M A I L B A G

VCs showed admirable courage

Your frontpage news item “PAU VC quits in protest”
(April 1) is shocking. After the BJP-Badal Dal’s volte face on repealing Section 5 of the Termination Act, this government has begun the purges of the intellectuals, scientists and educationists. The Vice-Chancellor of PAU, Dr K.S. Aulakh, has shown guts and courage in putting in his papers after Mr Parkash Singh Badal humiliated him on the telephone. Normally, we at the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) had come to think that officers on the government rolls had lost their spine. Dr Aulakh has proved us all wrong. It proves there are still men and women who stand up to bullies.

Mr Swarn Singh Boparai, the other Vice-Chancellor on the BJP-Badal Dal hit list, has a long experience of being an able administrator. He has taken upper education to the doorsteps of the poor and ill-educated peasantry of Malwa.

The Governor who is also the Chancellor of all universities under him should now like a good Shepard protect his flock of Vice-Chancellors as the big bad wolf has already entered the pen.

EMAAN SINGH MANN, Fatehgarh Sahib

II

“Hands off varsities” (April 3) is a strong media effort to expose the political class bent upon converting our universities into political battlegrounds like some public sector undertakings, corporations or boards.

Universities which need to promote quality education administered by educationists of high moral, social and professional calibre have become political rehabilitation grounds for retired bureaucrats or professionals with strong political affiliations breeding political insecurity among the ruling politicians compelling frequent change of Vice-Chancellors.

Such political appointments apparently look functional and benign but have a festering underbelly that reeks of sleaze and profanity ultimately leading to loss of credibility affecting the reputation, academic stature, and environment. You have rightly stressed that students and studies are the real sufferers.

Dr VITULL K. GUPTA, Bathinda

Moral policing First, it was AXN yanked off the air, and now it is FTV. What next? Perhaps the guardians of Indian morality (I&B ministry) would try to clothe the erotically splendorous and voluptuous figures at Khujrao temples, ban computers because of available pornographic content, and refuse admission in schools to toddlers because they are future sexual beings. The moral policing in the land of “Kamasutra” where sex seems to be the national pastime, evident by exploding population, is hard to swallow. Most of the popular serials are nothing but spicy representation of extramarital affairs, home politics, and manipulating women and men playing havoc with each other’s lives. These serials are enjoyed and lapped up by housewives, the self-appointed moral brigade and cleared by the I&B ministry because the characters of the serial are clad, never mind if they are polluting the mindset of the nation. Indians enjoy “item songs” and “item girls” are hot property, Rakhi Sawant, for instance. Her infamous kissing episode with Mika was given prime-time slot on most of the news TV channels. This was alright with mandarins of the I&B ministry but their blood pressure rises when FTV shows models in lingerie. How do you expect FTV to display lingerie? Inner wear worn over outerwear like Superman? It is high time that moral blinkers and hypocrisy be shunned and accepted that human are sexual beings, and banning TV channels is not going to make any difference. HARINDER MOHAN SINGH, Chandigarh

Punjab’s water wars

This refers to Maneesh Chhibber’s “Punjab’s water wars: State under pressure to maintain status quo” (March 31). Whenever a new government takes over the reins of power in Punjab irrespective of party, they start with arousing the sentiments of the people over river waters. Water is water. It is scarce. It should be preserved. The politicians of all hues should stop exploiting the sentiments of the people over this issue.

Time has come that Punjabis should realise the folly of political announcements. We should join together to make the optimum use of available water and not allow politicians to exploit us and force them to stop all vicious propaganda.

PURAN SINGH, Chandigarh