Death in custody
What are people supposed to do when those who are meant to protect them abuse them? (“Rape victim’s dad dies in custody”, April 10). People elect MLAs who promise them welfare. And the prime duty of the police is to protect people. It is simply shocking that in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, the father of a rape victim died in custody for demanding that the rapists be punished. India has laws and courts, a police force and a democratic set-up. Yet, all of these seem to fail when it comes to protecting the vulnerable.
Unnikrishnan Mangalasseri,
Malappuram
SC on Cauvery
Though the Supreme Court has reprimanded the Centre for failing to frame a scheme and has directed it to do so by May 3, it has unwittingly provided an opportunity to the Centre to drag out the issue in the face of the Karnataka polls (“Cauvery: SC slams Centre’s inaction”, April 10). The Centre will most probably either seek more time under the pretext of maintaining law and order in the poll-bound State or frame a draft scheme ensuring that the sentiments of the Kannadigas are not hurt. Even if the court reviews and suggests amendments, the elections would have concluded by then.
V. Subramanian,
Chennai
The root cause behind the Cauvery issue is the perpetual election mood that persists in our country. Every ruling party is reluctant to take crucial decisions that could disturb their vote banks. The Centre’s inaction in the Cauvery issue is perhaps because of its aspiration to unseat the incumbent in Karnataka. But are we content with our elected representatives’ low productivity? It is high time we have simultaneous elections to ensure maximum governance.
Utkarsh Agrawal,
Allahabad
Political theatrics
Both Congress and BJP leaders are busy resorting to various forms of gimmickry to demonstrate their commitment to the Dalit cause (“Congress fast beset with controversies”, April 10). While BJP president Amit Shah was recently photographed eating with a Dalit family in Odisha, Congress leaders were caught eating a sumptuous breakfast in Karnataka before a fast to promote “social harmony”. It is time leaders actually stood in solidarity with marginalised people rather than indulge in theatrics that only trivialise serious issues such as the Supreme Court judgment on the SC/ST Act. Political parties must form a cell to identify the victims of caste prejudice and ensure that such cases are given a fair investigation. Most importantly, this should be done without fanfare.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
Building trust
India needs to do more to win back the trust of Nepal, especially in view of its support for the Madhesis and its so-called ‘big brother’ attitude towards its neighbour (“The Nepal reset”, April 10). Given Nepal’s growing affinity with China, India must treat its neighbour as an equal. Moreover, India must earnestly take up all its bilateral projects with Nepal and refrain from issuing statements which may fan anti-India sentiments in Nepal. More ground action and verbal restraint are required.
Vijai Pant,
Hempur
The government has repeatedly talked about its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. But India’s relations with its neighbours have been sliding rather than showing improvement. On the other hand, China has made deep inroads into all the South Asian countries including Nepal. In this context, the Nepal Prime Minister’s visit to India is significant. With India-Nepal relations having multiple dimensions such as historical, social, cultural, economic and geopolitical, there should never have been a trust deficit. Hopefully, this deficit will be bridged. Lots of announcements have been made in this visit. These projects need to be executed on a war footing.
Shambhoo Yadav,
New Delhi
Beyond measure
As the editorial pointed out, there will be some dimensions that the NIRF rankings may not be able to fully capture (“Measuring excellence”, April 10). One such dimension is the quality of teaching. While we can count the number of papers published and presented, the books written and the seminars organised, there is no tool to determine the communication skills of teachers, their ability to instill in students the need to not passively accept information but question, their ability to encourage participative learning and their willingness to adopt new methods in teaching.
Rameeza A. Rasheed,
Chennai
