The Hindu : New Delhi News : Readers' Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 08, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Readers' Mail

Lalu's railway

Sir, -- Our Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is obsessed with imposing his fancies and fantasies on the Railways. Earlier he introduced kulhars, khadi and lassi, and now he has introduced datun. But the truth is that these measures are not going to help the poor passengers who have to face a lot of problems during their journey.

Recently I travelled to Bihar, U.P. and West Bengal by train and was horrified to see the plight of the Indian Railways. The platforms and coaches are full of dirt and even rats. And to make matters worse, local passengers get into the reserved compartments and cause a lot of nuisance. They even misbehave with passengers who ask them to go to the general compartments. Armies of beggars throng the train at every station on the way making life difficult. I wonder when a common man can't enter the platform without a platform ticket, how come these beggars are allowed?

At some places, eunuchs also come in and harass the passengers with their vulgar acts. And to add insult to injury, the food served by the pantry quite often is of the worst quality. This is the bitter truth a common passenger has to taste everyday. Will the Minister do somehing?

Ompal Singh Bhati,

138 Mohan Nagar (A),

B.J.S. Colony, Jodhpur,

Rajasthan

Coaching?

Sir, -- Of late, many coaching centres have become nodal points for examination paper leakage. This is mainly because of three reasons.

First, there is a cut-throat competition among various coaching centres to attract more and more students. To do so, they want to show results. And to get results, they arrange to leak papers (for a hefty price) to their students so that they can somehow pass. Second, many coaching centres have become greedy. They are not interested in education but only in money. Coaching classes have become a roaring business. Third, there is a nexus between coaching centres and corrupt officials connected with the examination system, printing presses, etc. They manage to get question papers for an amount a day before the examination.

The coaching centres have come to be a necessary evil due to a sharp decline in educational standards in schools and colleges. Parents pay astronomical fees to these centres in the hope that their children would get through various entrance tests and become something in life. So the coaching classes are here to stay. The immediate remedy lies in meting out exemplary punishment to the culprits. And the coaching centres found leaking papers should be summarily closed down. At the same time, the authorities should take stock of the malaise and stem the rot.

Anusha Singh,

Political Science (Hons) Final Year,

Lady Shri Ram College,

Lajpat Nagar,

New Delhi.

Retire at 63

Sir, -- With reference to your report, "DU teachers to strike" (October 29) about the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) deciding to strike work on November 4 and 5 in protest against the way some Delhi University and college teachers are retired at the age of 62, while others get extension up to 65, with no perceptible rationale behind these decisions, it would be best if Delhi University goes in appeal to the Supreme Court requesting a retirement policy which is uniform and fixed at, let us say, 63 years.

The current policy is leading to much heartburn and since it was imposed by judicial edict, it has to be reversed by an appeal to the judiciary, which DUTA should do through a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court and then, if necessary, in the Supreme Court.

Vinod Chowdhury,

Head of the Department of Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

University of Delhi,

Delhi - 110 007

Inside Tibet

Sir, -- A series of articles and reports on Tibet by visiting journalists have been published in recent weeks. I was myself in Lhasa recently as part of a group of sociologists from universities across the world visiting Tibet after an international convention on sociology in Beijing.

There is no doubt that Lhasa has progressed very well and is now a modern city with exquisite malls, well laid out roads with latest cars, even well maintained monasteries including the famous Potala Palace. The display of almost all hoardings in Mandarin in shops, and virtual absence of Tibetans in public places like banks, hotels and malls, remind you that you are in Tibet and not in mainland China. A visit to the old city of Lhasa, where a large number of Tibetans live, brings out the difference between the two societies -- one which is economically rich and the other traditional.

Unfortunately the difference is racial. The Chinese settlers are rich. The Tibetans are poor. They have been left behind in the economic and social progress of Tibet. A visit to the countryside outside Lhasa further reveals the poor condition of roads, inadequate connectivity to villages, lack of public transport, virtual absence of primary health centres in villages. Schools are there but the dropout rate is high. The reality check is that Tibetans have not been able to enjoy the fruits of the huge aid the Chinese are pouring in for the welfare of minorities. The statistics are not the reality.

It is good to see that the Tibetans are now freely able to pursue their religious and cultural practices. In fact, the Chinese are encouraging this. There are some restrictions on the number of monks, etc, but that seems reasonable. One can see Tibetans moving about with their hand-held prayer wheels and rosaries. The major issue which keeps the undercurrent of resentment beneath a calm outer surface is the contempt the Chinese have for the Dalai Lama. The institution of the Dalai Lama is an integral part of their rich and unique culture and religion. Chinese attempts to separate and make the Dalai Lama irrelevant have not succeeded and will only result in more unhappiness. Old or young, a huge majority of Tibetans worship the Dalai Lama like a living God. The reality check is how many Tibetans still keep the photo of the Dalai Lama at their private altars despite Chinese prohibition.

When the Dalai Lama has relinquished his demand for independence in favour of Tibetan autonomy within China, how can the Chinese call him a splitist? They have to show respect to the religious leader. This is what the Chinese have to reconcile with for an integrated development of the whole of Tibet and for peace.

The difference between city and rural life and the elite and the poor is quite evident elsewhere in China but nowhere is it due to racial, cultural and religious reasons. One feels sad seeing some small piece of cloth on the seat of the 14th Dalai Lama in the Potala Palace. The Chinese have to negotiate for his return to Potala at least as a religious leader. As China moves fast towards democracy, it is to be hoped that this remnant of the past, of total disregard and repeated accusations, will also vanish.

Col(Retd) Virendra

Sahai Verma,

Researcher,

School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Late nights

Sir, -- Shops in Delhi now can be kept open till 11 p.m. Good. But just think about it. After the shops are closed for the day at 11 p.m., it takes half an hour or even more than an hour for employees / owners to return home. Since in almost all residential areas there are shopping centres because of increasing commercialisation everywhere, it is difficult to identify most colonies as residential only. And in all of Delhi's colonies there are huge illegal iron gates, most of which remain closed all 24 hours while a few which are opened during day are closed at night or entry is restricted by security guards. All these illegal barriers cause endless harassment to common citizens and wastage of precious time and fuel as vehicles have to travel more. This is a colossal national wastage and a hurdle to economic growth as the time wasted in travelling more results in a lower gross national product.

Before going ahead with late night shopping, all illegal gates in all of Delhi's colonies must be dismantled.

It is a misnomer to say that these gates provide security to the residents of the colony. Security is more of a psychological problem and excessive security measures prove futile in actual practice -- they only lead to more harassment for common people.

M. Kumar,

Kolaba Business Chambers,

6-B, Atma Ram House,

1, Tolstoy Marg,

New Delhi-110 001.

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(Letters for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in.

They must carry the full postal address of the writer and should be marked "Readers' Mail".)

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