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LETTERS
Fictional Fact
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Saving
Account
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Of what use is a drop in the inflation
rate if an ordinary consumer doesn't see any change in his purchasing
power ("Where Do We Save, Dr Jalan?", November 5)? Senior
citizens and those depending on interest from deposits, mutual funds
and postal savings schemes are the hardest hit with interest rates
dropping ever so often. Worse still, there is no social net for
these fixed-income persons to fall back on. The sop to senior citizens
by way of slightly better rates of interest on bank deposits should
be extended.
—D.B.N. Murthy, Bangalore
With every cut in the bank rate of interest,
there is a corresponding cut in the interest rates of fixed deposits.
This is causing an untold misery to pensioners, who base their monthly
budget solely on interest income. The Government should introduce
a special scheme so that pensioners are not subject to the vagaries
of changing interest rates.
—S. Nagaratnam, Mumbai
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Unarguably, Bhagat
Singh was one of the greatest heroes of our freedom struggle ("Three
Halos for Bhagat", November 5). It is a laudable effort to remember
him today-with his relevance being more pronounced than ever before-and
bring alive his passion for the motherland. But I have serious doubts
about the sincerity of the filmmakers: do they have it in them to honestly
depict the martyr's patriotism without resorting to songs, melodrama and
romantic aberrations? The weird titles of the films themselves reinforce
such reservations. Imagine 23-3-1931-The Martyr and Bhagat Singh-the Shaheed.
How can a date in history become a "martyr"? Besides, couldn't
they find more appropriate names in Hindi or any of India's vernacular
languages?
—Vikas Bardia, Delhi
Booty Days
If one discounts its relatively long innings
of 365 days, the current Government of Goa cannot be said to be different
from its predecessors ("Sustained Saffron", November 5). While
corruption is the last of the many ills plaguing the Manohar Parrikar
Government, systematic saffronisation is the one causing the greatest
concern. However, one cannot blame Parrikar-he has always been a dedicated
RSS worker and has only been performing what he has assimilated. His party
has acquired an office in a plush Panjim commercial building in just a
year whereas the Congress party is still housed in a shabby stable in
comparison. It would seem that in the Congress only the leaders get rich,
while in the BJP, the party shares the booty.
—Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Cyber Active
In the zeal to consign dotcoms to history, the
vital contribution of the it fraternity in changing the scenario of our
work culture seems to have been forgotten-offices have become fun places,
epitomised by casual dressing, flexi-timings and telecommunicating, which
facilitate output optimisation ("The Dotcom Wasteland", October
29). Though the industry is heading south, it is incumbent upon the Indian
companies not to revert to the stiff lip era of the yore. When recession
and downturn in economy stare us in the face, depression can be mitigated
if fun is made an integral part of the work culture.
—Nalin Rai, on e-mail
Pride And Malice
I wonder why everyone con-siders the Nobel Prize
for V.S. Naipaul a matter of pride ("A Prize for Sir Vidia",
October 22). His Nobel would have been something to cheer about if he
were an Indian. He, who has an inferiority complex about being an Indian
and shows the world all that is bad about India in a superfluous manner,
is not a person to be proud of.
—Sameer Agrawal, Aligarh
Transferred Epithet
Tavleen Singh appears ignorant of the meaning
of the word "secular" ("Unsecular Faith", October
15). She takes secular to mean tolerant when, in fact, secularism means
unconnected with religion and a secular state is merely one that has no
state religion. Therefore, "Secular Faith" is an oxymoron. India
proudly flaunts the secular label but in practice religion and its by-product-caste-are
very much the cornerstones of our governmental, political, social and
educational activities.
—A.B. Deo, Kolkata
Clarification
In a performance evaluation of former civil
aviation minister, Sharad Yadav, we inadvertently reported that two hotels
of Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) are closed ("Clueless Pilot",
August 27). The HCI informs us that all their hotels are functioning.
The error was unintentional and is regretted.
—Editor
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