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LETTERS
 Capital
Punishment
"Instead
of giving Ali another shot at spreading his poison in Delhi, the Afghan
refugee should be left to the tender mercies of the Taliban in Kabul."
— Biswapriya Purkayastha, on e-mail
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Hooked To A Crook
The rich and famous
all over the world get hooked to vices since they have money at their
disposal ("Coke Tales", September 10). But they are by no means
the sufferers as they can afford costly treatment to rid themselves of
addictions whenever they choose. It is the less affluent people who run
the potential danger of succumbing to deadly habits. The point is that
one should not feel content exposing only the elite. We should address
the drug issue in totality and come up with preventive and punitive measures
to contain the scourge.
— Jaydev Bhatt, on e-mail
The combination
of money, fascination and demand for cocaine will continue to give birth
to many peddlers like Naqibullah alias Ali. The arrest of the pusher will
not reduce the compulsion of snorting coke among addicts. The venues encouraging
such practices-nightclubs, pubs and discotheques-should be proscribed
and strict vigil should be kept on parks in all metros.
— K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
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A Social Renaissance
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 The
role of NGOs in flogging issues for the sake of their own survival
at the cost of compromising national interest and image deserves
to be given serious thought ("Casting a Doubt", September
3). While there are some NGOs that have become instruments of meaningful
people's participation, many more have sprung up to pursue the personal
agenda of some activists or as channels of propagating dogmatic
ideas. They show no compunction in harming national economic interests
or inflaming divisive tendencies. It is time to monitor the activities
as well as the funding of such NGOs.
—V.B. BUCH, Gandhinagar
Is it an exaggeration to say that no evil
in Indian life has been abolished without foreign intervention?
Right from the custom of sati to the antarjalijatra, each gory Hindu
ritual required a foreigner's assistance to be effaced. Today the
Dalits are campaigning against discrimination and thus the opposition
to international deliberation on the issue is not hypocrisy alone
but a crime against humanity.
—Dr A.K. Biswas, Patna
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Your cover story
was interesting but it now remains to be seen when Ali is released on
bail to resume his nefarious activities. One need not be surprised if
he contests a future election in Delhi for he seems headed for a bright
future in this country. It is another matter that in his native Afghanistan,
he would have been hanged or beheaded by now.
— Sanjeev Diwadkar, Mumbai
Yet again your
cover story deals with the lifestyles and trends of the urban rich. But
this once, it startled us all out of our wits. It is a frightening proposition
that the youth in Indian cities have easy access to something as harmful
as narcotics. I hope your article jolts us all into action to combat the
bane.
— G. Shakunthala, Mysore
Poison Privy
Whether it is news
of death and disaster or flood and starvation, the victim state is invariably
Orissa ("Lethal Diet", September 10). It's sad that whenever
a calamity befalls the state, affairs take on a political hue. If our
leaders are so worried about the health and welfare of their people, they
should unite to fight starvation instead of allowing the rot to take political
shape. Social responsibility should reign supreme.
— Sachidananda Satpathy, Hyderabad
Your issue of September
10 highlights the two extremes of the Indian spectrum: on one hand, there
are the affluent who don't blink at having to cough up Rs 3,000 for a
gram of a banned substance, while on the other are the penurious who are
dying of starvation as they cannot afford to pay even Rs 5 per kg of rice.
That's India and the ironical existence of her people.
— D.V. Madhava Rao, Chennai
Lessons On Education
Needless paranoia
has been whipped up about the so-called saffronisation of education by
people who know nothing about education, much less our cultural heritage
("End of Ideas", September 10). While non-Hindus can be forgiven
for their blinkered vision, these are Hindu pseudo-intellectuals who lose
no opportunity to prove their secular and "progressive" credentials.
My two sons studied in vernacular schools but just because they were taught
to recite Sanskrit shlokas they neither became rabid religious fanatics
nor lost out on modern education. They are both in the US excelling in
their chosen fields.
— Dr Dilip Joshi, Pune
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