A pvt affair overplayed

This is with reference to the news of Priyanka inspecting the landscaping at her cottage in Chharabra (January 23). The item has occupied about one-third of page 9. Building a house is the personal affair of an individual. Giving so much importance by an impartial newspaper at the cost of other news items is not understandable. By giving minute details of the construction, planning of roof and digging of pits and building a stone wall around the house, the paper is wasting the readers’ time. 

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Ashok kumar, Jalandhar

B’day bashes

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's advice to businessmen to cut down expenses on birthday bashes etc when their ventures are incurring losses with mounting debts, is a cry in the wilderness. Such bigwigs know well the weaknesses of our legal system and have no ear for sane advice. The need of the hour is to strengthen loan processing, supervision and follow-up at the bank level, clarity regarding willful defaults, more stringent laws and a time-bound recovery system. Till then, poor hapless citizens will continue to finance their lavish lifestyles and banks will bleed. 

ASHOK K. ASHU, Patiala

‘Perform or perish’

Apropos of the editorial "A small consolation" (January 25), the final win in the just-concluded five-match ODI series against Australia speaks volumes about Team India's weaknesses. In fact, the absence of a 'winning instinct' could be the reason behind its 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Aussies in their home ground. Our paper tigers converted at least two other possible victories into humiliating defeats by playing without a proper game plan. Another factor could be the failure of MS Dhoni to rise to the occasion. The BCCI should consider the concept of 'perform or perish' for cricketers.

SK Gupta, Panchkula

Games for entertainment

The score line of 1-4 is difficult to digest. India lost in spite of an excellent show by the batsmen, including centuries scored by Rohit Sharma,Virat Kohli and Sikhar Dhawan. We had a battery of experienced bowlers like Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashwin Ravichandran and Ravinder Jadeja, but they were all hammered. Games and sports are for entertainment and there should be nothing beyond this. There are no permanent winners and losers. The men in yellow outfit lost the fifth ODI because of pathetic fielding after having scored a mammoth score of 330 runs. The aim is to play in sportsman spirit, which is on the downslide these days. No foes on and off the field. Hope India come back strongly in the T-20 series on same pitches. 

Gurdeep Singh,  Dharampur

Getting a bank locker

Our banks impose highly unreasonable conditions on persons who want to have bank lockers. First, they ask for a fixed deposit even though one is paying rent to them. This amount varies from bank to bank and place to place. This implies that lockers are not for the common man. Then they insist on a savings bank account also. But the problem arises when the minimum balance condition of Rs 10,000 is forced by certain banks. This means another fixed deposit at the rate of 4% interest. Banks can always refuse the operation of the locker if rent is not paid. The RBI should fix norms so that even the common man can have access to this basic need. 

Neela Sood, Chandigarh

‘At Home’ not needed

The cancellation of 'At Home' on Republic Day by the UT Adviser may irk certain politicians and self-styled social workers or those who wish to be labelled VIPs of the city, but the move is a welcome gesture from a common citizen's point of view. After all, what is the efficacy of such ostentation at the cost of public money which does not contribute for the development of the city? Such functions are meant only to have relationships, nexus, favours or intimacy with bureaucrats or bigwigs. The Governor, UT top brass and officers are often accessible to the public and most of them are frequently seen in public functions. Therefore, doing away with the tradition will not affect the cultural and social significance of the city.

Madan Gupta Spatu, Chandigarh

Pleasing the VVIPs 

We have a slavish mentality or pleasing-the-boss attitude. The French President decided to pay Chandigarh a visit and our Prime Mister decided to receive him here. Now that is a very big task for the Chandigarh Aministration! Doing the bandobast security wise, making the city look beautiful like a newly wedded bride (only the places that the VVIPs visited). For that, a lot of public money and man time is used. But, for what? For the few hours that the VVIPs are going to be there? The roads are decorated, painted, fresh flowers put on the route. The guests drive in big cars at high speeds and probably not even notice the flower bed a certain gardener took so many hours to beautify. In Europe, the landscape in every town and village is beautified and kept clean not for a VIP visit, but for the common man. We have citizens sleeping out in the cold, but the Administration does not  build night shelters which would cost much less money than that spent on VVIP visits.

JS Dugal, Chandigarh

CDS needed

There is no doubt that India needs a CDS (Chief of Defence Staff) if it wants to realise the dream of becoming a world power. The NSA is no substitute to CDS. But in India, the governments have been satisfied with police officers as NSA who have had a little bit of experience in international affairs, secret intelligence services and security. The Pathankot air base is an exclusive military base and the NSG had no role here. Since Pathankot is a big military base, the operation could have been best left to the Army and the GOC of the division there. They would have done a better job. NSG is best suited for civil air fields and other civil establishments or hijack/hostage taken situation. Since the NSA was getting direct intelligent inputs, he may have been tempted to control the operation himself. It is better to face the enemy united like a fist and with central coordination between various fighting units is a force multiplier.

Lt Col DS Mankotia (Retd), Kandwal (Kangra)

Clash of exam dates

There as a clash of exam dates in Punjab Government departments. The Department of Land Revenue conducted an exam for some posts of patwari on January 24. The same day, the department of PSPCL conducted an exam for some posts of SSA throughout the state. This denied the candidates an opportunity to avail themselves of both chances.

GURSANT SINGH, Barnala

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