November 2011, former president APJ Abdul Kalam had paid a visit to the Kudankulam plant and had declared it totally safe. Does he want us to believe that the 17 mandatory safety measures recommended by the Atomic Energy Regulation Board are superfluous and inconsequential?
—MA Ali, via e-mail