India must fast-track terror cases

Apropos Saudis deport IM operative; held in Delhi
Saudi Arabia has done its part by deporting to India, in quick succession, three major suspects involved in terror attacks in the country, thereby affirming the cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism. Now, India must do its part to proceed with the matter quickly. We have a dismal track record of justice delivery even in terror cases. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for 2001 parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Then he made a mercy petition to the president in 2005. The Union home ministry kept the file pending till 2011 and the decision on his petition is yet to come. Similarly, the death sentence against 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab is also pending execution, awaiting a decision on his mercy petition. Meanwhile, he is in custody under heavy security at the taxpayer’s expense. Replying to questions over the inordinate delay in Afzal Guru’s case, P Chidambaram said (when he was Union home minister) that the case was in queue. “Guru is number 21 on the list of 22 cases. Why are we jumping the gun?” This sends a wrong message about the country’s commitment to fight terror. We must fast-track terror cases.
—MC Joshi, Lucknow

Act before October 30
With reference to the report Med admission: Students up in arms against ‘unfair’ samiti, I am a parent of one of the students who have been affected by the undue delay by the Pravesh Niyantran Samiti (PNS). On this Samiti are IS Chahal, IAS, member secretary and secretary, Medical Education and Drugs Department, Dr (Prof) Arun Jamkar, member and vice-chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, Dr Ravi Bapat, Dr MS Kekre and justice DK Deshmukh (Retd) who is chairman of the Samiti. They should have taken up the matter at the meeting which was held on September 28. However, Dr Jamkar was absent from that meeting and another held on October 22. Since Chahal was also absent on Monday, the chairman decided to postpone the decision to the next meeting scheduled for November 2. This effectively leaves the students and their parents nowhere. Private medical colleges started their MBBS courses in mid-September and if a decision is made next month, a huge portion would have to be covered by students who have missed out on classes. Some of the students took admission to non-MBBS/dental courses elsewhere for which the cut-off date is October 31. So if a decision is made on November 2 and these students surrender their seats after October 31 they would have to forego the entire amount which they paid as fees and the institute would not be able to fill up the seat after the cut-off date. There are some students who have not taken admission anywhere and are awaiting the PNS judgement. Therefore, on behalf of the aggrieved parents whose children have been denied MBBS/BDS seats on merit, I urge the state government to intervene and resolve the matter on a priority basis before October 30.
—Ram Mankekar, via email

Pocket-size dynamo
Apropos Well Den Saina. There is something unique about the game of this pocket-size dynamo, Saina Nehwal. She has not conquered the badminton world yet, but has consistently defeated top-rank ed players. On her way to the Denmark super series title, the fourth title win this year for the world’s fourth-ranked player, Saina got the better of world number one Wang Yihan in the last four. Her win over the Olympic silver medallist was special because Wang was the only top Chinese player Saina had not defeated. At the Olympics, despite not being in the best of form, Nehwal won bronze. She has cleverly learned the way to preserve her stamina to last through tougher matches. Long rallies, which marked her game earlier, have given way to controlled aggression that is paying rich dividends. Nehwal must now definitely be eyeing next year’s All England title, the ultimate dream for a badminton player. Her coach Gopichand knows what it requires to win in Birmingham and Nehwal should get there pretty comfortably.
—Ganapathi Bhat, Akola

Good times are gone
Vijay Mallya was once  described as having ambitions of becoming India’s Richard Branson, the flamboyant British business magnate known for his Virgin Group who also set up Virgin Atlantic Airways. And it seems that the Indian regulatory authorities were ever eager to tweak the rules for Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines, while Indian banks advanced loans without much accountability because the liquor baron is well connected.  Recently, his company United Spirits negotiated a substantial stake sale to British liquor giant Diageo without giving up management control. Kingfisher Airlines may no longer be viable. Be that as it may, who will pay the airlines’ loans with the banks? And why did the government show so much concern for the survival of Mallya’s airlines?
—NK Das Gupta, via email