Judicial activism

Reference to ‘Delay in Covid relief’; with citizens being more aware of their rights and duties, the governments seem to have turned a deaf ear to their genuine grievances. The judiciary is already overburdened in its domain, and comes to the rescue of the people most of the times. Judicial activism has a positive connotation, but excessive usage may lead to its overreach. The governments need to be responsible enough to deliver the services and promises so that the thin line between activism and overreach is not violated.

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NAVDEEP KAUR, Zirakpur

Do away with reservation

To embrace change and bring meritorious students to the fore, we must eliminate walls. Discriminating and dividing people on the basis of castes and economy won’t allow India to flourish. The concept of casteism is swelling fast due to quotas and reservations (‘SC: Upholds OBC quota in NEET’). Taking undue advantage of this policy, some make fake certificates and snatch seats of talented and intelligent candidates. Merit needs a precise definition, proper understanding and thorough explanation. The members of the general category, too, need a space to grow.

Sunil Chopra, Ludhiana

Quota must stay

The policy of reservations has always evoked strong contentions from both proponents and opponents of the system. That reservations militates against merit, the oft-advanced argument by the opponents, has been turned down by the SC, saying that reservation is not at odds with merit since in a society infested with yawning socio-economic disparities, the concept of distributive justice needs to be given weightage. High score in competitive tests alone can’t be a determinant for distribution of scarce educational resources. When politicians support the reservation policy, their intent can be suspected to be influenced by political considerations — reservation being a sensitive political issue — but the verdict of the court can’t be viewed from that angle. Moreover, when seats in private medical colleges are ‘bought’, no hue and cry is raised that unmeritorious candidates are being accommodated, ignoring the claims of poor meritorious candidates. The decision of the court, upholding 27% quota for OBC in NEET in PG medical and dental state-run colleges should be seen as a right step to reduce deeply entrenched socio-economic disparities.

Roshan Lal Goel, Ladwa

All did their bit

The nation is celebrating ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ on the occasion of 75 years of Independence. One has never heard our Prime Minister speaking about development and achievements made by the country during all these decades, and about the wisdom of his predecessors. Development of a nation is a continuing process and every government which comes to power tries its best. Successive governments should appreciate the work done by the previous governments and make policies that would further promote the welfare of citizens. In India, we started our journey from scratch when we earned our freedom in 1947.

Bhupinder Kochhar, Panchkula

Election duty

Apropos of ‘Officials approach DCs to avoid poll duty’, it is a sad state of affairs that maternity leave, attending to expectant wife, etc., and other medical issues are labelled as excuses of employees by authorities. This is totally authoritarian on the part of the administration to not consider genuine cases. The genuineness of such cases can be easily checked with related medical documents. Are the authorities going to take responsibility in case of any mishappening in serious cases? The administration should take a humanitarian approach in dealing with such cases, rather than taking strict action.

Preety Goyal, by mail

Big loss to theatre

Refer to ‘Ace of theatre thinking leaves a void’; the piece took me down memory lane when I was his student (1971-73 batch) and he taught us Shakespeare. A great disciplinarian, Prof Ahuja gave minute explanations of plays. Some of his critical insights were beyond our comprehension at that time. However, as I look back, I realise the hard work put in by our revered teacher to instil some knowledge in our minds. His passing away is a big loss to his students, a bigger loss to the world of letters, and a still greater loss to the world of theatre. To quote a line from Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’, ‘Ripeness is all.’ Salute to a great teacher, and a great soul. May his soul rest in peace.

Satish Arya, by mail

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