India in 21st century

  INDIA in the 21st century will have to face a serious population explosion, environmental threats, traffic and transport “throttled-necks”, and an acute scarcity of housing, medical and educational facilities. Thus, from the planning and political standpoint both India will be confronted with herculean challenges. Indeed, the very survival of the nation itself is a big question mark.

In his foreword to the book, “India in 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities”, published by (Anmol Publishers, New Delhi), Mr Jagmohan, a member of Parliament, has rightly pointed out that predicting the future in our fast changing world is an extremely difficult task. Who, for instance, could foresee in the 1970s that the Soviet Union would collapse, Eastern Europe get rid of its Communist regimes, or a united Germany re-emerge? Even about five years earlier, all talk of a unipolar world had been laughed away.

Nevertheless, there are a number of problems which will continue to stare us in the face. Take, for instance, the pace and pattern of urbanisation. Our urban population is likely to touch the 330-million mark by the turn of the century. There will be 20 cities with more than a million population each, and 600 cities with a population ranging from 30,000 to 300,000. Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi and Madras will stand among the largest cities in the world, each with a population of over 10 millions.

Notwithstanding the huge expenditure on family planning, our population has already reached 84 crores. A most populous nation in the world in three decades.

Thus, the country will be confronted with the problems of population explosion, energy crisis, environmental chaos and political disaster in the 21st century.

ATTAR CHAND
Delhi

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Onions and potatoes

Mr Anand Prakash, in his rejoinder (December 29) to Mr Hari Jaisingh’s article “A tottering system: parliamentarians are part of drift” (December 18), has stated that the maladies infesting the country and the political system are not a sudden development but a result of years of misrule, corruption and bungling of the national economy by the Congress.

I agree with the above view. But, then, the point is that nobody expects the BJP-led government to undo overnight the wrongs committed by its predecessors. The disillusionment among the masses stems from the fact that the Atal Behari Vajpayee government has failed to take any initiative, or even show the willingness, to set things right. In fact, there is a widespread feeling among the masses that there is no difference between the Congress and the BJP. The latter is today as much a synonym for misrule as the former was yesterday.

Further, it is surprising that Mr Anand Prakash considers the prices of onions and potatoes a “petty” issue. What he does not seem to realise is that for the common man, two square meals are any day more important than, say, acquisition by the country of the capability to make nuclear weapons. Actually, this is the biggest lesson which the Vajpayee government needs to learn from its recent debacle in the assembly elections. It must recast its priorities if it wants to turn the tables on its opponents.

SURENDRA MIGLANI
Kaithal

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Popularising science

Apropos of editorial "To the rescue of science" (December 23), it is true that the importance of pure science has been declining gravely while there has been more and more emphasis on the "applied" aspect of it. Unlike most newspapers, The Tribune has always been giving due importance and respect to science, and the latest effort on its part is commendable indeed.

The challenge accepted by the celebrated scientists to promote people's interest in science deserves all praise. I find the science books developed by NCERT as quite interesting, but our education system is such that the students do not relish reading these books as the burden of memorising them to secure marks is very heavy. Reading these books without any burden of examinations brings real pleasure and leaves a sweet taste in the month. Somehow the system should be so improved to lead young minds to ingrain scientific knowledge without even their knowing so. This is quite possible as science can be taught by the induction of a lot of fun in its experiments and explanations.

JAGVIR GOYAL
Bathinda